Last of the Temple Line Read online

The Annunaki's eyes skimmed the still features of the young witch. He winced at the ugly slashes and swirls that denoted her changed status to the male that lay next to her. His eyes cut to Dalaric's. "Sarah," he called his wife to his side, gaze not wavering from his uncle's.

  Biting her lip, Sarah obeyed his call while Jaela leaned on her good leg. He put an arm around her. "Why?" Bannon bit out. "You do not need to claim her. She was already giving you what you wanted."

  "What has been taken?" Dalaric growled. His hands fisted. "What dishonor have I committed?"

  Jaela grabbed Wraith from the floor and sheathed the weapon before standing. Despite the pain that radiated from the torn tendons in her foot, she gritted her way to stand next to the pair. She glared across the expanse of the bedding.

  "You may not care, Akkadian," she accused, "but Emersyn could have had a life outside of your clan and what you ask of her. Childless she may have been rendered, but that did not mean her heart had to remain just as empty as her womb!"

  Smoke curled from Dalaric's flared nostrils and his eyes flickered between black and emerald. Strength flooded through his limbs. He leaned over Emersyn's prone form, blocking her from their view. "You dare to speak of giving her to another in my presence?!" ripped from lips split by elongated fangs. "You look upon the marking with the disgust of the ignorant! What you would give to a human," he snarled, "I earned by right of breed, clan, and Ki!"

  "She is human!" Jaela yelled. "Not a damn dragon to even understand what you have done to her!"

  "Better that she had died?" Meghara issued the question to the room. "Well?" she inquired coolly. "Mated to my son or death? Which would you prefer, humans?" The female flicked her claws as if the answer mattered naught to her.

  "I don't understand what is going on," Sarah broke the silence, "But alive is always better than dead.” She broke from between Bannon and Jaela to walk to Emersyn's side. Her hand trembled as she skirted around the large male that towered over her where he crouched protectively over her sister. A sheet drawn to his waist was his only clothing. She reached out to touch one of the faint scars on the sleeping woman's cheek. Violent energy sparked against her fingers. She winced and drew back.

  Emersyn's brows wrinkled. Her eyes slid open. A wall of muscled flesh met her eyes. She frowned.

  "Emersyn?" Sarah whispered.

  Her head hurt. A state she was becoming rapidly accustomed to. Emersyn swallowed a wave of nausea when the bed shifted. Dalaric's eyes met her own, his finger under her chin as he examined her closely.

  He ignored the others in the room to ask, "How do you feel?" Her eyes glowed brightly. Too brightly for a human. Their brown depths now swam with his Ki in a swirling kaleidoscope both beautiful for its otherworldliness and terrifying for the questions it raised.

  She blinked rapidly to clear her eyes of the spots and held a hand to her head. "I am okay, I suppose." Then, her eyes widened. "Dalaric-"

  "They are not here," he stated gently. The panic he felt through the mating bond slowly dissipated as he continued, "Bannon and your sisters were brought to the palace. They are all safe," he ended, clawed finger gently stroking the soft skin from chin to neck.

  Emersyn turned her head to see Sarah looking at her with horror-filled eyes. "Sarah?" she asked, "Why do you look at me like that?"

  Sarah bit her lip and looked down. She walked to Bannon and put her hand in his.

  "Are you going to let her up?" Jaela's voice came from behind Dalaric's form.

  Emersyn struggled to sit up. Dalaric leaned back to help her. The blankets began to slip, and she gasped with the realization that she was naked beneath them. They both were. Her skin heated in a full-body blush and she gripped the blanket in both hands to hold them to her while he adjusted the pillows behind her back to allow her to sit comfortably.

  "This is a bit awkward," she forced out as the others in the room averted their gaze from the naked Akkadian as he straightened and slid from the bed. He walked out of the room with a look to his mother that passed hidden meaning. Emersyn frowned. An odd sensation flickered across her mind. Something not hers. But not unknown to her, either.

  She looked up as Jaela cleared her throat.

  "Did you agree to this?" Jaela asked. She waved a hand to encompass the bed and everything in it.

