The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 21

I actually own these pictures (for once) and I apologise for the blurriness, I did my best to photoshop them for better quality

When at last my body grew as accustomed to the Bond, I pulled away from Loki and turned my gaze to Kurt, who was still lying inert in the corner.

"I am truly sorry, my love.  He seemed like a wonderful horse."

"He was but that is not what I was thinking of."

"Then what's on your mind?"

"Would you be willing to do me a small favor?"

"Anything."

"Go back to my room and bring me my ring."

"Which one?"

"You know which one, Loki."

"That I do.  I will return momentarily."  The dragons had long since lost interest in me and were busy playing in the fountain.  Now that I had time to think about it, it would be interesting to find out what their breath weapons were.  I hadn't given it much thought before but if their scales were anything to go by, there was a good chance they would all have different breath weapons as well.  Kayerith's had been ordinary fire but she had told me that one could predict the breath weapon of a dragon based on some of the physical traits it possessed.  She had never elaborated on that, scale color had as much to do with it as gender–nothing–so it was possible that breath weapons were hereditary.  Since fire was by far the most common, it was more than likely that at least one of three would have it.  However, since I had not even seen the father and he had been strong enough to fatally wound Kayerith, my guess was that he had been no common dragon.  Six limbs and probably a rare breath weapon.  Kayerith had already been capable of mini bursts of fire, there was no telling when that had started though.  Before I could continue down that path of thought, Loki rematerialized next to me.

"Here you are." He didn't hand me the rings, instead he took my left hand and slid the band of platinum onto my ring finger.  The colors in the stones became slightly more vibrant, anticipating that they were about to be used.  With trembling hands, I rose and walked shakily over to Kurt and pressed the three stones against his forehead.  A green flash filled the clearing, limiting from the ring and blinding all but myself.  When the light faded, my dragons came out from under my dress and Loki's emerged from his tunic.

"Some warning would've been nice.  What did you do?"

"Used the power of the Soul.  In hope of granting Kurt his life back."

"The Soul?" I looked down at Kurt's body, searching, praying for some sort of movement. "You realize that you were weak for some time after regaining your soul?  Give him a day or two to recuperate.  I know you can sense that he is alive, even if barely so."

"I know...I was just hoping for something...more.  I don't really know what.  A twitch of the nose, a blink of the eyes...anything really." A pair of arms encircled me.

"He will be alright.  I promise you." I sighed.

"I know."

"Come.  Let us turn our minds to brighter things." He placed an invisibility charm on Kurt, "Would you like to name the dragons?"

"It is tradition to let them chose their own names.  We can give them names now but we must allow them to change them later if they so wish it.  Traditionally, the name will reflect their personality."

"What did Kayerith's name mean to you?"

"There is no direct translation but it basically means 'best friend' or 'as close as sisters'."