Mated to the Dragon

Chapter 13

"Because you do." He sat down cross-legged beside her, gently easing her into his lap as he wrapped his cloak around the two of them. She made no effort to resist, turning her face into his chest as tears took hold of her again. He let her cry herself out before he spoke again, asking gently, "Will you let me show you pictures?"

Jasmine wondered how pictures might help her and where he kept them, but she just sighed and said, "Why not? I've got nothing else to lose."

"I'll not harm you, but you already know that, don't you?"

She nodded feeling his hand begin to gently stroke her hair. It soothed her, almost making her cry again. "Why couldn't there be someone like you for me?" she wailed, "just once!"

"There is," he told her, "he needs you."

"Oh sure, like I could be useful to anyone!"

"He's broken, but you can mend him."

"I can't even heal myself!"

"Would you like to see him?"

"Is he real?"

"He's real, but he's far away. Perhaps, you'd like to see times when you knew me?

"Did I really know you?"

"You tell me."

Jasmine thought for a moment, breathing in the smell of his soft leather tunic and warm linen shirt tinged with a familiar scent of sweat and woodsmoke. It was a smell she associated with safety and contentment. She wrinkled her nose. "You smell nice," she told him, "I can hear your heart beating."

"I canna be a ghost, then," Angus allowed himself a small chuckle. "What would you like to see? The man who waits for you or something from our life together?

Jasmine thought for a moment. She was curious about the man Angus mentioned, but she could not allow herself to think there might be someone out there for her. Better to stay with something safer. She doubted Angus could prove a previous relationship. She knew she had never been out with a tall, long-haired Scot with a penchant for leather boots, cloaks and interesting scars, but she was curious to see what kind of photographs he might produce.

"Can I see us first and then him? I need something to hold on to when I wake up from all this." She waited for him to reach inside his cloak and bring out a battered envelope, but instead he clasped his arms around her more tightly and began to breathe slowly. She wasn't sure what was happening for a moment, but inside her head an image began to form. Two elderly people sat beside a hearth. She recognised an older version of Angus, but the woman was a stranger to her. Around them played various children and two tall men, one the image of Angus, came in and out of the picture.

"Did you see us?" Angus' voice whispered in her ear. "We had a long lifetime together."

"We did?"

"Aye." She felt him touch his lips to her hair, an action which should have made her stiffen and flee, but from him, it was more a fond remembrance, helping her relax into his embrace, opening herself more to his touch.

"Let's try another time from the same lifetime."

This time her mind was filled with the blackness of night lit only by hand-held flares. Animal carcasses were strewn across the ground. She saw a young girl, a child, running across the field, screaming Angus's name, then sliding to her knees next to a dark, motionless body and throwing herself across him. Jasmine felt herself tense, suffused with anguish for the child. She wanted to go to her, to take her away from the bloodshed, to hold her safe, but instead she was forced to watch as the girl rolled the corpse over and placed both her hands over the gaping wound across the heart.

Jasmine held her breath as she felt her own hands become warm. She watched incredulously as the wound slowly closed and the corpse suddenly began to breathe again.

"Not a pretty sight," once more Angus' voice was in her ear, "but you see why I need you as much as you need me?"

"I was that child?"

"Aye."

"She saved your life. Is that why you stopped me from taking mine - some kind of debt?

Angus nodded, "Aye, she saved me more than once, not only with her healing and her herbs; just by being there. There's no debt, lassie. I'm the own who holds the debt to my Grainne."

Jasmine tingled as she heard him roll the name around his mouth as if reluctant to let it go into the cold night air.

"You say I'm supposed to go and find someone else and heal them?"

"No, he's waiting for you. You could say he is really me."

"He's you?"

"Just as you were the little girl in the image I showed you." Angus' voice was patient with her. "I am not of this time, he is."

Jasmine sighed, "I knew it was too good to be true. Can't I just stay with you?"

"No, lass, it wouldn't be right if you stayed with me. He's the one you want now, I'm only a memory. We always find each other, don't you fret."

Jasmine snuggled deeper into his embrace, "I wish all memories were as comfortable as you are."

"Would you like to see him," he asked, "as he is now?"

Jasmine shrugged, "I suppose so, he can't look worse than I do."

She saw an image of a tall man with thick red hair touching his shirt collar, checking his watch in a meeting. Although the room was full of people sitting around a large table, he looked bored. She saw him stare out of the window, gazing into the distance, oblivious to the urging of a striking woman with blond hair sitting next to him. Another, older woman sat opposite him, her perfect features marred by the waspish expression on her face as she addressed him.

Jasmine was surprised by the attraction she felt for the tall man. Whoever he was, he looked rich and successful; totally out of her reach. Married, too, she shouldn't wonder.

"Nice clothes," she murmured, trying to be nonchalant. She did not see Angus' eyes twinkling in the starlight. He knew she had made the connection and she would be safe now searching for him.

"He looks uneasy," Angus said, cradling Jasmine as she settled herself more comfortably against him.

"I won't be able to do this with him," she muttered into his chest.

"Aye, you will. Just get him out of those clothes and away from those people. He doesn't want to be there."

Jasmine did not respond. She was fast asleep. Angus rocked her in his arms, savouring the touch of his own beloved once again.

As the temperature fell, Jasmine woke to find herself alone on the beach. The moon was high in the sky. Such a strange dream to have after so much misery. The moon left a silvery path across the still water, but she no longer wished to follow that path into oblivion. For some strange reason she felt hopeful. To have someone show such care for her, even in a dream, seemed cause enough to try again.

She pulled on the dark, leather jacket lying beside her. Its smell reminded her of her dream. It made her smile as she walked back up the sandy path where she was going to find someone or something to take her home.