The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

swallowed deeply and spoke again. “If I let go, even for an instant, I will lose him.”
    As if in response to Darville’s urging her to rest, her control over the thin copper and silver tendril of magic that held Jaylor to this reality came nearer to shredding. For three days she had maintained the contact. She had pulled on it, spliced it, rewoven it dozens of times, and still he resisted her tether.
    A deep sadness threatened to engulf her. Could she continue to live without Jaylor? Yes, she could survive. But did she want to?
    She’d known him less than a moon, and already his presence was as natural to her as breathing. She couldn’t let him slip away.
    She concentrated on splicing the bond that held them together. The scent of Tambootie floated through the hut.
    “At what cost?” Darville sounded as cranky and impatient as she felt.
    “How can you ask that?” she demanded. It had been so much easier when Darville was her favorite puppy. Now he was a man, a handsome man who filled the hut with his vibrant presence as much or more than Jaylor ever did.
    They had cleared the hut of every trace of the cursed Tambootie leaves as soon as Jaylor’s inert body failed to respond. But the drug was in his system. Removing it from the hut resulted in no change.
    Then she had tried coaxing him back with more Tambootie. Still no change.
    “He’s my friend, too.” Darville looked chastened. “For many years he was my only friend.” He wandered to the open doorway where a thin shaft of sunlight tried to penetrate the interior. In the five days since Shayla’s transformation, this was the first letup in the rain. “I learned early that the people at court befriended me because I represented power, glamour. Standing next to me made them feel bigger than they really were. Except Jaylor. And a few of the town boys who knew me only as Roy and not as a prince.” He took a deep breath.
    Brevelan felt his gentle memories. She had no energy left to strengthen his feeling of quiet nostalgia. She lay back upon the bed.
    “It was easy for me to slip away from tutors and guardians. They were more interested in their own positions than in me. That’s how I met Jaylor. He had slipped out, too. He likes being outdoors. He claims he can’t think or study behind stone walls,” he chuckled. “But when we were together, neither of us did much studying.” His grin lifted with remembered mischief.
    Brevelan drew Darville’s emotions into herself. Carefully she allowed her body to relax while she wrapped Darville’s pleasant reverie around her contact with Jaylor. Maybe this trip through childhood memories would encourage his spirit to return.
    “We were constantly in trouble. No one had ever allowed either of us to play before. We gave each other that ability.”
    “I’m happy you found one true friend. It’s important to someone in a position of power. Jaylor will always be someone you can trust.”
    “Because he loves me and not my position. He has his magic. That’s stronger than any temporal power I could grant him.”
    They were quiet a moment. Brevelan used the time to check her tie to Jaylor. It was stronger and so was the Tambootie smell. She relaxed a little more, easing the tired strain on her neck and back.
    “But it was you who rescued me, nurtured me, taught me to trust again.” He whirled to face her. “I can’t lose you, too!”
    “His spirit has not drifted farther away. I must believe he means to return to us. When he can.” She tried to let Darville feel her concern for both of them. It was a weak attempt. Too much of her energy was still channeled into her fragile contact with Jaylor.
    “We need him to restore Shayla.” Darville sounded defeated. “I sense the male dragons want to leave the kingdom if she and the litter she carries aren’t returned soon.” Despair tinged his posture as well as his voice.
    “How are you linked to them?” Was it similar to her own awareness of Shayla, a link she held even now entwined and braided with her contact to Jaylor?
    “They, the entire nimbus, are just there, somewhere in the back of my head, or my heart. I don’t know which. I do know where each one is, when they mate, when they have disputes.” His excitement turned to a deep sigh. “When they die.”
    Brevelan looked deeper into herself. Only Shayla was there. Her mates were missing.
    “And your father?” she prompted.
    “For three hundred years, there has been a special . . .” he