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Chapter Twelve
She came awake withher chest aching and her face wet with tears.
The pain in her chest was so massive, she could barely breathe around it.
Rising from the bed she’d spun from her own magic, she walked to the door of the shelter and stared into the night. It was still raining and the wind was cold, tearing at her hair, blowing the strands into her eyes, tangling around her face.
“Gia.”
She closed her eyes at the sound of her name on his lips.
Not knowing what to say to him, she just stood there.
“Should I leave you?”
Thatgot her attention.
Spinning to face him, she glared at him.
“Leave?” she demanded. “I wake up from that and you want to fucking bail?”
His brow furrowed, eyes narrowed in confusion.
“I don’t even fully understand what in the hell I just found out and you want to leave?”
Features clearing, he averted his gaze. “Why would you want me to stay in here with you after learning I...”
“Learning you what?” she demanded.
“After learning I’m the reason your people died, Gia!” he shot back, the golden flames flooding his eyes. He closed the distance between them, jabbing a thumb at his chest. “I am the reason you died.”
“Tell me,” she ordered.
He laughed, a bitter sound that held no humor. “You were a vâlva, a woman born with magic and a protector of the land. You were bound to it by blood. But I didn’t know that. I saw you, I wanted you and I decided you’d be my bride. So I wooed you. I told you I wanted to take you away and make you mine. You told me time and again you would never leave. But after you gave yourself to me so sweetly one afternoon, I thought I’d worn you down. So when you fell asleep, I took you to my castle. And you awoke...” He looked away, jaw tight.
And his eyes shone wet when he finally looked back at her. “It was too late. You woke ill. At least that was what I thought. Men attacked the village while you were gone. Children died. And that sealed your fate. Even though I was the one who’d committed the sin, you paid the price. You, the children, the women, men. Nearly everybody in the village died. All because of my arrogance.”
“No. It wasn’t just you.” Eyes dark and mysterious as a forest at night, she shook her head. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“How can you know? Have you remembered?” He wanted, so much, to believe that she could forgive him for what he’d done. But he’d yet to forgive himself. The great golden dragon, of the legendary dragons, reportedly so wise. And he was nothing but a fool, a cruel one who had caused the death of the woman he loved. How could she ever forgive him?
“No.” She moved toward him and lifted a hand to touch his cheek. “I haven’t remembered the events, not beyond what I saw. And even with what you’ve told me...I don’t remember. There are pieces missing, Sorin. I know, because I remember how I felt. It’s in here, Sorin.” She pressed her free hand to her chest, clenched it into a fist. “In here, I know. There were things I meant to do, or needed to do and I didn’t.”
“They can’t outweigh the things I did,” he said in a low voice, eyes bleak.
“You’re wrong. And you are not leaving me.” She moved closer, the hand on his cheek sliding to stroke his jaw, then along his neck before pushing into his hair. “I didn’t wait so long to find you only for you to walk away from me, dragon. I never even realized this piece of me was missing until you landed on that mountaintop all full of arrogance and power. But now that I’ve got you, I’m not letting you go.”
Undone by her, he caught her against him and pulled her close. “Gia...”
She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight, murmuring to him.
He had no doubt she felt him trembling, but she said nothing, simply stroking her fingers through his hair.
Need for her rose to the fore and he sought her mouth.
Her glamour had faded in the last few minutes and there was no soft bed to lay her on, but he was past caring. The wall would suffice.
But just as he took a step toward the cabin’s perimeter, a sharp scream shattered the air.
