Free Return to Shanhasson by Joely Sue Burkhart

voice sounded
much too fragile, but she couldn’t catch her breath. He was so big, so forceful
and confident, that he was a stranger to her.
    “I want to spread you out against this
wall and nag you so hard your nobles will fear the castle walls are tumbling
down around their heads.”
    She dropped her head back against the
stone, her body instinctively arching toward his. Lady above, she loved Rhaekhar
without question, but he only rarely made love to her hard and savagely.
Sometimes, that’s exactly what she wanted. Gregar had known it, but stirring
his darker urges was always risky. One—or both of them—could end up dead.
    With Dharman, she didn’t feel that cold
promise of death and Shadow curled up inside him, just waiting for a chance to
overwhelm his control. His bond roared in her mind, as red as blood and as hot
as the molten lava that spewed from Vulkar’s Mountain with His fury. But not
danger. Could he love her hard, wildly, without ever feeling tempted to butcher
her?
    “Absolutely.”
    “Dharman,” she breathed out, trembling.
    He released her and stepped back, the
small curve on his lips showing a knowing sensuality she’d never seen on his
face before. “And that’s the only word I want to hear on your lips when I’m
inside you.”
    Was he stepping out more confidently
because of Khul’s absence? Would this blatant sensual challenge have played out
even with Rhaekhar standing in this very room?
    Yes, she was terribly afraid her young
Blood would have said the exact same thing if both Rhaekhar and Gregar had been
standing with her. The very moment she’d pressed her face against Dharman’s
chest, breathed his scent, and felt the answer of desire in her body, the
strained polite distance between them had dissolved.
    That small moment had fueled his
confidence.
    “Go take your bath in private,
Khul’lanna. Sleep alone as you requested. If you need anything, anything at
all, call my name, whether aloud or silently through our bond. Nothing shall
keep me from you, but you.”

 
     
    CHAPTER
    FOUR
    THE DREAM BEGAN AS MANY
OTHERS. She floated on her back gazing up at a large full moon that filled the
sky with silvered brilliance. The water was cool, but when some splashed into
her mouth, she was surprised by the slight saltiness. The Silver Lake had never
tasted like the ocean.
    Or tears.
    The three jagged peaks of Vulkar’s
Mountain did not loom on the horizon.
    High above the steep edges of the bowled
cavern, the full moon still gleamed, but that was the only familiar element
from her other Dreams. She took a step and froze.
    Her body had changed.
    Shining scales covered her sinuous form,
a long tail curled at her clawed feet, and impossibly large butterfly wings
shimmered and floated about her. Staring down at her reflection in the water,
she saw a beast with a large triangular head, vicious teeth and a long,
graceful neck like a swan.
    She’d walked as the Dark Mare before,
but never a dragon. Staring at the image, she noticed a dark spot on the
creature’s chest. A scale was missing, directly over her heart.
    “Allow me,” a male spoke, his voice like
the sudden fall of night across the land.
    She jerked her head up, wings cocked,
prepared for flight. Sliding across the midnight sky, the moon became her
missing scale, lying in a massive clawed foot as black as a starless, moonless
night.
    With a gentleness that surprised her,
the black claw placed the circled scale on her chest. Light blinded her, a
flash of pure silver that burned through the shadows, illuminating a black
dragon so large he dwarfed her. He made a small sound of pain and averted his
serpentine head at her brilliance.
    “Who am I?”
    “Dim your light, azhar-jalbi , and we will talk.”
    Brightheart. She knew this as an endearment
he’d often called her as surely as she recognized him, but from where?
Confused, she watched the blazing luminance of the moon dim within her, but she
didn’t understand what or how she