Dragon Cipher Read online

  “Thank you.” My lips quirked at her compliment. “I should have known that you, as a scholar, would have a particular interest in the item itself.”

  She tilted her head, considering it. “I am tempted to believe you about its age. It’s crazy, I know. How would you ever have come into possession of something so mind-bogglingly old?”

  I coughed. “Because, as I’ve already told you, I myself am of the same age. Well, older actually. The tablet was made for me when I was a young man. I was guilty then of...certain misdeeds. My fate was to live with part of me closed off, held tightly, imprisoned in this magical device.”

  “I don’t know how much of that I can accept as truth.” Laurel finally tore herself away from the tablet on the wall. It was ironic that it made her so acutely uncomfortable, and yet she was reluctant to walk away from it. She walked back to the couch and sank down into the seat she had left only a few minutes before.

  “It’s all true,” I assured her. “But I know it will take time for you to absorb it. What matters most is that we know we have found each other.”

  “No.” She dropped the single word with finality. “I haven’t found anything. I mean, I haven’t even been looking for anything.” She had closed herself off from me, wrapping her arms around herself like a tired child.

  “Laurel, that isn’t true at all. You’ve been looking for everything. You are a fearless revolutionary back on Elter. You are a seeker of knowledge here, a researcher of science and magic.” She nodded in response. I could see that she might not want to admit it, but I was right. “So perhaps in time you will see that there was something else to be found as well. There is a bond between us. It is not a small thing. On the contrary, it will shake the world.”

  She looked pale and tired, as if she might fall asleep before she managed to speak again. “Safyr, that’s enough for tonight. Ok? If you want, we can argue all day long tomorrow about whether we, the two people with the least in common in the universe, are fated to be mates. Seriously, that is never going to happen.” She ran her hand over her face, rubbing her forehead, then stifling a yawn. “But for now, can I rest?”

  Slowly, not wanting to spook her, I sat on the edge of the couch. I took the blankets I had retrieved from the other room and pushed them toward her. If I had my way, I would lay them gently across her and kiss her. The scent of her wafted toward me even now, filling my body with heat. She smelled like Elterian flowers, but that delicacy was mixed with something stronger. Something like the steel of this world.

  Or I would lift her in my arms and carry her to my bedroom. I would remove her beautiful blue dress as slowly as possible, until I could wait no longer. Then I would gather her against me and ravish her.

  She was still awake enough to watch me. Something about her tiny smirk told me that she knew just what I was thinking. I met her gaze with a single raised eyebrow. I could never be sorry for imagining such things about her.

  Laurel leaned her head against the arm of the couch. The color had come back into her pale cheeks, so that she no longer looked as if she had seen a ghost. The trouble, of course, was that she had. When it came to being relevant in today’s world, I was just that.

  I was nothing more than a relic from another time.

  She murmured, so low that I had to lean closer to make out her words. “You can tell me more about it tomorrow. I want to know how it is that you are as old as all that.”

  “I will tell you, gladly,” I said. Deep in my heart, I knew I was lying. I would tell her some of the story, but not all. Never, never all of it.

  “And if you want my help, then I can give it to you. Not as your mate. But if there’s something I can do as a friend, to free whatever part of you is trapped in there, I will.” She lifted her head slightly and met my eyes. Her bright green eyes were clear and direct, fearless as any woman that had ever lived. Even when she was tired and startled, she would meet this challenge as best as she knew how.

  “Thank you,” I murmured. “As friends, then. I do need your help, and I will be grateful for it beyond words.”

  She sighed and fell asleep. I knew I would not leave her side. If she would not come to my bed, then that was fine. I would not go to it either.

  I would watch her beautiful face all night as she slept, and I would guard her against all those who might seek to harm her. For she had no understanding yet of what a journey it would be to break the coded lock that bound the golden tablet.

  And that we would never be friends.

  Rather, we would never be only friends.

  Our destiny was to be mates. I was as certain of that as I was of the darkness that had once been within me. And once I was whole again, I would be able to see what was next for us.

  Once we solved the mystery of how to unlock the tablet, I would know whether I could claim in her good conscience, or whether I was still the most evil dragon ever fly over the hot sands of Elter.

  Chapter 7: Laurel

  When I woke, I stretched out my arms and realized that I was not in my own bed at Kat’s place. My fingers made contact with the smooth leather of what I was sure was a sofa. In a split second, it all came back to me. I was still in Safyr’s living room.

  The strangest part was that I was as well rested as if I had slept in the most comfortable bed in the world. As if I were still a child, nestled in my home with my parents, trusting that my life would always be well. That had been an illusion, back then, of course. When I was small, I had not yet realized that peasants were never safe from dragons. As I grew older, and my parents eventually disappeared, meeting the same fate as all adults in our town, I became hardened to the realities of our world.

  Perhaps it was then that I had stopped sleeping well.

  Now, here I was, in another dimension entirely, seeking solutions to the problems of an entire world. I had not become so complacent to the standard peasant fate that I was willing to allow it to continue. That was what set me apart from my peers, never allowing me to fit in with them.

