Kissed by Fire A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance (Maidens Book 2) Page 16

  "But you're...different."

  He raised his hands, palm up. "Death changes a dragon."

  "Are you...am I?" I took a deep breath, wincing as it caused pain to blossom through my ribcage. "Which one of us is dead? Or are we both dead?" It was then that I noticed we were still in the cave. I rubbed my head with one hand trying to make my brain catch on faster.

  "You're alive, and I'm alive...again." He smiled.

  "But the witch is dead." I pointed to a large black smudge at the far end of the cave. That alone made me think I was still alive. The afterlife could have caves and Niall, but not the remains of a recently dispatched witch. Her soul, yes. Bits and pieces of her guts? No.

  "Despite what you may think, she's not the only magic in the world." A woman wearing a flowing white dress stepped out from behind the new rainbow Niall. Gold cuffs hugged her upper arms, and a plain gold tiara circled her head.

  "And who are you?"

  "We're fair folk," said a man joining the woman. He wore a white outfit similar to the woman's but his stopped at the knees. Matching gold cuffs sat on each wrist and a tiara also adorned his head. They looked like twins, both in dress and bone structure.

  "From where? And how?" The fair folk didn't like the salt in the sea. It made their magic difficult.

  "The witch imprisoned us here a long time ago," said the woman coming to kneel next to me. She placed her hands on my shoulders and pressed me back. I resisted, nervous as to her intentions.

  "Don't worry. I'm just going to heal your injuries."

  "You can do that?"

  She laughed, the sound sweet. "It is the least of our magic."

  I gave her a suspicious look. "But the sea and the salt limits your power, right?"

  "The sea no longer holds us back. We've been in the water so long, we're part of it now, and our magic is better for it. Now, be quiet and let me work." Her words rang with authority, but her smile was friendly. "We didn't bring Niall back just to lose you."

  I allowed her to push me back and kept quiet as her magic hummed over me. It covered me like a light blanket, and slowly, the pain of my injuries faded.

  "That's it?" I asked, amazed by how fast the healing had happened.

  She patted my shoulder and then pushed herself to her feet. "You'll be tired, but yes, you're healed now."

  "I could have sung a healing song," I said, getting my tail under me and pushing myself upright.

  "Perhaps," said the man, "But your injuries are because of us. We owe you a debt."

  "And singing for yourself wouldn't have been as good as what I did. Magic does better when you give it away," the woman said.

  I sat up and shrugged. I'd never thought of it that way, but she was right. Even among the mer, healing worked better when it came from someone else.

  "Besides, I gave you something more." The woman smiled and pointed to my ear. "That will work whenever you need it."

  I touched my earlobe and found the shell the sea witch had given me. "You gave me legs?"

  She nodded. "You'll need them in this world, I think." Gesturing to Niall, she said, "And this way you'll both be equally matched."

  "Who are you?" I asked.

  "The humans called me Eros," said the man with a wave of his arm. "And this is my sister Aphrodite."

  "Humans think we're gods, but we're just fair folk. The witch chased us to this cave and trapped us here," said Aphrodite.

  "But you were fish."

  Aphrodite nodded. "We were, yes. We thought that would help us get away. Instead, she forced us to stay in that form and serve her."

  "When you came, we saw a way to finally break free after all this time."

  "How long has it been?" I asked.

  "Centuries upon centuries. A very long time," said Aphrodite, frowning.

  "And Niall. You brought him back."

  "Yes. We struck a deal. If he could get you to help us, we would give him a second life," Eros said.

  Niall came to me and gave me a tight hug. "I dinna think I would ever be able to do this again."

  "I'm glad you're okay," I said, leaning into him and enjoying the heat that radiated from his skin. "Why didn't you tell me?"

  "I didna know," he said.

  "Your help had to be of your free will," said Aphrodite.

  "Our magic works with what is given without condition," said Eros.

  "Humans do consider us gods of love after all." Aphrodite smiled.

  I looked up at Niall. "Why did you help them if you didna know they could help you?"

  "Because a dragon always does what's right and these people needed help."

  "Dragons are the noblest of creatures." Aphrodite looked at Niall with such admiration that I found myself moving in front of him and forcing her gaze to meet mine. The last thing I needed was competition from a woman who'd been mistaken as a love goddess. Niall and I had been through enough.

  "That's why you helped my sister and me," I said.

  "That and because you're my maiden. There's nothing a dragon willna do for his maiden." Niall's arms tightened around me.

  "Even die and come back to life," I murmured, snuggling deeper into his embrace.

  "Aye. Even that."

  To Aphrodite and Eros, I said, "So you're free. Now what?"

