A Ballad of the Sun and the Moon

Chapter 9

"Leaving early again Williams?" the foreman asked. "You seem to run out of bread quickly, lately." He took Tamlane's silver and tossed the pieces onto a scale. "Ten ounces less than usual," he sighed, "Williams at some point I have to inform Mr. Carlisle."

"I, um, I know. It's just that I'm trying to get my daughter released into my custody. The council only accepts appeals in written form before six pm."

The foreman shot him a sympathetic smile. If the rumors were true and the daughter was betrothed to the Alpha, then Williams didn't stand a chance. He hadn't the heart to tell the man to forget it.

"Go on, Williams."

"Thank you."

It was a good quarter hour before he reached the beaten-down narrow path leading to his cottage. The grass surrounding it had perked up a bit from the recent rain and his boots collected dew drops as he brushed through.

He would write again tonight, a petition for his daughter. Every day since she'd arrived he wrote a letter for her release and every day he went unanswered. So when he opened that sorry excuse of a door made of crude plank wood he never thought to see her sitting at his dining table waiting for him.

"Hello Father."

She wore men's clothing and smelled like one too. The tension in her lines was clear highlighting the weary bags beneath her eyes.

"Sunniva!" It came out as relief. He made no move towards her. "Did the Alpha release you?"

"Release me?"

A look of confusion consumed Tamlane's face.

"I thought it was time we had a talk," she said. "There is simply too much I don't know."

"Are you mated to the Earl?" asked Tamlane.

It was blunt and came out desperate, but all he could feel was a protective need for his only child.

"Do you mean did we have intercourse?" Sunniva asked, wishing to clarify as her lips took a sour slant.

Tamlane gave a diffident nod.

"Most certainly not. Neither are we married. Unless you have some odd understanding of a wedding that I unknowingly participated in."

Tamlane finally let the air escape his lungs.

"So he doesn't know you can Turn?"

"Why is everyone so concerned with whether I can Turn?"

"Because if you can you are bound by our laws to wed the Alpha's son."

She had figured as much. She ran a hand through her hair tensely, pulling out a few loose strands. She looked at them, letting them fall to the floor.

"And if I choose not to?"

Tamlane shook his head. "There is no choice in a place like Darkfrith. Whether you happily consent or are bound and forced doesn't matter to them. There are three women in the tribe that can make the change and all are directly related to the Alpha heir. Our people are desperate. They will do anything. If they know you can Turn-"

"But they don't. They won't! The council has demanded Kimber acquire proof before he lays a hand on me. "

"You cannot rely on the word of the council. If the Alpha decides to take you anyways they will most likely comply."

"Kimber wouldn't go against the will of the council."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because he didn't. He was close and he didn't." She looked almost remorseful.

"Sunniva. You don't understand our kind. You're different. I don't know how but there is something ineffable about you."

A frown caused the creases of her mouth to compress into little sunbursts.

"Would you like to see? Do you want to see what I can do that I think none of you can?"

Tamlane remained still.

Sunniva left her chair and closed every shutter and curtain until she reached the window from which the last bit of sunlight still flooded the room.

"Look at me," she directed.

Tamlane watched as the light around her rippled and warped and the face of his daughter no longer looked upon him. Instead he found himself staring into blue eyes surrounded by red hair laced grey, a mirror image of himself, but it was his daughter.

"With light I can appear as anyone I wish. The King of England. A lowly serf. Or even Lord Kimber Langford himself. But in the darkness..."

She pulled the last shutter closed along with its curtain.

Her hair resembled spun silver and gold as if made from metal. Her skin looked like translucent marble but instead of veins visible there a was white light coming from beneath. Her presence was achingly undeniable. Tamlane was unable take his eyes away.

Sunniva stood there examining his reaction.

He couldn't help it. His heart swelled with pride seeing his child displaying Gifts their kind had never been known to possess. He himself had always always been plain, lacking the magnificence of his brethren despite being able to Turn. His mate had been a human and logically his offspring should have been ordinary, but she stood there in all her exquisite splendor.

"You are beautiful, Sunniva," he stated, his breath positively taken.

She looked down in disbelief and scoffed.

