Free Breath of Desire by Ophelia Bell

to break their own unspoken rules, as well as the pact he had made with his sister when they were awakened, but he saw no other way.
    ***
    He agonized over it for the rest of the week, finally concluding that he had to leave before Dimitri and his sister knew and had a chance to object to the idea. He just hoped Thea would be too surprised by his confession to do anything but accept. The shock of such knowledge tended to render humans either entirely terrified and in denial, or eager to know more. He had a strong feeling Thea was the type who preferred knowledge over ignorance.
    In his true form and at full size, Aurik could fly faster than the average car could drive. It was a straight shot between Paris and Rouen, though he would normally prefer the scenic route along the winding turns of the river. Getting there quickly would serve him best. He would leave that night, then hopefully be beyond his sister’s reach by the time she and Dimitri found out he had gone.
    The flight took even less time than he expected. Halfway through the valley, the unmistakable pull of Thea’s energy reached him, as though even from more than a hundred kilometres she reached out to them. Was it Dimitri she wished for? Knowing their history, that had to be the case. Dimitri’s suggestion that she was fated for him somehow seemed absurd. Thea, Dimitri, and Alex had been a unit, and Aurik couldn’t imagine how any of the dragons of the Court could have asserted themselves in the middle of a trio that tight. He assumed Dimitri’s brother must have been like him as well. Three such potent wells of energy would have been able to command the dragons. Perhaps Geva could have absorbed their energy easily, but it would have taken more than one dragon to avoid wasting any of it. The thought crossed his mind that one of them could easily have awakened a Queen. Speculation was pointless now, however. The team had awakened them all, regardless of the lack of a perfectly equitable match, at least on his part.
    He disagreed with the Council on that point, but there was nothing to be gained by arguing. When such an ephemeral ruling body made its decree, they tended not to invite further discussion. Either he followed their laws or they would come back later with an even heavier hand, and he couldn’t risk either his sister or Dimitri being caught in the crossfire.
    Aurik found himself growing eager the closer he got to Thea. To have this weight lifted would be a relief. He was more and more certain with each stretch and pull of his wings through the air that his sister and Dimitri would understand and agree with him. He did feel some regret that he hadn’t told them first, but it was too late to turn back.
    It was near midnight when he followed Thea’s trail through the cobbled streets of the village. He landed in a darkened churchyard and shifted, clothing himself in modern garments before approaching the small hotel where she must be lodging for the week. Her energy was less potent than it had been before, but still easy enough for Aurik’s attuned senses to follow.
    He wished he could reach out to her mentally like he could with his sister. Being able to assess her mood before approaching her would have eased his anxiety over what he was about to do. Telling a human his secrets without the intention of marking them was against dragon law, but he would explain that detail to her and make sure she knew Aurin would have to handle that detail quickly.
    He entered the small, but luxuriously appointed lobby of the hotel with purpose. The desk clerk smiled amiably as he walked past, giving the illusion that he belonged.
    The web of human energy was strong in this small hotel. A murmuring couple walked through the lobby to the elevator, their own threads intermingled and tangled to the point he couldn’t differentiate. The man pushed the woman against the wall and whispered into her ear, his words eliciting a throaty laugh from her, and their energy pulsed