Free The Sapphire Dragon by Tianna Xander Page A

the moon. She was going to need it.
    After several long moments, Daisy opened her eyes. Silvery light shone around her, the light glittering through the dark of the night. She was in Drake’s back yard, but she was also somewhere else.
    “I didn’t expect to find you here.”
    Daisy spun around at the smooth sound of Jarrod’s voice. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard his lovely English accent and her insides almost melted. She shook her head. She needed to stay on task, not think about how glad she was to see him.
    “Where are you?” Her voice broke. She couldn’t help the great feeling of relief that washed through her. He’s still alive!
    “Does it matter?” He looked around him. “Tell Drake that Durham lives. I am in his lair.”
    “You’ll tell him yourself.”
    “No, Daisy. I am going to die.” Moonlight glittered around him as he moved, almost making it appear as though he did everything in slow motion as the light left a trail in his wake. He reached toward her, his hand almost touching her cheek before he let it fall to his side. “Death is the only thing left for me now. I wish you nothing but happiness, love.”
    “Don’t give me that load of crap, Jarrod.” Daisy practically snarled. “You wanted to know what I was doing here. Well, I’m using my magic.” She glanced around her. “Strange that it’s not going haywire the way it usually does.” She lifted the corner of her mouth in a half smile. “Maybe it has something to do with that buss on the lips you gave me the last time we talked. Whatever the reason, I’ve got some semblance of control and you are coming home.”
    “I am not really here, love.” He held his arms out to his sides. “This is just a shadow of me. My soul is in the ether. I left my body to find Drake and inform him of our enemy. My body is laying on a cold slab in a cave, strapped down with steel. I cannot come to you as I would so love to do.”
    “You dragons,” Daisy said, then shook her head with a sigh. “You think so two dimensionally.” Drawing more power from the ether, Daisy visualized herself standing next to Jarrod’s caged body until somehow, she was there next to him.
    Just as he said, he lay on a slab of cold stone, his extremities strapped down with steel bands. A strange sheet lay on his chest, shimmering with some sort of magic that she couldn’t name and feared to know. Was it keeping him too weak to escape?
    Power radiated off the strange, ice-blue sheet. A wave of her arm sent the sheet fluttering to the floor. Another wave released the bands holding Jarrod to the slab and still another lifted his weak form into the air.
    Lifting both of her arms, she held her hands close to her chest, palms out and pushed Jarrod through the ether. He moved through the cave walls, through time and space and, if she was lucky, now hung suspended in the air in Drake’s garden at his home in Yorkshire.
    Gathering the power around her, Daisy visualized the cave imploding at the same time she wished herself to Jarrod’s side.
    “That should keep that Durham busy for awhile,” she said as she appeared next to Jarrod just outside of Drake’s home. He still appeared unconscious, but he had seemed so much alive when she spoke to him in the ether. Why wasn’t he awake?
    “Help! Help me!” She cried for help as she crammed her wand in her back pocket and knelt in the grass to cup Jarrod’s face in her hands.
    “Wake up! Why won’t you wake up?” Staring down into his face, she leaned closer and pressed her lips to his. He had to open his eyes. She refused to think she’d gotten there too late to save him.
    After a few seconds, he reached up, cupped the back of her head and kissed her back. She opened her mouth and his tongue swept inside. His memories flooded into her mind.
    His hopes, his dreams and the sum of the man he was, rushed through her. It was a tidal wave of information all mixed with the feeling of his love for her.
    Slowly, he let her