"I didn't always look like this. The hair came first, slowly paling. I was born with eyes like Mama, but after she died those left me too. I concealed both with kerchiefs, hoods and downward gazes. But after I...Turned," she said as if the word now brought her pain,"I transformed into this monster."

Tamlane realized the danger of it all. It was worse than he could have possibly imagined. That she could Turn made her desirable enough, but she was much more special than that.

She wouldn't be seen as a freak among the drákon. They would consider her a treasure and whoever claimed her would guard her jealously. The council would undoubtedly see her Gifts a threat to their secrecy and confine her to the shire not willing to risk a human ever seeing her like this. His expression grew grave.

"Listen to me. The drakes will be drawn to you if they even with the suspicion that you are more than you seem. Your light is like a moth to a flame."

Sunniva snapped the curtains back open. The glow left and she returned her disguise; a dull variation of her true visage.

A still silence lingered between them.

"I look just as terrible as a dragon. Not like what I've seen here with your sleek scales of jade and crimson and all those splendid colors," she revealed bitterly.

Tamlane swallowed and opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to ask in what way, but her expression gave him pause.

"How old were you?" he asked instead.

"Thirteen."

She turned to the window, her face no longer visible, and clasped her hands just above the tail of her coat.

"I always knew I was different, at least in some way. The Others, as you call them, seemed afraid, always avoiding me. Some were polite, others not so. I could hear their whispers despite walls between us and feel without looking their fearful eyes. Maybe it concerned me as a child, but remaining apart was something I became comfortable with early on. And I had Mama. She wasn't scared of me. So proud, she said I would grow up to be a powerful woman and make a difference for us. But then she died and my "differences" appeared and you weren't there to teach me."

The anger and hurt seethed through her teeth.

"I didn't want to leave you," insisted Tamlane. He stood and turned her to face him.

"God I have thought about you and your mother every day since then. But I don't regret it. If I had returned with you here you would have been chained since the day your Gifts emerged. You would have been wed and bred and if you tried to leave, hooded and imprisoned to the Dead Room."

She let out a sharp gust of air through her nose and turned her head a masking angle away. The tears were still clinging to her lids as if forbidden to fall. Her shoulders slumped forward in defeat.

"You're right," she admitted.

They remained silent for a time, adjusting to the truth between them. The light shifted in the room drawing both their eyes.

"The sun is going down," stated Sunniva. "Soon we shall see whether Kimber believes me the halfling child of a criminal or his terrible dragon mate."

She didn't believe for a second that Kimber had been fooled by her lie. He was coming, she could feel that foreboding shadow draw closer.

"Niva?" her father asked, his face filled with dread.

"Light candles," she commanded. "Lanterns or a lamp. I need-"

"Niva! You have to fly! Fly as hard and fast as possible. I'll hold them off as long as I can."

"No," she said as a calm command. "I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice your life, but it would be in vain. I don't think I can outpace them. Not at night and like you said if they see me the charade is over."

****

Kimber bathed and took the opportunity to shave, using the time to concoct a plan. His brother had correctly made the point that he was beginning to look like a madman. He felt like one too.

He needed to go to her. He wasn't sure how to convince her, but he needed to see her, to be with her. Kimber had avoided her since he'd shown her his form and had been devastated when she didn't reciprocate, his feelings still a bit raw. Why couldn't she understand that they were meant for each other? To rule the skies together.

He should have mated her that night. She'd been so ready, so supple and pliant urging him between her thighs. Thinking back on it he had known deep down what she was, what she had always been. He felt the twitch in his groin just thinking of it.

He regretted having let the council plant doubts in his mind. He should have taken her whether he had proof or not and if the council had challenged him, put them in their place with sharp fangs and talons.

He stood before her door now. It smelled lovely, like summer, like Sunniva. He thought maybe he would start with an apology for his behavior. He would leave out an explanation. If she wanted to know, the onus was on her to ask and he would blame it on 'official business' or some other obscure trite. And then perhaps an invitation for a walk to the village. It was Wednesday. Hudson's bakery would have cream puffs and someone at the market always sold irises this time of summer. He would get her both. She would like that. Women liked that. Liked him. He was the Alpha after all.

