Harmonia's Kiss by Deborah Cooke Read Free Book Online Page B

against it, her heart leaping as she considered the envelope. She took a deep breath and opened it.
    Just as she had feared, there was a photograph inside.
    It was the shot of the three of them taken the previous Christmas, the one Mark had taken right before he’d told her that he was taking another tour of duty. She and Timmy were laughing and Mark was pointing at the camera, his mouth open as the timer finally went off. The lights of the tree glittered white behind them and the torn foil wrapping paper was scattered around their knees. She was holding her son and her husband close, both of them within reach.
    It was the photo that Mark had said he’d carry right against his heart.
    It was the photo he had said they would have to pry out of his cold, dead hands.
    That was how she knew.
    Ronnie caught her breath and pressed the photograph between her hands. She tried to be strong, but failed. She raised her hands to her mouth and cried.
    Even though her worst nightmare had come true, Ronnie was fiercely glad that she knew Mark’s fate. It was kinder to be sure that he would never return than to be waiting for the sound of his tread on the front step forever.
    It still wasn’t easy, and she wept as if her heart was breaking.
    Because it had.

VI
    Ronnie didn’t see Drake stride into the courtyard of her hotel. She didn’t see him spit at the pavement, as if he would rid himself of the distasteful flavor of a task that had needed to be done. She didn’t know that he could hear her weeping, much less that the sound tore at his heart. She didn’t see him summon his men with a flick of his wrist or hear him inform them of their destination in old-speak.
    She certainly didn’t see the entire company leap into the night sky, shift shape to powerful dragons and fly westward in pairs.
    She had no idea that the Dragon’s Teeth Warriors flew to the lair of Erik Sorensson, leader of the Pyr , to pledge their service to his command.
    Their mission here had been successfully completed, yet they would undertake more quests for the good of the world. They would defend firestorms, they would fight vipers, and they would be another weapon in the arsenal of the Pyr .
    Ronnie would never have imagined that their exchange had been anything other than one-sided, but she had given Drake the greatest gift of all. She had restored his faith. She had dismissed his despondency and his despair. She had reminded him not just of what he had lost, but its merit. She had given him hope, and a purpose.
    She had given him a kiss to treasure, a touch to remind him of his priorities from that day forward. He knew that he would feel the softness of her lips against his skin forever. He knew that she had meant nothing by it, that it had been a gesture of appreciation, but it meant the world to him.
    It reminded him of Harmonia’s birthright, the perfect balance to Ares’ strength. It was evidence of how a Pyr could temper his abilities and use them for good. It was a reminder to keep the light of the firestorm at the fore of his thoughts.
    Drake hoped that in return, one day when Veronica Maitland’s grief had diminished, one day when she least expected it, she would meet a man who didn’t exactly remind her of her lost husband but who kindled the same feelings within her as that man once had.
    Drake hoped that maybe, just maybe, Ronnie would one day see her future instead of her past.
    It would take time, but Drake intended to hope for her healing. He’d hope for her son to grow up strong and proud.
    And one day, one day after her tears had dried, Drake would make a point of finding her again. Veronica Maitland might be glad to see him. She might not.
    The choice would be hers.
    In the interim he’d know, with every blow from his talons and every volley of dragonfire he exhaled, that he was continuing the fight that he and his kind would pay any price to win.
    For the moment, that was more than