bedeviled & beyond 03 - bedeviled & beleaguered Read Online Free Page B

“I...I’m just not sure anymore.”
    I stared at her, not believing what I was hearing.
    She raised a shaking hand to her fae and rubbed at her eyes before meeting my gaze again. “I know now that your...magic...is something you can’t live without. It defines you in some strange way.” Her gaze slid downward and her hands met in front of the cooling tea, the long fingers tapping together. I almost smiled at the mannerism, which was one I’d seen our father make whenever he was distressed about something. “I might have been wr-wr-wr...” Her lips wrapped around the unaccustomed admission but her throat just wouldn’t let go of the word.
    “Wrong?” I smiled.
    Darma’s gaze jerked in my direction. Instead of answering she pinched her shoulders upward again.
    Darma appeared to be undergoing some kind of life altering change that had the potential to make my life easier in the long run. But somehow, looking at her miserable face, I couldn’t quite celebrate the change.
    I gave her hand a final squeeze and stood up. “Whatever I can do to help.” I hesitated. I was on totally new ground. Darma had always been so self-sufficient and strong. She’d never needed my help before. For anything. I wasn’t exactly sure how to proceed. Finally I just went with my instincts. “You’ll let me know?”
    She didn’t look up but nodded. “Thanks.” The word was spoken so quietly it was nearly a whisper. I stood there a moment longer, reluctant to leave her alone. But when she didn’t appear to notice me I decided I might as well leave.
    I headed for the office, feeling unsettled. My life had always been so filled with turmoil, so complex and, at times, difficult but I’d always had one thing I could count on never changing. One thing. But that was changing too. Sighing, I decided I’d adjust to knowing my sister was cavorting with a Royal Prince. I always adjusted. It was one of the facets of my nature that I was particularly proud of. I just wasn’t happy at the moment about having to make that adjustment. Something about the situation just felt...wr-wr...
    Suddenly the sky in front of the Viper blackened and we surged sideways on a sweep of violent air. All thoughts of my sister and her state of mind fled as I realized the unnatural blackness of the sky had glistening scales and, when it shifted to stay in front of the Viper, large white teeth.
    A black dragon.
    “Shit!”
    The thing smiled at me through the Viper’s front viewport and swung backward in the air with a powerful sweep of its massive, black wings. I saw the shocking white of its long, scale-free underbelly and thick, treelike back legs as the dragon spread its enormous wings, creating a solid backwash of wind. The backdraft nearly stopped the Viper’s forward motion, causing us to hang in the air as we fought to regain our equilibrium.
    Cursing colorfully I forced my horrified gaze away from the attacking dragon and started punching buttons on the Viper’s directional panel. Pushing us into hyper-drive allowed the Viper to break free of the wall of wind the dragon’s powerfully sweeping wings were creating and we finally surged upward, passing just over the thing’s, long, elegant snout.
    The dragon emitted a scream of rage behind us as we sailed free and I prayed we were going fast enough to outrun it. Unfortunately, a sudden thud on the Viper’s tail end told me that answer was a resounding...um no. We weren’t going to outrun the dragon. The Viper slowed and began to struggle, whining deep inside its guts at the effort to do what I’d instructed it to do. Finally we stopped completely and the Viper shuddered as something huge and heavy seemed to shimmy up its back.
    I looked up and saw the dragon’s white underbelly smashed against the upper viewport. Apparently the thing had wrapped itself around us.
    Movement tore my gaze forward as a huge mouth filled with deadly looking teeth filled the front viewport.
    Yelping in surprise, I threw