  I had believed that I was coming to this world to try to find ways to make my magic strong enough that I could save my people. I needed to be able to provide all dragons in our world with enough power that they no longer sought to steal it from peasants by taking our lives.

  Now, I was starting to wonder if I had arrived here more open to seeking my own, unknown destiny that I had realized. It was tempting to think that there was a future made just for me. Here, or anywhere, the notion of a place where I fit in was tempting indeed.

  I shifted my body against the soft blankets that wrapped me in heavenly comfort. It was starting to look a little like I was here on vacation. I hadn’t meant to spend the night at the home of a staggeringly handsome man. Or dragon.

  And I hadn’t meant to become so relaxed that I fell asleep and slumbered as I had not done in years. My sense of purpose appeared to be crumbling.

  Feeling like a fraud, I sat all the way up. I rubbed my eyes at the bright light that was filtering in through the wide windows. Something had woken me. What was it?

  When the mouthwatering smell of breakfast hit me, I knew without question that it had caused me to awaken. My belly growled. I looked around with a pang of embarrassment. Would Safyr hear? I had come here with such high ideals, and now I was reduced to a decadent woman who slept halfway through the morning and thought of nothing but pancakes, eggs, and breakfast sausage.

  Oh, but it smelled so good.

  I rose, unwrapping my legs from the blankets. When I turned back to the kitchen, I almost bumped into my host. He was moving toward me with a friendly grin, as if I were an ordinary houseguest that he was pleased to see again in the morning.

  “I’m so sorry!” I squeaked. “I don’t know why I slept so long. I can’t believe I even fell asleep at all. Nobody ever sleeps well on a couch.” Then, thinking that sounded ungrateful, I backtracked. “I mean, it’s an amazing couch. Who knew that I could have the best night’s sleep I’ve had in years, sleeping on a sofa?�
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  Safyr smiled down at me, taking me gently by the hand and leading me to the next room. He had set a crisply tidy breakfast table, complete with full coffee service. A man after my own heart.

  Then I realized with a jolt, that’s just what he was.

  I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Thank you for all this. But you know I still can’t be your...um...mate, right? I mean, marry you, or whatever.”

  He nodded calmly at me, but did not answer. Instead, he went to work serving all the delicious food that I had been smelling.

  “Safyr, do you hear me?” I couldn’t stop myself from persisting. “I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong message staying over last night, but there is no way it would ever work between us.”

  “You think that sleeping on my couch might have sent the wrong message?” His blue eyes twinkled at me. “I listened to you when you said that you did not want to share my bed. You were comfortable, warm, and safe in my living room last night. So I think I got your message well enough.” His lips twitched with humor.

  “Ok.” I looked down at my plate. Now I just felt silly for mentioning it.

  “I can see that perhaps you are not a morning person,” he said. “Let me pour you a little more coffee. I have it specially roasted to my own specifications.”

  As I ate, I looked around the room. I still had not seen most of his apartment. When we came in last night, I had been on the verge of collapse from overusing my magic against the red dragons. Then the business with the golden tablet had derailed any of the normal activities of a social visit.

  “You have a beautiful place here,” I said. “The views are amazing. I was noticing last night, though, that you keep it very simple. Why is that?”

  “You’re wondering if I have been trying to avoid putting down roots here? That’s a fair question. I suppose I have.”

  “But you said last night that you were as old as the tablet on your wall. That makes you truly ancient.” I felt the telltale blush creep up my cheeks at the perennial fear of having offended a dragon.

  He laughed gently. “It’s all right. I don’t mind being called old.” He passed me a bowl of cut strawberries and melons, their bright colors and sweet smell making my mouth water. “I know it is disconcerting for humans to not be able to guess a dragon shifter’s age. We simply do not change in appearance at all once we reach maturity. It makes it difficult to know who is young and foolish, and who is old and wise.”

  “And which are you?” I couldn’t help asking.

  “Well, that’s a tricky question, isn’t it? I suppose I’d say that I am very old and yet still very foolish.”

  “The others don’t know, do they?”

  “You mean the other dragons? Do they know about my advanced age? No, not at all. I prefer for them to think that I am a young lout, a scatterbrained partier who lives for his own pleasure. It prevents them from asking me questions. None of them know that I was here in this world before they were born.” He flicked his glance away from me, not wanting to brag. “And, well, that I own most of it.”

  I raised an eyebrow, not sure how to respond to that. “And yet you live simply.”

  “There are very few things that one really needs,” he answered. “Just as you grew up as an Elterian peasant, with your needs met by the magic of dragons, so I have a baseline of wishes that are taken care of. The rest is unnecessary.”

  “You shouldn’t talk about what it is like to be a peasant. You have no idea.” My words were bitter, but they could never be acrid enough to express my distaste for his pretense of familiarity.

  Safyr sighed. “No, you’re right. I do not know what it is like to be a peasant. But I do know quite a lot about the lifestyle. I...ah...saw it happen, you see.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Long ago, before the dragons belonged to Houses, before they lived their lives according to those certain designated traits of behavior, I was there. That was before they gained their power through the destruction of peasants.” He bit off his words as if he regretted speaking them. For a moment, he was completely silent, not taking another bite. He rested his strong hands on the table and contemplated them.