He felt a fool, the dark dragon inside mocking him for a trivial whooing reserved for mortals. He would go through the motions, though, go through the romantic games if that's what his mate required. He sometimes forgot that she was raised in the world of humans and it was now his responsibility to coax the dragon out of her.

"Sunniva?" he called, while knocking on her door.

A leaded feeling sank in his stomach. He didn't knock again.

"Sunniva!" he called, this time more loudly, more insistant.

She wasn't there. Or maybe she was? It wouldn't be the first time she'd eluded him. He opened the door to an empty room, the curtains wide open and the bed made.

He breathed in catching a hint of her. It was coming from the door he had just entered, not the bed or the vanity or even the writing desk.

That couldn't be right. Though it was hard to tell with her, the scent certainly seemed fresh. He followed it back out and down the shadowed corridor lit by occasional candles ensconced on the walls. It tugged him onward, past the main staircase, beyond the upper parlor, into the family wing where his own room was located. A spark came to mind of her in his room, on his bed, waiting for him to apologize with his hands and fingers and tongue. The scent didn't continue though, stopping outside his brother's suite.

Rhys would never, ever betray him. There was no one Kimber trusted more than his own brother. Or would he? With Sunniva as the prize might even his closest ally, his brother, attempt to claim that which was Kimber's?

He should have kept her locked in her room. Better yet, in his room. He should have ignored the council's wishes and bound her to him that night in the woods when they met. He should have marked her and mated her and made her his.

He didn't even check if the door was locked. He threw it open ripping a section of wooden frame with it. The black dragon seethed under his skin. If he found her in there...

His brother had been sitting on a cushioned lounge chair next to the window, reading a book whose gilded title reflected a light into Kimber's eyes.

Rhys jerked his legs up to his chest - which until that moment had been extended from the edge of his seat lazily onto the floor.

"What in hell's-" spouted Rhys.

"WHERE IS SHE?" bellowed Kimber.

Rhys didn't have to guess who he meant. He'd convinced him of her ability to Turn and that ravenous look had returned to his eyes as he searched for his mate.

"If she's not in her room then I don't know where she's popped off to," he said, standing and tossing his book onto a side table.

"Don't play daft with me. I smell her here!" hissed Kimber.

Rhys took a deep breath and looked around, sampling the air. "I smell nothing."

Kimber scowled at him, his eyes had taken on a preternatural black gleam lacking pupils and sclera, a dreadful void of black. He began searching the room, throwing back curtains, tearing open Rhys' armoire. He even looked up the chimney, but it was locked tight and sealed.

"Kim, you're beginning to lose it."

Rhys couldn't believe what he was witnessing. His brother had always been cool and calculated, exact in his actions and diplomatic with his words; the model leader. Only when the tribe was endangered did that frightening side of him appear - or apparently when it involved the woman he perceived as his mate.

Rhys shouldn't have blamed him. He knew the dominating draw a woman could hold. Yet he had never been so possessed as his brother was now.

Kimber had dropped to his hands and knees crawling around on the floor looking under his brother's bed.

Rhys saw it first, a corner of apple-green silk peaking out between his feathered mattress and the box spring. He pulled it, his brother following the fabric with flaring nostrils and feral eyes.

"Kim..." Rhys said his name as a reminder, but it did nothing. His brother's grip was already around his neck. Rhys dropped the wrinkled dress as Kimber's fingers delved into his windpipe cutting off air. Rhys needed to Turn but he couldn't, the lack of oxygen too grave, his brother's grip too tight.

For whatever reason Kimber released him. It became quickly clear why as he launched a powerful fist into Rhys' chest sending him flying.

Rhys Turned to smoke before slamming into the wall. His clothes were spared no such fate. He needed to try and reason with Kim, terrifying and possessed. He put some distance between him and his rabid brother before returning to man.

"Kim, you fool! Think for one moment!" he yelled clutching his chest trying to force air into his lungs.

Kim hesitated.

"I have not, nor will I ever touch your mate! And even if I did, why would I hide her dress in my own bed!"

The words seemed to sober Kimber whose eyes had now returned to normal. He thrust his fingers into his hair stretching the skin of his face backwards. He was losing himself, losing control. He wondered when he'd last slept. His body was fatigued and hungry. With sheer force of will he reined the beast in, pulling it back into his heart where it belonged.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I don't understand what's come over me. I just kept imagining you naked with her, touching her and all I could think...all I was driven to do was...I'm so sorry."

