Marie Knight

 A DRAGON'S HEART

After the disaster of her coronation, Rina must go in search of the legendary Dragon's Heart necklace that has been lost for thousands of years. There were only two possibilities of where the powerful relic was located, the Land of Mysteries and the Human Realm. Never having ventured into either, Rina is forced to take along the vampire Nicolai and Damien, who of course bossed his way in. While trying to uncover the necklace's hidden location, Rina faces the hardest decision of her life, give in to the Bond or walk away from the only happiness she has ever truly felt.

UNEDITED EXCERPT 

Prologue

He had done it again! Rina seethed as she stomped wet and muddy through the golden mountain palace that was her home. Her beautiful red hair now stained a grimy, brown from the disgusting liquid that covered her entire body, clinging to her face and inside the braid that tumbled down her back. That blasted guy Damien once again managed to thoroughly anger her and she didn't know why she was so easily manipulated by him. At least once a week the bratty adult; who was practically an old man, somehow managed to pull a prank on her. Her seven year old body was tired of tripping, getting pinched and even, accidentally almost stomped on by her most favorite spotted grey horse Willow; all because Damien had thrown a toy snake in front of the sweet mare.

She couldn't believe her mother had actually taken the man in from the streets almost a year ago but unfortunately she had, and now she was forced to constantly endure the agonizing torture of his games. This time he managed to sneak up behind her and shove her into a puddle of mud. Mud! Now, she looked like a brown mess with her bangs crusting on her forehead and her beautiful pale green gown, one of her favorite dresses, drenched in the chocolate dirty water.

Damien's laughter continued to ring through her ears as she finally made her way to her mom's study, thrust the door open with all the might of ha seven year old and stood looking absolutely ridiculous in front of her parents and their apparent guests. Her mother's eyes instantly sparked with laughter but she immediately pursed her lips to keep from smiling as her father and their guests stood dumbfounded at her appearance.

Her scowl must have looked pretty amusing since they all suddenly seemed as if they wanted to laugh. Raina, her mother, glanced at her father, Judd and mouthed the single name that she hated. "Damien". Yes, Damien! Rina lowered her eyes in irritation and caught the smile that attempted to ruin the plan that was slowly forming in her head. For once Rina would act the spoiled baby brat and throw a tantrum, well sort of.

"Mommy!" her eyes began to water as she forced out giant exaggerated tears and ran to her mother clinging to the gorgeous dress of bright red velvet. Grinning into the satin as her mother grimaced at the mess that would remain on her clothing. Rina let the fat tears roll down her cheeks as she slowly peeked her face up at her parents in obvious distress. "That mean guy pushed me into the mud! Then he laughed at me! I think I twisted my ankle! It hurts so badly!" Rina covered her face with the velvety material once more and smiled. That should get him into trouble, she grinned as she noticed her parents concerned glance.

"Oh Rina everything will be fine, mommy will take care of the matter but we really need to finish our meeting sweetie. So you need to go and get cleaned up. I will find Damien and punish him for you.”

Yes! "Ok mommy" she lightly smiled and wiped the tears from her face causing the mud to smear even worse. She turned and walked slowly from the room and as she closed the door she threw her fist in the air in triumph. Finally! That blasted adult that acted like a child, would get what he deserved. She skipped down the hall and up a few stairs into her room as happy as a kitten with a ball of yarn, where she did as directed. Started her bath and began scrubbing all the crusted mud from her body. She hummed softly as she finally rinsed away the mud from her hair. She emptied the tub and let fresh water fill up so she could continue to clean herself.

When she finally managed to rid herself of all of the irritating and now itchy mud, she stood in the tub and grabbed the fluffy bright gold towel and wrapped it around her. Stepping out of the giant oval Rina dried herself and pulled on a cute purple dress with emeralds around the sash. Drying her hair with the towel she brushed all the tangles out and went to curl up in her bed. She lay on her back with her arms spread over her head as she sighed. Now what?

"What!" the satisfying sound of Damien's confused voice infiltrated her room only moments later leaving Rina feeling much happier. Sitting up she jumped from the bed and made her way down the hall. She wanted to watch Damien writhe with whatever her mother punished him with. She arrived too late. All she saw was his back disappearing around the corner, his shoulders taut and her mother with a grimace.

The sharp sound of hurried footsteps surprised her as her brother and his friend crashed into her. Both of the boys fell onto their butts with a grunt. Her brother Rye glanced up at Rina as she placed her hands on her hips trying to contain her amusement. Just then Rina's three year old brother Ray rounded the corner and stopped as he began giggling.

"You fell, you fell!" he announced joyously as he half skipped and half danced around the two grounded boys. A shadow over them announced their mother's arrival and they all glanced at her sheepishly.