  "We go home." Eros waved his hand and a blue circle of light burst into existence, expanding until it was big enough for the two fair folk to walk through. "Do you want to come with us?"

  I shook my head, pleased to see that Niall did the same. "No. Thank you. I need to help my sister and my tribe. I can't leave now."

  "And I need to be here for my brothers," said Niall.

  "Then we leave you here to do the work you were made for." Aphrodite gave a little bow. "Thank you Mila, mermaid of the sea and land, and Niall, dragon of fire and water."

  Eros also bowed. "We hope you will both be very happy. Love each other true."

  Niall reached to tilt my chin up and back. "I donna think that will be too difficult," he said just before his lips covered mine.

  A note of happiness vibrated in my throat as Niall's mouth possessed mine. I didn't see the fair folk go, but when the light of the portal went dark, I knew Niall and I were finally alone. I turned my body around and pulled him tight against me.

  "I just want you to know, I'm never leaving you," I said. Everything I'd said in the stone circle became meaningless. Now that I knew Niall, knew his heart and his bravery, I would never let him go.

  He smiled at me. "You donna have to choose between me and the sea, lass. They gave me gills. I can go wherever you go...if you will have me."

  "Even if I did have to choose, I would choose you. Always. I just need a little time to help my tribe."

  "It would be my honor to fly at your side, lass."

  A bolt of sudden panic shot through me as I remembered what had taken him from me in the first place. Patting his chest, I found the raised ridge of the scar. It was smooth and sealed like an old wound should be. "Don't you dare die on me again, dragon man."

  Niall caught my hand. "I'm fine, Mila. They healed me same as you. It will not bother me again."

  I relaxed against him. "Who knew it was so hard to heal a dragon?"

  "Aye. Who knew? Apparently we have to die first. Now if you donna mind, I can think of other things that need healing." Cupping the back of my head with one hand, he kissed me so deep and so hot, I felt like I'd turned into pure flame.

  Kissed by his fire, I burned for him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Niall and I left the cave and returned to the island where Alec waited for us. The brothers had a happy reunion with big, back slapping hugs. My sister, I found in a quiet lagoon on the side of the island and she wasn't alone.

  Qitu had joined her.

  "I sang for him," she said with a wide smile. "Just in case he was still here. And he came!"

  He dipped his head toward me. "Thank you for saving her."

  "Someone had to." I narrowed my eyes
at him, unimpressed.

  He bristled. "I would have gone with you if I'd known. Kark didn't tell us."

  Siya snorted. "Kark lied to Qitu and his tribe for days. Telling them I just needed more time to prepare for the mating ceremony."

  "When we found out the truth, I searched for her." Qitu put a protective arm around Siya's shoulders.

  "Your whole tribe looked for us?" I asked.

  He shook his head. "They left. I stayed." Tilting his head to the side, he looked at me. "How did you find your sister?"

  "The old songs," I said. "Our father taught them to us and I called the sea witch."

  His eyes went wide. "That's forbidden."

  "Not anymore. Not to me or her," I gestured to my sister, "if she wants to sing. Hiding doesn't work. We're going to have to protect ourselves from the two-legs who know we're still here."

  "The tribes won't allow it. Kark—" Qitu started.

  I laughed and cut him off. "Kark can go suck a sea cucumber. I have my own tribe now. Me and Niall. I don't answer to Kark anymore. My father made my sister and I guardians of the old songs and I won't let what happened to Siya happen to anyone else."

  Siya came over to me and took my hand in hers. "I'm part of your tribe, too. And Qitu if he wants."

  "You've changed," I said to her. "You're not the same mermaid who wouldn't sing when the slavers took you."

  She nodded. "I've seen enough to know we can't keep hiding. Father taught us those songs for a reason, so we'd have them if we needed them. I think it's time to sing them again."

  "You don't want to go home with me?" Qitu asked. "Zite is a just and wise leader. Better than Kark. We'll keep you safe."

  "I belong with you, but not your tribe. Surely you can see that." She stretched her mouth open and showed him the stump of her tongue. "The Mer need the protection my sister and I can give."

  I tightened my grip on Siya's hand. "We have the chance to change things. To stop the two-legs and live in peace."

  "How?" Qitu asked.

  "I can stir currents now. Move the sea under the two-legs. I can sing them a new obsession or give them different memories," I said. "The magic is almost limitless once you know it." I'd already started composing new songs in my head. On slow days, I wrote them down on paper, wanting to preserve them. The Mer would not lose their magic again.

  "Will you join us?" Siya asked.