Rhys remained cautious and kept his muscles primed just in case.

"I have to go to her."

"It seems like she doesn't want you to know."

"And that's exactly why I need to find Sunniva."

****

The sun was gone and Sunniva knew Kimber was coming. She couldn't escape him now, but she sure as hell would resist him. She refused to go back to Chasen with the Earl. She refused to become his wife and as sure as hell was hot she would not Turn.

Her father tensed sensing the approach, gripping the coarse wood of his chair. The Earl had brought men with, how many she couldn't say, as she was hardly perceptive once the sun went down. She knew her father feared them. He had told Sunniva as much as he could in the time they had. Of the tribe. Of their customs. Of the prison that was Darkfrith. Of what was most certainly planned of her.

Sunniva wasn't sure if she was scared, as every part of her seemed overshadowed by rage. She wouldn't let it get the better of her, knowing that it could show Kimber exactly what he needed to see. She turned that rage into icy steel hearing the footsteps draw closer. She took a lady's pose, her ankles crossed with both hands placed delicately atop her knee. She'd play the meek maiden, show nothing of strength or authority, refrain from provoking him as her father had suggested. He was looking for a dragon and she wouldn't give it to him.

It came as no surprise that Kimber didn't even knock, simply opening the door as if the home belonged to him.

"Oh look father," she spouted politely with searing undertones. "Earl Langford has come to pay us a visit. Noble Lord, do join us for a glass of tepid water. I'd offer you tea, but unfortunately water is all that is afforded to someone you consider a criminal."

Kimber scanned the room with no hint of amusement, looking like a snake coiled and ready to strike.

"Sunniva, it's time we return to the manor," he said commanding and stern. He remained at the door, head dipped to clear the frame, his menacing figure outlined by the darkness of night leaking in from behind.

"That's very kind of you. However, I feel I've been too much of a burden for the likes of an Alpha, so I found somewhere else to stay."

"Sunniva, this is not a request."

At his demand she lost a bit of that cold exterior and rose to his affront. She was never very good at being icy anyways.

"Or what? You'll cover my head with a hood? Truss me up and lock me in the...what was it called? The Dead Room? I hear the Alphas have used these methods for centuries to prevent rogue drákon from Turning. Seems it would hardly be useful for me as I cannot."

She shrugged her shoulders yet in her face Kimber only found derision. Her father must have said much about the more brutal side of the tribe. He wondered what else he had told her.

"Give us a moment alone, Williams. Your daughter and I have a matter which requires discussion," ordered Kimber.

Tamlane did his best to keep eye contact. He lifted his chin and offered a resounding "no" in reply. He knew how they were. The man perceived his daughter as his bride and would stop at nothing to mark her as such. Tamlane didn't know what he could do to prevent it. He hadn't thought that far ahead. Even in his prime he was never a match for an Alpha. But he would do anything to protect his daughter.

The Earl was taken aback. No one refused an order from him. He contemplated what to do, the first ideas instinctively involving violence. He smoothed his hair, a symbolic gesture Kimber often used to sooth the beast.

"Don't worry, Papa" Sunniva said, surprising both the men. "Earl Langford would never try something untoward. He's a gentleman, isn't that right noble Lord?"

Tamlane Williams looked at his daughter wishing to plead, but she kept her eyes, ferocious and stoic, on Kimber. The Alpha was staring at him, as if one false move could mean jaws around his neck. He rose and hobbled to the door. The Earl moved only slightly to the side forcing Tamlane to suck in his chest and press his back to the door frame lest he risk a brush with death.

Once past, Kimber stepped in and closed the door. He had his mate alone, but he wasn't sure where to begin.

Now standing in the light of a lantern positioned upon the table, Sunniva noticed how frayed Kimber looked. He was clean and shaven and his lapels had been freshly ironed flat, but the skin above his cheekbones seemed darker, his feral eyes glazed over, his taut posture hiding a hint of exhaustion.

"I thought we had matters to discuss? If you've nothing to say, then you might as well leave."

"Not without you," he replied, with a flimsy veil of composure.

She let out a laugh.

