Chapter 5: Be Gentle with Me

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"War?" Auberon gasps at Moth's report, "Just because Ico and Tania have seen them."

"That's what Ico said," Moth confirms, "They hold her prisoner while they decide."

Anger burns inside Auberon, a feeling he's not accustomed to. 

"The females are all gathered now," Aymeri announces as he returns, alone, "Dechtire is with us, Moryn wishes for more discussion, and Aithne is ready for war."

"Your own mother," Seirian laughs.

"She had words with me, before I returned," Aymeri says, with no humor at all, "She'd see me dead before she'll support a change in the law."

"With the elders split down the middle, this could still go either way," Seirian observes.

Aymeri nods grimly, "I fear the worst brother."

Ico has had enough of being ignored and held hostage while these dragons decide her fate and the fate of all her kind. "I must got to Auberon," she says, rising from the ground, "I must warn him."

"Ico, I cannot let you leave this nest," Aymeri says firmly.

"I am Icovellauna of the waters, and I will not be held prisoner," she says, pulling herself up proudly.

As she walks past him, he reaches his arms around her waist, preventing her from leaving.

"It's not safe for you out there," he says as he spins her around to face him. "I'm keeping you here to protect you."

"And what of my kin? They must be told what's coming for them."

"We don't yet know what is coming, Ico. If you go now you could start the very war we are trying to prevent."

"I want to go home," she says, her voice wavering, "Would you hold me here against my will?"

Aymeri drops her arm, "You are not my prisoner. If you will go, I will not stop you."

Ico turns and runs away.

After a moment's thought, Aymeri chases after her.

Ico lets out a sob as his arms come around her, ending the chase. "Why won't you let me go?" she cries.

"I will let you go, if that is what you wish, Ico," he whispers, holding her close against his chest, "But I ask you to stay with me."

Still wrapped in his embrace, she turns to face him. "It isn't right that all the fae should be punished for a law they didn't break," she says "Your laws are cruel and unreasonable, and Auberon must be warned."

"I know this, Ico," Aymeri says, "And if we fail to change the law, I will fight my own kind to protect yours. Have some trust in me, my love."

"I do trust you," she says.

"Then don't run away from me. Whatever comes, we'll see it through together."

"I have missed you, these past days," he whispers, kissing her neck as he pulls away the fabric wrapped around her, "Did you miss me?"

"Oh, so much," she sighs as he lays her down on the ground

"I would do anything for you," he whispers, "Break any law to be with you, fight anyone who tries to stand between us."

"Just make love to me," she whispers, "And do not talk of battle."

The days she was without him were filled with fears and doubts, all washed away now by his touch, by their joining on the forest floor. Nothing now seems clearer, more important than this, that they belong together, as one.

"Will you stay with me, Ico?" he asks again.

"While you were away, I thought it would have been better had we never encountered each other," she says, "We have brought such danger to the world, our joining brings great change, and maybe even death and suffering to our peoples. But whatever comes, I cannot regret this, our love, and I will stay by your side through it all."

She holds her hand to his as he caresses her cheek. "You show me your true self today," he whispers. He hasn't seen her thus since the day he rescued her from the strange hunters, "Will you tell me your name as well?"

"I am Shayeleigh," she says.

"I am Riain," he tells her, though he suspects she doesn't know what it means for a dragon to reveal his name, as well as his true form, to one of her kind.

"I've seen you hunting the skies, Riain," she says, "You dragons are terrible to behold. And I saw you fighting for me, you killed both of those creatures with your hands alone."

"Do I frighten you?" he asks as she trembles in his arms.

"Only when I remember what you are," she says, "Be gentle with me."

She pulls the tie from his hair, letting the long golden locks fall free over his shoulders as he kisses her, gently.

He doesn't give any thought to the laws he's breaking as he holds her, kisses, explores her body with his hands, his lips, and giving himself to her own explorations. This is his secret, not to be shared even in his nest, and here, with her, he's beyond law, beyond society.

He gives her all his tenderness, the gentle caresses Tearhne rejects. Riain has had to fight over and again to prove his fierceness to his own kind, and he's had to deny his own nature to be Tearhne's lover. Shayeleigh wants what all that he's kept hidden, the sweetness of his love, and he discovers a joy in making love to her that he'd never suspected was possible.

But even in this bliss, Riain's loyalties tear at him. He's spent these hours in her arms, joined in intimate embrace, but he has not spoken of her kin, Ico, kept at his nest, or the war that may yet be inevitable. He should keep no secrets from her, he thinks, but he how far can he go in his betrayal of his brothers?

"Shayeleigh," he whispers her name, "I must tell you--"

Pulled to his feet by his hair, Riain is unable to finish his sentence.

"Your whole nest are traitors to your kind!" Hayder growls.

"I will not stand by while you break our laws, Riain. Your whole nest should be put down." Before Riain get find his balance to defend himself, Hayder kicks him hard in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

His head makes a sharp crack as it hits the rock at the pond's edge, and his blood gushes into the water.

Shayeleigh screams Riain's name, but the other dragon has her in his grasp before she can go to him.

"And now you die, fairy," Hayder growls, "You will all die!"

Fear and despair make the transformation difficult, but Shayeleigh pushes past it, because she has to. She will not die at this monster's hands.

Suddenly, his hands are empty, the fairy has disappeared, leaving behind only the shimmer of her magic in the air. He doesn't notice his death slithering toward him on the ground.

In this form, her venom is powerful, and the great dragon is taken down quickly, heaving in pain, unable to move.

Within minutes, Hayder lies dead on the ground.