  Qitu was silent for a long moment. Siya extended her hand to him and waited. Finally, with a nod, he swam over to join her. "From the moment I met you, I knew we belonged together. I'm not leaving you now."

  Siya left me and allowed Qitu to fold her in his arms.

  "Good," I said. "We have a lot of work to do. There are still slavers and I don't think the sheik who had Siya was alone. There are others. We have to stop the slavers and then rescue anyone who has been taken."

  "How will we save them all?" Qitu asked. "Our tails bind us to the sea. How do we get to land?" He directed that last question to me.

  Before I could respond, the sea churned and foamed off to our side and Niall, in dragon form, burst through a small wave, his scales full of color. Qitu and Siya dove as one and swam away, frightened. Their heads popped up again some distance away and Siya motioned for me to follow.

  "It's okay," I said, singing the words so they would hear me. "It's just Niall."

  Siya and Qitu frowned and exchanged glances full of disbelief.

  "Go ahead," I said to Niall. "Shift."

  The air shimmered as he returned to his human form. "It's okay," he called out in his thick brogue.

  Siya and Qitu came closer and I made introductions. "This is Siya my sister and Qitu her mate. This is Niall my mate."

  "You're alive?" Siya reached out and touched his shoulder, her eyes full of wonder.

  "Dragons can swim?" asked Qitu.

  "Aye. I'm alive thanks to your sister," Niall said to Siya. "And I've recently become the kind of dragon that swims underwater."

  "And I have legs." I tapped my ear. "We should have no problem protecting the sea."

  And so we formed a small tribe and worked together to keep the sea safe. Kark complained about it, but he didn't know the old songs and I just ignored him. He'd never been a good leader and as my skill with the songs grew, he became unimportant and irrelevant. Qitu kept an eye on him and took him on a lot of long swims to keep him out of our way.

  The slavers, we lured to the island we used as our home base and then transferred them by dragon to the highest mountain tops we could find. I sang to them a great fear of water so that they would never return.

  Alec and Sara worked on land, tracking down people like the sheik and freeing any creatures they'd imprisoned. Maybe the communication equipment had failed, but Sara had found a reliable way to track the trafficking with something called a laptop—some kind of machine that connected things similar to how currents run through the sea. Within months, we'd destroyed the network that sold supernatural creatures into slavery and the Mer didn't have to be afraid anymore.

  Siya taught other Mer a song that would muddle the memory of any two-leg who saw them so we could preserve our secrecy. Ndia was the first one to come and learn the new song.

  In the beginning, she swam to our island with her eels and sea snakes, but once she realized the slavers were gone, she let them go. Siya showed her how we fixed her tail and they spent a day inlaying shells, pearls and other shiny things inside the bigger scars so that she became beautiful instead of marred.

  Kark complained about the song, too, but by then, the other Mer had seen what we'd done and they told him to either learn the song or step down as leader.

  He learned the song.

  On the island, Siya and Qitu made the lagoon their home. On the opposite end, Niall built us a shaded patio out of palm trees and brought one of the big slaver boats on to the island and turned it into a comfortable house. We both shifted between our different forms, sleeping together as humans and working together as mermaid and dragon. I delighted in introducing Niall to the wonders of the sea. We often spent afternoons swimming out to watch different fish and look for treasure.

  I laughed a lot more now. I'd been lost before and worried about everything, but now I knew my place in the world. It wasn't with Kark or any tribe, it was with Niall. Siya was happy. Qitu had proven his worth. We'd built the family that Siya had wanted and that I had missed. Life was good, and Niall showed me, every day and every night, just how wonderful it was to be kissed by fire.

  ***

  Yes, lovely reader, we have reached the last of this story. I hope you enjoyed it! I had no idea that Niall would die or what would happen when he did, so if you were surprised by any of the events that happened after he died, know that I was too! Sometimes stories take on a life of their own, and this one definitely did. If you liked this book, please leave a review. It helps other readers find the book and encourages me to write more.

  And don't forget to check out Sara and Alec's story which can be found in Kiss the Dragon.

  I also write...

  Huntsville Pack Series ~ Shifter romance with more of an Urban Fantasy feel.

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  About the Author

  NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author Michelle Fox lives in the Midwest with her husband, kids, the occasional exchange student and one very hyper puppy. She loves fantasy and romance, which makes writing paranormal romance a natural fit. Occasionally, she goes through a maverick phase and writes contemporary romance. In her spare time, she's been known to shake her bon-bon at Zumba, make spectacular cheesecakes, hoard vintage costume jewelry and eat way too much ice cream (Ben and Jerry’s Karamel Sutra for the win!).

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