Raina shook her head and walked by with a small smile, leaving the kids to their devices. Rina wanted to run after her and demand what she had done to Damien but she would find out eventually. He would throw it in her face most likely and she would get an even bigger prank than ever. She just didn’t realize the darkness that was about to come.

Rina sat by the pond, alone. Her feet only inches from the water's edge. It was the three year anniversary of her parent's and Rye's death. Well technically only her mothers. She was unsure of her father and brother but since she feared that she would never see them again even if they lived, she deemed them dead in her mind for the time being, to save her the constant heartache of never seeing them again even if they lived. She would never forget them though and she still had Ray to take care of so she couldn’t break down in tears over her parent's demise.

Three long years had separated them and she knew that she had to find the demon that had her mother and possibly father and brother murdered. Rina knew she had to wait. She couldn’t do anything until her powers awakened and she was stronger. She sighed as she twirled the water between her fingers. She felt her dragon emerge the day before, allowing her to shift into an adorable baby dragon about the length of a normal wolf, but her magic remained sealed for some reason. Generally, they should have surfaced at the same time and when she got home she would be heading directly to the library to discover the reason for her missing element.

She stood and stretched as the heat of the sun warmed her and she began the walk back towards the castle. Something passed over the sun shielding her from the heated rays and as she glance upwards a large predatory bird came swooping down towards her. Shocked at the sudden attack Rina began running. Her dragon would have no effect without powers. She covered her head with her hands as the giant eagle's talons went directly for her head.

Rina screamed as the bird managed to grip a large strand of her hair and yanked extremely hard. It didn't seem to be a demon, just a regular creature. So why was it attacking her like this? Her body jolted downward as her right foot fell into a deep hole and she found herself spread out across the ground her, her arms still frantically trying to protect her head from the predators attack. The attack suddenly stopped and Rina was able to peek out to find a large emerald green dragon with the eagle struggling in its talons.

The dragon hissed, and the bird immediately stopped it's struggling. It seemed to understand whatever he spoke. She had yet to learn the ancient dragon language, if that was even what the gorgeous emerald dragon spoke. He released the bird and it flew away, determined to escape the wrath of the much larger dragon.

Shivering Rina pulled herself into a sitting position, as she went to stand flinched in pain and fell back to the earth. Ouch! The dragon turned to her and quietly walked over to her as he changed and quickly became the person that she once despised. Damien. Since her parent's and brother's death, he avoided her at all costs other than to offer his condolences at their funeral. She had arranged the funeral for all three, just in case.

His fingers encircled her ankle and she bit her tongue to keep from screaming. Damien had barely touched her. He lifted her dress lightly as he removed her shoe. She could see the swelling and redness and groaned in despair, please let her have not broken it! Damien's hand suddenly became a soothing cold as she watched his hand glow a brilliant blue, Rina discovered a newfound respect for the man before her and he was definitely a man now. How three years shaped the man before her. His eyes once held the glint of childhood and fear. Now they seemed dark and unreadable. His golden yellow hair fanned around his face and the muscles that had once been small now rippled with power. He was approximately twenty-four now and he had definitely grown into his skin. He didn't look like the young man annoyingly teased her only three years ago.

"It's not broken." He finally said and Rina found herself looking into deep emerald green eyes. He quickly took his gaze away as he stood and extended his hand. Rina gulped, there was something different about him today. Maybe it was because she hadn't seen him this close in a really long time. She reached her hand to his and before she could realize what he was doing he held her small body cradled in his. She looked up at him and smiled. He didn't seem the same anymore, more mature.

As they arrived at the palace Damien went to take her to her room but she shook her head. "The library, please." He nodded and turned towards the hall that would lead to the library. The place that would help her discover why her powers were still absent.

He opened the doors and placed her in one of the chairs. He stared at her expectantly and she realized that he wanted her to tell him which books to get. She smiled and almost laughed. "I do not know what I am looking for but I do know that I need to do it alone." His eyebrows drew together in curiosity but he shrugged it off and left her alone as requested.

She hobbled through the aisles looking for anything on missing elemental powers. She grabbed a few history books of both dragons and demons and sat down to do her research. After an hour Rina was fuming with irritation. The blasted books that she grabbed were helpless! They seemed to begin at the exact same point in time. When the king of the demons came to power and the dragons, vampires, and mermaids disappeared. What the hell happened before that!

She threw the book she currently held in her hand against the wall as she once again began a painful trek through the shelves. Her search was almost futile until she came to a really old leather bound book. The moment her eyes scanned the name, the pull towards it was magnificent. It read, "History of the Four Kingdoms". "Four kingdom's?" she found herself murmuring, as fingers brushed over the tightly bound book, she slowly pulled it from the shelf.

Waddling back to her table, she opened the cover and scanned the contents. Her eyes landed on a word that she had never heard spoken before. "Magik". Skimming to the part of the book that spoke about them, Rina read the words in awe.

