Page 50 of First Light
Nêrys ddraig.He lowered his head.Seren.
“No.” The ache was piercing because she could feel the longing from the dragon’s burning heart. Tears fell down her cheeks as she looked up and met his eye. “I’m not Seren. I’m her twin. I’m so sorry I’m not her.”
The dragon bent his head toward the ground, turning his brilliant gold eye on Carys and blinking slowly.Nêrys ddraig.
The whisper held an ache of longing and the shadow of grief.
Carys reached out, fearlessly running a hand over skin warmed by internal fire. “I’m not her, but I’m so sorry she’s gone. I can feel how much you miss her.”
A pained whisper.Nêrys.
“You’re her dragon, aren’t you?” Carys couldn’t believe she was actually touching a dragon. She sniffed and blinked back tears, laughing a little in spite of everything. “You’re so beautiful.” She let out a shaky breath. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
The dragon was bigger than she could have ever imagined in her rational mind, but she knew him. In her soul, she felt the connection snap into place as her racing heart settled and beat in a slow and easy rhythm that matchedhis own.
There was no fear. No doubt.
She knew this creature like she knew herself.
I feel her in you, Nêrys.
“My name is Carys.” She laid her head on the dragon’s warm cheek. “But you can call me Nêrys if you want.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Robb of Moray, high chieftain of the Scottish lands and lord of Sgàin Castle, eyed his daughter-in-law’s Brightkin from a throne in the North Hall. When she’d come into his presence the day before, he’d looked on Carys with silence and more than a little annoyance.
Now his dark gaze pierced her with curiosity and clear suspicion.
Carys cleared her throat and started to say something, but Robb glared, held up a finger, and she fell silent.
Say nothing.
Carys heard the dragon’s voice in her mind. Gut instinct told her to listen to him despite having only just met the strange creature who seemed to be tied directly to the center of her being.
It was unsettling and comforting at the same time.
“Father,” Lachlan started, then also stopped speaking when Robb’s dark gaze swung toward him. Lachlan shut his mouth and looked at the ground.
Okay then. Lachlan was not going to help.
Robb cast his eyes across the curious crowd bunched into the room who were whispering in a mix of languages and accents. They werehumans mostly, but a contingent of tall, richly dressed fae was also in the audience hall, staring at Carys with clear interest. A group of pale humans in foreign clothing murmured among themselves while a tall man with a dark gaze and a heavy beard stood in front of them, also staring openly.
It was by far the most attention she’d ever received in her life, and she immediately hated all of it. She looked for Duncan, but she couldn’t see him because of the crowd.
Robb scanned the curious onlookers, then turned silently to his queen.
Lady Elanor rose to her feet and addressed the gathered crowd. She spread her arms and spoke in a gentle voice. “Friends and fae.” She nodded at the fae party, and they nodded back. “Visiting lords and ladies.” She looked at the pale people guarded by the dark behemoth. “This is a family matter, and the high chief requests privacy for our kin. If you would excuse us at this time, we would be most grateful. We will return to the high chief’s regular audiences as swiftly as possible.”
It was a very diplomatic “Get the fuck out of here,” but the crowd listened. Dozens of people shuffled out of the hall—the castle guard serving as their ushers—leaving Carys in the middle of the room with Lachlan and his family on the thrones sitting above her, Aisling and Duncan waiting in the wings, and a massive, nearly seven-foot-tall man towering behind her.
Some of the stares might have been for him.
The dragon’s name was Cadell, and the heat from his human form felt like the only thing keeping Carys warm under the frosty glare of Robb’s blue eyes.
“So,” Robb finally muttered, “the dragon is back.”
In his human body, Cadell sported a shock of short, sandy-brown hair. His skin was pale and ruddy from the wind, and the angles of his face were sharp, severe cheekbones and a prominent, straight nose giving him the unmistakably wild air of a bird of prey. His dark eyebrows cut a broad line over his brilliant gold eyes, which were the same as in his beast form.