I instantly shutter my expression. “Don’t worry. It doesn’t work on me.”
Her shoulders relax a fraction as she waits for me to do something, or for my expression to change. “Because you’re a Dragon,” she finally says.
“Because I’m a Dragon.”
Most shifters can sense magic in others, and can sometimes even nullify it. But they are never fully immune to its effects the way Dragons are. Though my body is young, my blood remembers wars before the Realms even existed. You can’t fool it. You can’t twist it.
I’m the only one she can’t manipulate with her power.
Her magic doesn’t care if the warmth it senses comes from a stranger or the ones who raised her. It doesn’t recognize family. Only need. And that’s why the King and Queen found me. That’s why they begged. Even they need to keep a certain distance from their own daughter or risk being consumed.
I scan the water rushing between us, no longer content to yell this conversation. “Mind if I join you?”
She shrugs.
I easily step from rock to rock until I’ve made my way over to a boulder next to hers and settle down.
“They want me to be your protector,” I say, cutting through the bullshit.
The princess shakes her head before wiping away a tear. “No. They want you to protect other people from me.” Then her face whips toward mine with a sudden fury. “I killed him. Did they tell you that?”
They told me. A boy died.
“I’ve always been well-liked in school, but recently I’ve been dodging crushes like it’s my job.” She launches into the account as if she’s going to explode if she doesn’t tell someone. She likely hasn’t been able to. From what I understand, her parents covered things up quickly and efficiently.
“But this one boy, Ike, had been obsessed with me for years. I'd always ignored it, but then the last couple months I started to, well, notice him too. I left him a note to meet me in the stables. I wanted to—” Her voice breaks, and her long lashes turn wet as she blinks rapidly. “—kiss him.” She says the words like it’s an unforgivable crime for a teen girl to want to kiss someone.
She swallows a couple times, keeping her gaze on the water. “We did it. We kissed and it was...” She swallows again, the next words no louder than a breath, wistfulness tightening my chest again. Without another word, I know it was everythingshe dreamed it would be. “So, we kissed again. And then I...I started to feel hungry. Like really hungry, and the more we kissed, the hungrier I got. We kissed more and more, and we...touched.” She digs the heels of her hands into her eyes. “It got out of control. Everything just felt so good, nothing else existed. It was all so delicious.” Her words break as her shoulders rock in silent sobs. “I couldn’t stop. I didn’t even think to stop and now he’s...he’s?—”
Dead.
Her power, her curse, made a rather dramatic entrance. Especially considering how long ago it was cast upon her.
The boy’s death was staged as some kind of horse-riding accident.
When the princess looks up at me, her eyes are owlishly big with dark circles under them like she’s haunted. “And worst yet,” she whispers so I can barely hear, “I’m still so hungry.” It comes out in a whine before she bursts into full, body shaking sobs.
I don’t know what to do. Someone else might pat her on the back or offer a hug. I can’t do either of those things.
Maybe tell her it’s going to be okay?
It probably isn’t. She’s the first Succubus in centuries. And she’s going to have to keep feeding to survive.
I could tell her it was an accident.
It doesn’t change the fact she killed the boy she had a crush on.
So, I just sit there with her. I let her cry. I let her be swept away by all the grief as she sits with her confession. I don’t offer empty assurances or condemn her with judgement.
After some time, she dips a hand into the cool, clear water and uses it to wash off her face.
“I’m a monster,” she says in a much calmer tone.
“You’re not a monster.”
“Yes, I am. All other Rosari may be energy vampires, but they don’t kill anyone. They feed off people’s anxieties and actually help those they feed from.”
“It’s not your fault you’re like this,” I point out.
