Shana Abe - Queen of Dragons

She said nothing, only laid her cheek to his chest, listening to his voice come from inside him, hushed and deep.

"I don't remember as much of it as I should. All I really recall is your face. The fire. Those men." "You were very brave," she whispered.

He gave a short laugh. "Did you think it bravery? 'Twas only madness. The beast losing control." "I think," she said, "we were all a little mad back there."

His hands fell still, warming her back. "Things are about to get worse. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, Kimber. I do."

"Nothing can happen to you. Not ever again. When I saw you on that bed—the chains, and those bastards—"

He did not speak for a long while. She lay hushed now, her body rising and falling with the force of his respiration.

"Nothing must ever happen to you," was all he said at last.

"It will be difficult." She lifted her face to his neck. "The delis are sly, and widespread. But you were right before. We're stronger together than apart."

"I don't want this war," he said, rough. "I don't want to fight anyone, not the Zaharen, not the Others. I want to live in a world with you like the one I grew up in, one with families and laughter and the very best of secrets to bind our hearts together, but that's gone now. Rhys is gone, and more of our kind than I care to count."

"We will win."

"Do you think so?" She felt him shake his head. "It seems all I dream of is blood and death, my brother's face. That missing girl. And when that happens, I awake wanting only vengeance."

"Justice," she said.

"Death." He pulled a pillow from beneath him, tossing it hard aside.

Mari pressed her hand to his chest. "This is who we are. This is how we survive. They hunted us first; it's always been that they hunt us first. But we will be the ones to end this, my lord. I promise you that."

"I want to believe you. I wake, every goddamned day—"

"Yes," she interrupted, serene. "I know very well what it's like to wake from nightmares. It helps, very much, to have the one you love at your side when that happens."

His sigh lifted her high; as he exhaled his arms wrapped closer around her.

"Say it again."

"I promise we'll win."

"No." He rolled them back aside and raised to an elbow, his face touching hers, his hair draping soft and aromatic against her throat. "Tell me you love me."

"I love you, Kimber Langford, Alpha of the drakon. I love you."

"Then that's enough," he whispered, his lips to her cheek. "That will keep me believing."

1 August 1782

Your Grace:

Others come. Prepare for Invasion.

—M.

Smoke and war. Fire and betrayal. We've been rent into tatters, so much less now than what we once were.

I suppose you might say this is only what we've earned. That if we dissolve as a species into whirlwinds of dust, it is only what the civilized world requires.

Yet we do not trouble your lives without provocation. We dance at your edges, we drift and observe and lead our own silent lives. What right had you to come and hunt us?

Brothers and sisters gone. Our children taken. You've pierced our souls, and if we retaliate in kind, do not be so foolish as to think we'll grant mercy.

We are dragons. If we eat you whole, that will be your mercy.

And when we cry diamond tears for our young ones, when we weep for our broken hearts, you will never see.

Be ready. We're nearer than you imagine.

Shana Abe is the award-winning author of ten novels, including the bestselling Drakon series. She lives in Colorado with five rescued house rabbits and one big, happy dog. Please support your local animal shelter and spay or neuter your pets.

Visit her website at: www.shanaabe.com