Free Kiss of Darkness (The Dragon Legion Novellas) by Deborah Cooke Page B

unrepentant, which angered Damien as little else could have done.
    “How could you do such a thing? And why? There is nothing they could have done to you to merit such treatment...”
    “Nothing?” she asked, lifting her chin with a familiar defiance.
    “Nothing!” Damien replied. “Don’t you think I deserved to know about your powers before we conceived my son?”
    She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. “I didn’t know about all of your powers before that happy deed was done.”
    “It’s not the same!”
    “It’s exactly the same. You’re more than human and so am I. Frankly, I thought that we’d understand each other as a result.”
    “No!” Damien paced the central courtyard of the house. “This is all wrong.” He paced the courtyard, then pivoted to face her. “You might as well know. I have to leave and I might not be back.”
    Petra looked shaken. “I beg your pardon?”
    “I’ve been called to duty.” Damien didn’t feel as much regret as he had just moments ago. He knew that Petra saw the truth in his eyes. “I have to go.”
    Her lips set. “And when will you be back?”
    “I don’t know.” He swallowed then said it. “Maybe never.”
    She held his gaze for a long potent moment, then spun away. “You’re just fabricating an excuse, because you’re afraid of what I can do.”
    Damien didn’t know what to say to that, but Petra didn’t give him much time to think.
    “Did you get your prophecy, at least?” she asked.
    Damien took a deep breath and recited the oracle’s pronouncement:
     
    A lost child mourned for many years
    A mother who will shed no tears
    A dragon warrior turned to stone
    A woman abandoned, all alone.
    Firestorm’s promise will fade to naught
    Until stone and fire pay death’s cost.
    After a Pyr sacrifice is made
    Destiny’s promise can be claimed.
     
    “Cheerful,” Petra said tightly. Her displeasure was a palpable force. “So, you’re leaving, because I obviously am the person who can turn you to stone and your son isn’t going to survive anyway.”
    “I don’t want it to be true, Petra.”
    She gave him a hot look. “Then you could ask some questions. You could try to find the hidden truth of the prophecy. They often have double meanings, as I’m sure you know.”
    “No,” Damien said, shaking his head. “No. This time, the prophecy is as clear as can be. I’m sorry, Petra. I wanted to believe in the firestorm.”
    “Not enough to fight for it,” she replied, her tone hard.
    He knew she was right. He also knew that given his upbringing and his father’s end, the prophecy and his call to duty, that there was no other answer. He’d been honest with her, but felt she’d deceived him. Repairing the damage would take time, time they didn’t have, and a sacrifice he was unwilling to make.
    Their gazes locked and held for a charged moment, and Damien noted the slightly rounding of Petra’s belly with the child. He couldn’t believe that she would lose their son, not when she looked so healthy in her pregnancy, but he couldn’t accept what she had done. If he remained with her, even for one night, it would be an endorsement of her deed.
    “What will you do?” he asked.
    She shrugged, pretending to be indifferent when he knew she wasn’t. “I can’t imagine you care.” Her tone was hurt and he felt guilt at his role in that.
    “I do.”
    She turned away then took the pot off the tripod over the fire. He’d never seen her cry and that convinced him that she was the mother of the prophecy.
    “I’ll go to the Mothers if I need to,” she said, surprising him. He’d never heard her refer to a home or a family.
    “But the prophecy...”
    She turned on him, her eyes blazing, and he took a step back at the sign of her anger. She seemed to be more than a woman in this moment, and he was sure he felt the ground quaking beneath his feet.
    What was an Earthdaughter?
    “I don’t believe your prophecy,” Petra declared.