"Who do you think you are? Who are you to tell me what to do?"

There was so much she didn't understand about their kind. He contemplated grabbing her by the hand, pulling her to him. She was his and it was high time this be clear to her. He would cover her, conquer her, devour her. And then what? He doubted that would resolve anything, that she would fight him even more.

Kimber decided for caution and tenderness, despite the ferocity of his instincts.

He moved closer to her causing her to rise from her chair. "Sunniva, please. I can explain everything. Just return with me." He reached out and slowly took her hand.

She couldn't explain why she permitted it. She hated him in this moment, but what's more, she hated that her body responded to his touch. She quivered, as he rubbed his thumb in small circles across her skin.

"You lied to me," she spat, "about this place. About my father. Why?"

Even closer now, he reached up with his other hand to touch her face.

"Why do you think?" he asked softly.

"I want to hear you say it."

"Sunniva..."

"Tell me," she demanded, looking into his eyes.

"We are a species of power," he stated, the backs of his fingers smooth over her cheek. "We crave it and covet it and infuse ourselves with it's very essence."

His knuckles became a gentle caress.

"It's how we stay strong, sending that strength through generations to come. Alpha mates with Alpha. This isn't some credo we live by, it's written into the very fiber of our being. It's why you were drawn here, why you crave me..."

Sunniva had fathomed as much, but she had hoped he'd felt something towards her besides just instinct.

Kimber couldn't help himself now, that bit of their skin touching and her precious doe eyes looking up at him. The creature within himself stirred, feeling her power, so lush and enticing.

His.

He let his finger trail down her neck and along her collar bone, flicking his eyes briefly to her now clenching fist. "It's why I can't resist you." Lower still, to her chest. He grazed the top curves looking at her with possessive, hungry eyes. "It's why you are mine."

He grabbed her breast and covered her lips with his.

She shoved against him and let a fist fly, striking him across in the jaw. "I am NOT yours!" It sent him back, knocking his head severely to the side.

She was red with anger. Despite her promise, she was ready to Turn if he touched her again, if he made one move to take her she'd make sure it wasn't without injury.

And she'd hit him hard. His lower lip had split, coloring his mouth with a smudge of crimson.

He licked it away, a menacing smile curling upwards. It certainly hurt, but not as much as her declaration. He wouldn't show this weakness, the fact that her words had caused injury to his ego.

"Not yet. But you will be. We're as good as mated anyways, Sunniva," he stated with eyes full of suggestion.

Sunniva's face smoldered, her shoulders raising with every angry breath. "I am not your mate."

The wicked smiled left Kimber's face.

"There is no point in continuing the charade. I grow bored of it anyways. So let me enlighten you as to the facts of our people. You won't be leaving Darkfrith. Ever. You will wed me, that is a fact I suggest you get used to. I know you're lying to me. It's only a matter of time-"

"You seem to forget noble Lord," she interrupted.

She'd returned to calm composure, a gentlewoman awaiting polite conversation except for the contradiction of his brother's clothes on her back. It still irritated him, so much he wanted to rip them off and cover her in his own scent, with his own body.

"Alpha mates with alpha, and I'm just a poor halfling who can't Turn and never will. I suggest you find some other roost for your cock. Now, it's supper time and I'm afraid we've only enough for two."

Her expression had practically transformed to stone, unyielding and unforgiving. Only the red in her face betrayed her anger.

Kimber didn't like the idea of leaving her, but this was a fight he couldn't win. Not tonight, not like this. He needed her to Turn, not to bed her. That would come later.

No one else suspected there was a power inside her, so the risk of her bonding with another seemed unlikely. Everyone considered her the halfing daughter of a criminal, a woman who by appearances hardly had the makings of a wife. He'd leave a few trusted, married men to watch her though, just in case.

He backed away from her, turning only once he'd reached the door.

"I'll permit you to stay in this piss-pot your father calls a home," he said looking back once more, his tone mocking. "I hear shabby shacks can get ruddy cold at night. When you're ready, my bed is always warm and available. Just fly on over to my balcony and give me a knock."

Sunniva kept her eyes fixed on the Earl as he retreated into the night. There was laughter beyond the door as the men surrounding the little cottage dissipated into the woods.