"Before the four kingdoms fell and peace ruled the lands. Long ago, when humans and demons prospered and lived together. Each of the four kingdoms held a single woman who kept the peace in their kingdom, a woman who learned the arts of persuasion and the ability to stop a fight without chaos awakening. Each woman was special; for they held the ability to possess two elements. No other demon on earth or in Demon Paradise could attain that ability, except the four who were born with the abilities to keep the peace, which included immunity to an Alphas command.

Each kingdom's rulers were of a different species of demon. The Northern lands belonged to what the dragons called land demons even though some were able to fly and the Southern lands belonged to the only demons that could not shift unless born of a demon shifter, the vampires. The Eastern lands and water belonged to the merpeople who were more beautiful and peaceful than any other; while the Western lands and mountains belonged to the mighty dragons, a fearsome group but generally as peaceful as the rest.

A Magik's power was suppressed until the age of eighteen, when they came of age, even though their demon would emerge at normal age of ten with everyone else's. This absence of power was the first sign of a Magik."

Rina's mouth dropped open in awe and confusion, as she stared at the words on the page. There was no way! She couldn't be, except the fact that all the signs pointed directly to that single answer. That she, Princess Rina, was a Magik. It would help her accomplish her task in the end at least, especially if the dragon happened to be Alpha. Her smile widened as she thought of the revenge that she would one day be able to accomplish with the help of three others.  

Sun drenched her room in light and Rina growled at the rays that awakened her from her peaceful slumber. Today she was to train with Damien. It excited her that they had grown close over the handful of years since he carried her to the library. He seemed to want to keep his distance at first but finally the man emerged from his shell and he began to become her best friend, other than her baby brother Rye, of course!

She couldn't keep the smile from her face as she rushed to the large mirror and began brushing out her tangled mass of hair. Rina knew that Damien liked it when her hair was wild and down but today, they trained, she could not leave it free. She smiled as she gathered the thick red strands and pulled them high into a ponytail. Rina sighed as she turned her face side to side to glance at her reflection, she didn't seem to be too beautiful but she knew others believed so.

Donning her fighting gear of deep red leather that she knew fit to her body like a glove but still let her move as fluid as water. She preferred to fight in human form rather than her dragon, she loved that form but she felt more grounded to the earth this way. Damien seemed to understand. She had appointed him Commander last year on her eighteenth birthday and he had taken his duties seriously. He proved to be ruthless but fair and she loved that about him. She blinked at her sudden thought and shook her head.

Rina made her way down to the sparring grounds and had to force back the smile as she saw Damien practicing with a sword, his bare chest gleaming in the sun. They were alone and would remain that way. There sessions always remained private and that’s the way she preferred them. She stood there as he moved gracefully through his styled forms and finally his gaze swept over to her.

He strode over to her and Rina smiled as he approached, her head tilting back. He was a lot taller than her and as he stood only a couple inches from her, she was forced to crane her neck quite a bit just to look at him. A shiver wracked through her body that she had noticed got even stronger the moment she turned eighteen, the day she received her Magik powers.    

"Princess," He nodded in acknowledgement and she blinked. Since when did Damien ever refer to her as Princess? It was always Rina or Angel, a particular endearment that he started about four years ago when she reached the age of fifteen. She hadn't even realized that she had become accustomed to it. Why would he stop now?

"Pay attention!" he snapped as he tossed her a sword, his voice seemed ripe with irritation. What the heck was going on? Could she have done something wrong?

"Yes." She answered immediately as she readied herself to block his attacks. They fought until she found herself too tired to carry on and suddenly a deep need to kiss him shivered through her as he grabbed her wrist to keep her from falling backwards when she tripped over his foot. No!

Her mind screamed as Damien suddenly enveloped her in his arms, she couldn't resist the urge that consumed her. Their lips met and Rina sighed against him in contentment. His hand came up to tangle in her hair, but he let out a growl as he released the curly strands from their bind. "Much better." He mumbled against her lips, as he continued the kiss. A word filtered through her mind, a word that she had thought would never involve her. Bonded. She read the origins of the Bond in the same book that showed her the path she would need to take to avenge her parents.

Rina jerked away from him, blinked stupidly as she raised her fingers to her lips and her conscious mind screamed at her to run. She could not fall in love with him! But knew it was futile, just this morning her eagerness to see him proved that. So she ran. She raced into her room and slammed the door. Her brother Ray noticed the tears she tried to conceal and opened the door as she began throwing glass objects at the wall in fury.

Tears slid down her face in rejection. She would have to stay away from him! There was no way she was going to put him in harm's way, she knew there was someone within the palace who spied and reported to the mastermind behind the corruption that was spreading throughout the Alijah Mountains.

"Sister?" Ray's voice cracked with worry, she knew that he had never seen her so furious and upset. But she also knew that from now on, she was going to have to keep her distance from Damien and that she just could not bear.