  Confused, Emersyn looked down. The sight of her hands holding the blanket caught her eye. Slowly, disbelief licking at the truth of what her eyes told her, she examined the fingers and length of her arms.

  The pain. She remembered the pain. Intense. Horrifying. Familiar. Dalaric's power had entered her. Had hurt her and saved her in one fell swoop.

  Was this from him or was it a result of the poison of the foul creatures? she wondered, tracing the silver lines with wide eyes. She pulled the blanket away from her carefully and looked down her body. Her face paled further. "He saved me," she finally whispered to the room. "I remember thinking I was going to die. He called me back from the edge."

  Jaela bit out, "He still needs your mana. Can't have the sacrificial pig die before the slaughter."

  Meghara growled but it was Emersyn who snapped, "Enough!"

  Emersyn panted. Sweet basil, her head hurt so much with just that bit of temper. She looked between the trio who stood to one side and Dalaric's mother. "I do not know what all of this means, but I know I would be dead right now if he hadn't done whatever he did."

  "He mated you," Sarah said softly with a look at her husband. Her eyes met the bright, glowing ones of her sister and fought to hold back her fear for what it could mean. "You are his mate, now."

  Emersyn's heart stopped. "That's not possible," she denied, hands fisted around the blankets. "Dalaric said Akkadians cannot mate humans." Her own heart had not even gone that far in its desires. She had thought that maybe, just maybe, she could find a place at his side. She would have loved the little he could offer.

  "You are not just a human," Meghara's voice broke in. "You are a descendent of a temple witch. Perhaps there is more to the designation than we ever knew."

  Eyes impossibly wide, Emersyn did not know how to respond to that. Her thoughts scattered into chaos. One thought prevailed enough to make itself known. She looked at the female she had once hoped to never see again. She blurted out in a horrified rush, "What will this do to him?"

  Never in Halves

  “I felt her soul deep within mine. It was beautiful. Thank you, Mother Otter.”

  -Emersyn’s Grimoire-

  Once, a human woman had looked at Meghara in fear. Had hidden behind her son's back and refused to face the truth. Had ignored the battles he would have to fight to survive in order to preserve the life she wanted. Alendria had refused to accept a place within the clan. Instead of love bringing Varian home, fear had kept him from it. Far from the safety of those who would have died to protect his sanity, Alendria's fear had killed her son.

  "What will this do to him?"

  Now another woman, a human woman, looked into her eyes in fear. This time it was not a fear of Meghara. Of what she represented. Emersyn feared for him. For Meghara's son. Dalaric.

  Meghara stared into the eyes of the woman her son had claimed for his own. Despite her words to the contrary, Meghara knew Dalaric would have chosen another way to save the woman. His Ki had chosen her but had he the time to fully realize what that meant, he would have done it the proper way. He was too honorable for his own good, sometimes.

  She lifted the soft towels she had brought into the room and laid them on the marble table that sat next to the bathing basin. She walked over to the bed where the woman sat on the edge, wrapped in a sheet. Meghara laid the fine black robe stitched with silver and green threads next to her.

  "Thank you," Emersyn softly uttered.

  At a loss for words for once in her long life, Meghara managed an awkward pat on top of the female's head. She frowned as she closed the door behind her to allow the other woman privacy to freshen herself before the meeting to discuss all that had occurred. />
  "She has all she requires?" Dalaric asked from the hall behind her. He leaned against it, black robe once more covering his form.

  Meghara barely managed to catch her heart in her throat. She cut narrow eyes on her son. "How long were you there?" she inquired with a hard glare. His annoying habit of hiding his scent had always been a sore point with her.

  "Long enough to hear you usher the humans from the room and call Loren for towels and one of your robes," he answered. He looked at the closed door. "Did she say anything important after I left?" he asked, expression blank.

  Meghara's brow lifted. "Important?" Her son was feeling insecure. That could only happen for one reason. "You marked her. Claimed her. But she has not yet done the same. Your bond only exists one-way," she guessed. She had assumed the female had risen sometime during the past two days and had managed the feat.

