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And I’m not sure if that makes things better or worse.
“What now?” she asks, and my mouth goes dry, my throat becoming sandpaper as I attempt to swallow.
“It’s your dream. You can do whatever you want.” I try to sound enthusiastic, but I can’t help but to feel the weight of reality pressing in, crushing me atom by atom. I’m too busy trying to wrap my mind around the fact that this woman, a Midicious by blood, is the heir to the dragon throne. A throne which my father is holding, a crown given to him by Calamity’s mother in case she never came back. And I almost let her die.Twice.
Fucking twice.
Her weight shifts and before I can register what’s happening, her fingers thread into my hair, tugging my face to her’s. Just before our lips meet, I drop the spell, my magic dissipating and I blink the cave ceiling into focus. I’m not sure when I scooted down, when I stopped resting against the headboard, but as I lay here, my breath fogging in the cold, I let my eyes, and only my eyes drift to where she sleeps soundly next to me. A minute passes, then two, then three, and finally my muscles relax, knowing she’ll stay asleep. Whether her dream will continue without me, I’m not sure, but whether it turns intosome dreamless darkness or not, is none of my business. Even if it involves me, or some fictional version of me.
She was going to kiss me.
I’m still not sure if she knew it was me or not, and not just something she created in her head, but I don’t know if I want to find out… I mean, I do, but I don’t.
She’s the heir to the dragon throne. She just found out she’s a shifter. How the hell am I supposed to tell her that? Where do I start? Not to mention that she’s a Midicious. Would she even be recognized as such?
Driving my fingers roughly through my hair, I pull before dragging my palm down my face.
“It took you long enough to figure it out.”My head jerks to the side, as if my dragon is sitting here next to me.
“What the fuck does that mean? Youknew?”I whisper out loud into the dark.
“No, but I wish I did.”Letting out the breath I was holding in my lungs, I shake my head.“Now can we agree to court her? She’s a dragon. And not just any dragon, but THE dragon. The heir. If we did, your father might not banish you after all.”
“Enough.”
I doubt it would change anything. Not that I would do it anyway.She’s still a Midicious.
The moment any of us return to the moons, my father would have to clip our wings and kick us off the ledge. The rules were pretty clear the day the queen turned herself over. If you were a dragon, you were to leave this realm, to return to the moons or be named a traitor.
I didn’t know my father had been handed the crown. He was the Lord of Frost Forge when we left to join the war. Regardless, I’m not sure it would’ve changed my decision to stay. I’d been so angry, sofuriousat the mad king for killing Elaria, I wanted to see his castle burn.
Those of us who stayed gathered in the Luminaries and that’s when our little group started. Jesper stayed with me, having been held in the dungeon too, not that he had much he was leaving behind in the dragon realm. He’s the bastard son of the Lord of Lythanar. His title meant nothing and his mother and her mate had died during the war.
Faelor was too injured to fly at the time, and since he couldn’t make it through the barrier, he forfeited his knighthood. Mira, Vik, and Brenn were just barely adults, and Brenn had lost his wings. It didn’t matter that he and Vik were the Lord of Wyvern’s children. His father’s the reason he lost them, and a dragon without wings might as well be dead. There was no going back for them, even if they figured out a way to get Brenn in the sky and through the barrier.
There were a few others that came later, bringing word of my father being crowned king. But even with the added wings, a merry band of misfit dragons wasn’t going to take out legions of creatures in the mad king’s army. Instead, we’d found a new mission, to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. We chose to guard the Luminaries, to form a new home.
But this… If Calamity shifts into a dragon that can breathe hellfire, then that crown is rightfully hers. It changes everything, and yet nothing all at the same time.
There’s a part of me that knew Calamity couldn’t go to the Luminaries. There’s too much blood between her father and the rebels for it to be safe. Though, I hadn’t intended on taking her there when I came to get her.
It’ll never be safe for her anywhere inside this realm. Not as a dragon, nor as the king’s daughter. I think it might be why Asmo chose me. He knew dragons can pass through the boundary and that she was the queen’s daughter, meaning she could pass through once she learned to shift. It’s likely why the king held her in the dungeon, why he trapped her there. And based on theway she looked at the queen, the lords in the dragon kingdom were right to assume she was dead.
All of it makes me look at the woman soundlessly asleep next to me in a whole new light. I just wish I knew what to do about it.
Chapter 19
Loric
The mage lights flicker, casting an amber glow through my eyelids, but I can’t be bothered to open them. It’s deathly silent, the only sounds are that of Calamity breathing and the gentle crackle of the fire light. Even with the bedroom door open, just a sliver, nothing filters in from the cavern outside of it. Everyone must still be asleep.
The bed's warmth seeps through me, tempting me to bask here all day, but that’s not a luxury I can afford. I need to get up. Find food. Check on her. The list continues, never ending. I take a deep breath. And then another. It's not the cool cave air filling my lungs but something sweeter, headier. It coils through me, an intoxicating wave of pure, unbridled lust that sets every nerve alight.
Fuck…Calamity can’t be in heat already. She just found out about her beast side less than 48 hours ago. Then again, I suppose being around shifters, especially those of her kind might’ve sped things up.
I breathe in deep, not wanting to move, not yet, not with how good it feels to have her here, curled against my chest. I’m notsure where the pillows went or when I wrapped my arms around her, but I don’t hate it.
Calamity shifts, snuggling closer to me in her sleep. It’s all the justification I need to wait.Just one more minute.