  When I did as well, it was suddenly impossible for me to forget what it had felt like when he had held me in his arms on the dance floor last night. Those firm hands against my waist, enfolding my smaller fingers in his, made for an intoxicating memory.

  But he did not seem to be thinking the same thing at all.

  His face was like thunder.

  Then, with a shake of his head, he cleared his expression and sent me a small smile. He looked like another person entirely when he did that.

  Which was the real Safyr?

  He leaned toward me with a conspiratorial look. “Last night, we talked about finding a way to free my soul from the golden tablet. Are you still willing to help?”

  I frowned. “Yes, I think so. I need to know more about the problem, though. Breaking through the magical code may be within my abilities.” I studied his face, wondering if I was being taken for a fool. “However, it has occurred to me that if you had part of yourself trapped in there as a punishment, then it would be wrong of me to work against that.”

  “I wondered if you would think of that,” he answered cheerfully. “You are correct that it was a punishment, but the term has long been served. It was something I did to myself. Not so much a prison sentence as an auto-imposed period of contemplation.”

  “That could be true,” I agreed. “But how would I know? You might be lying about it.”

  He barked a low laugh. “I could, yes. But do you think there is any crime, anywhere, for which the appropriate sentence is a million years of having one’s soul split in pieces?”

  It was my turn to look down in embarrassment. “That is a good question, isn’t it? I don’t know if I am well enough educated in ethics, but I cannot imagine what would be so bad as to deserve that.”

  He watched me, so still in his seat that he might not have been breathing.

  Finally, I sighed, unable to know how to answer his query. “I just can’t say. If some cultures impose life imprisonment for taking a life, as I know they do here in this world, then that could apply. But that could never compare to a prison term of a million years. Nobody could be so evil as to deserve that.”

  Safyr leaned toward me again, holding out his hand across the table. “And have you determined yet whether I am evil?” His smile was gentle and sad.

  How was I to know?

  With reluctance, I understood the ways in which we were similar. He felt set apart from his own people through his secret history. I had never been able to be like any other peasant because of my magic. After my visit here, to this dimension, I surely could never find that ease.

  I gulped. And I chose to trust him.

  I laid my hand in his.

  “Yes.”

  His bright eyes glimmered at me. “You mean you have decided about the ethical question?” Those strong, warm fingers closed around mine in a clasp that was more companionable than sensual.

  “No, silly. Yes, I will help you. And, well, yes, I suppose I have decided that I don’t believe you could be that bad.” My words came out in a tangle that made me sound younger than I was. Surely it made no difference to him whether I came across as immature; no matter what, I was merely a mouse or a gnat in the scale of his lifetime. I straightened my shoulders, summoning all my resolve.

  “I agree. I will help you pull your soul free of the golden tablet.”

  Chapter 8: Safyr

  It cost Laurel much to tell me that she would help me. I didn’t know whether she was scared of making the wrong choice when it came to questions of morality. What I did know was that she was terrified of trifling with dragons in general.

  And yet, somehow, in some sort of paradoxical miracle, she was not afraid of me. If I could keep as still as possible, extending to her as much gentleness as I could muster, she might learn to trust m
e. It was the only thing I truly wanted.

  Well. Becoming free of the tablet’s magic and then claiming Laurel as my mate were the only two things I wanted.

  I needed to tell her the truth about my quest. “Laurel, I have to say this. Even though you are agreeing to help me as a friend. I am still sure that you are my fated mate. I believe that you will come to hear that within your heart as well.”

  She frowned at me. She almost withdrew her hand from mine, but for whatever reason, she did not. Instead, she looked at our hands where they lay entwined on the tabletop in front of us. Something was keeping her from pulling back and running. What was it? Did she already feel the whispers that told her we were meant to be together?

  Within me, a constant yearning for her made me sure every moment that she was indeed the mate I had waited so long for. It was a sense as clear as a bell, yet as enduring as the stars.

  “I won’t argue with you about it,” she said softly. “All I can tell you is that I can never be with a dragon. No matter how much...well. Even if I wanted to.”

  My heart caught briefly in my chest. She was feeling it. I knew it.

  Now if I could only gain my freedom, we could be together. If we tried, and did not succeed, I would perish. That was the curse of my imprisonment in the tablet.

  I could not claim her as my mate unless I was whole. But if I destroyed the tablet in my attempt to free myself, I would no longer be consigned to walk the earth in the partially alive state I currently occupied. No, my life would end right there, in the resulting magical cataclysm.

  No need to tell her that yet.

  My hand continued to hold hers. I was sure that we were both thinking of nothing but our skin touching. Her fingers were slender and warm, her pale, smooth skin soft against mine. If only I could lean over and brush the hair from her face. I would take her in my arms, with no thought of dancing or comfort. I would run my hands along her body, reveling in every curve until she gasped for more.