  His silence was all the answer she needed. "And if she is too human to complete the bond? If she refutes a bond she did not agree to, as is her right? What will you and Aegwin do then?" she challenged. Given the males' unique bond, it would be a special kind of hell should she refuse to claim both. At current Dalaric was the only one suffering but Aegwin would not be far behind as the bond grew stronger with time.

  Akkadian mating ritual was two-part. First the Sydae-Ra would claim his mate publicly with the marking of his Ki. Later that night his female would privately return the gesture. Without it, he would be forever bound to experience her emotions without a barrier to protect his mind from the onslaught or the ability to reciprocate. It was an empty, chaotic existence. She knew of only a few females who had damned their mates thusly, and the males had chosen to end their own lives rather than suffer for it indefinitely.

  "Never in halves," she said with a pained look. At his narrowed eyes, Meghara sighed. "I have proven forgetful. I forgot to heat the waters. I will be down shortly," she said, and slipped back inside the room on quiet feet. She shut the door on his glare but knew he would not dare the barrier to his mate's room while she bathed. Not just yet.

  She turned to look across the room and the words she could not find before died on her lips. Her son's mate had abandoned the sheet to stand naked before the basin. Unaware she had company, the female dipped a toe in the cool water and shivered.

  Meghara's eyes took in the pattern her son's Ki had left. It danced and swirled over the entire length of Emersyn's exposed body. She had never seen something so beautiful.

  Emersyn whirled around at the sound of indrawn breath behind her. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw who it was. "I'm sorry," she chuckled. "You surprised me." She glanced at the water. "I know I am being a child, but it is very cold."

  Meghara stilled. She walked over to the basin and sent a portion of Ki into the waters to heat them. She tested the waters before gesturing to them. "Warm, but not hot enough to burn your skin," she said.

  Emersyn tried the waters again and gave a blissful smile of thanks as she slid into the soothing warmth. "Thank you," she murmured. She cocked her head to the side when Meghara took a seat on the end of the bed instead of leaving again.

  Meghara watched as the woman took her time smoothing her hair under the water. She finally ventured, "You are comfortable with your human body in a state of undress? You were holding the blankets to you very fiercely." Like most humans, she had thought the other woman shy of her natural state due to her actions previously, but she had not scrambled to hide from her eyes.

  Emersyn's face screwed up in thought as she washed her hair with the sweet-smelling soap she had been provided before chuckling. "Bannon was there. And," she added with a blush, "Dalaric." Emersyn dunked to wash the soap from her head. She smiled at Meghara. "We are all female here. There is nothing to be ashamed of."

  "Akkadians do not hide within the confines of their clan holdings and palaces. Male or female," Meghara stated loftily. "We clothe our forms to display our breeding and wealth. Only crass lines view displays of flesh in a prurient manner."

  "I am not Akkadian," Emersyn reminded her.

  Meghara growled out, "Dalaric is."

  Emersyn bit her lip. "I am aware."

  Feeling every bit of awkwardness, Emersyn rose from the water and grabbed a towel to begin drying her body and hair. She could taste the bitterness emanating from Meghara, but she did not know if it was for her or the situation in general. "What do you want from me?" she asked after wrapping the towel around her body and sitting on the edge of the bed next to Meghara.

  "Why would you assume I need anything from you?"

  Emersyn's shoulders slumped. She looked at the female she had once fought. "You are a mother who has already lost one son. I know truly little about Akkadians, but I do know loss. It is the most terrible thing in the world to bear. I do not want to be a reason for you to be afraid again."

  Meghara's claws flexed. She had once been as tender of heart. Had once wanted to save everyone around her from pain even if it was at her expense. It had been a love for both sons that had sent her to Varian when he was lost.

  "He will suffer for the bond he has to you." She looked into the woman's Ki-touched eyes. Even by Akkadian standards, they were glorious. "You asked what it would do to him. He will be forever at the mercy of every little emotion you feel until he will not remember who you are and who he is. There will only be you."

  "This is how mating is for everyone?" Emersyn looked at the straight lines on Meghara's neck. "Dalaric's father is the same?"

  "Only those of true strength of Ki can partake of the deepest mating bond. We have a complete bond, body and Ki combined," Meghara declared. "Though my son has given to you more Ki than I have ever seen, you do not have a complete bond."

  Emersyn looked at her hands. The lines stood out in stark contract. She had seen them all over her legs. Her belly and chest. She had tried not to think too much about it until she could talk to Dalaric.

  She met Meghara's eyes. "Can it be undone?"

  "Only if he wishes it." Meghara stared at the woman, willing her to understand. "He can recall his Ki, but only if you refute him. And it must be done quickly. After a handful of days there will be no chance of ending it."

  Emersyn's heart hurt. "You want me to do this?"

  "No." Hard. Flat. Irrefutable. Despite her fears for him, Meghara knew in her once gentle heart that her son felt for this woman. Whatever would happen with Aegwin would happen. She had no control over that male's happiness.

  "What do I need to do to help him?" Emersyn's chest rose and fell on a hard sigh. "If the bond is completed, will it make it better for him? Make it less punishing?"

  "Yes."

  Emersyn felt her heart skip a beat. "How can I complete it?"

  Meghara stood. She looked down on the human woman her son had mated. "Will you claim your place within my clan and seek its welfare above your own?"

  Emersyn frowned up at her. "Haven't I already promised this? I told Dalaric I would help him. Help Caelwin. He no longer needs this, but I would not abandon your people." Her skin crawled with the reminder of how badly the pain of Caelwin's Rite had hurt. Her heart echoed with the emptiness of her mana well. "I have given more to your clan than you will ever know," she whispered.

  Meghara regarded her in silence for a tense moment. Then, "He claimed your mana and mind for himself with his Ki. You must mark his body with your essence. Your mana bowed its head to his power. Only by his will can you subdue his Ki to mark him in turn and complete the first bond. Once you give him the marking, you will have time to accept his seed. After you take his seed within you, there will be no Emersyn the witch or Emersyn the human. You will be his. His Sydae-Va. His mate. His Emersyn."

  Emersyn blinked. "What if he does not want me to mark him?" she asked. "To bind him if he has a chance to be free?"

  The tip of Meghara's fang glinted as she gave the female a wry smile. "He has claimed a very naïve little human, hasn't he?"

  Emersyn's brows drew together in thought as Meghara moved to the d
oor. "Wait!" she yelled as the Akkadian reached for the door. Emersyn slowly walked to the other woman, the memory of the moments she had shared with Dalaric as he spoke of the past swimming to the surface.

  "I am not Akkadian," she declared to the taller female. "But that does not mean I cannot learn what it means to be Akkadian. To learn your ways as well. For him. For what he sacrificed to keep me safe, regardless of why he did it. Will you help me?"

  Meghara felt warmth bloom within her breast. She slid a hand to cover the starburst her robe concealed. The lines warmed against her flesh. She bowed her head. "Mark my son. Complete the first bond," she commanded. "Then we will talk of what it means to be Akkadian." She tilted her head to the side. "Though I believe you may hold more of what he requires already inside your little human heart than even he knows, there is much you need to know. And even more you may have to forgive though that is for him to speak of."

  Emersyn gave Meghara a confused but genuine smile. The older female sighed inwardly as she walked out of the room. She had warned Dalaric not to take a second. That fate had a way of making disasters of the best laid plans. Meghara would have to watch the males closely to ensure they did not overstep in their pursuit of forming a true Sydae. The bonding of males to their shared mate.

  Aegwin was a scoundrel. He would no doubt do all in his power to fluster the female until she could not tell up from down until he got what he wanted. On more than one occasion, Meghara had been forced to duel with that particular male over matters of propriety. Emersyn was so young yet. Without a mother to defend Emersyn’s right to choose, she would be even more helpless against the wily machinations of a green dragon such as Aegwin.

  Meghara would take care to watch him closely.

  Mana is Not Just Mana

  “The White Dragon Clan was always at war with itself. That which makes them strong has also made them weak.”

  -Akkadians: Past, Present, Future-