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“Hello, Mr. Skyburrito.”
Smiling, I turned to see Evie walking towards me from the bathtub, a towel wrapped around her body after just stepping out of her bath. “Hello, Mrs. Skyburrito.” Her hands rested on my chest when she reached me, and I clung to her waist, kissing her. “Mmm, someone smells delicious.”
Evie grinned against my lips, leaning away to look up into my eyes, but her smile faltered when she glanced at me. “What is it? What happened?”
Sighing, I pressed my forehead to hers, still immersed in Vyper’s pain. “It’s Vyper. I think I’ve been exhausting him without knowing. He feels bad and it is my fault.”
Confusion wrinkled her features, and her gaze connected with mine again. “How so?”
“I’m not sure.” I shook my head, noticing the way her wet golden hair looped along her shoulder and chest as it fell. I reached for a strand, my finger wrapping around it. “He is sick somehow. I think he’s been forcing himself to stay awake to bring me here each night and take me back to my room. He’s drained, and I suspect he hasn’t been resting as much as he needs. It’s my fault.”
Compassion instantly made Evanna’s sky blue eyes glitter. “I’m sure there is something else happening, and you didn’t cause this. Come…” Taking my hand, she guided me towards the tub, and began to remove my shirt.
“Not that I’m complaining, but what are you doing?” I asked, lifting my arms when she pulled it over my head.
“Well, I haven’t finished my bath, and honestly, you stink.” Her nose wrinkled, making me laugh.
“Sorry, I was going to bathe before coming to see you, but my mind was preoccupied with the events of the day, and when I felt Vyper in pain, I just—”
“You felt his pain too?” she asked, surprised, reaching for my pants next. I kicked my boots off to help her.
“Yeah, it doesn’t only work for emotions. I can feel their physical state too.” I shrugged. “It’s how I knew Tharion needed me before he bonded to me. I felt the wounds Azazel left on him when he saved me.”
Evie nodded, but her concern deepened. She wasn’t exactly thrilled that Tharion had chosen me. Everyone was terrified of Fire Fury, with good reason, but there was nothing either of us could do about it now. Besides, I was glad he chose me.
“I still can’t believe that he fought Azazel to protect you. Every single Dragon is scared of that beast.”
She shook her head, throwing away my pants and taking the armor off my right arm, until I was as bare as the day I was born. When she pulled me to the giant soaker bathtub, I willingly stepped into the steamy water with her. My gaze followed her towel when it joined my pants.
“Luna, and our other Dragons have gone against him before, but only because we have compelled them to, and never on their own,” she added, reminding me of the story she shared with me, about the day her aunt died. Evie had forced Luna to go full force against the four-headed beast, slicing his side with her horns.
The same was true the day I rode Spartan, trying with Asher, Harper, Elijah and the others to take the beast out of commission. We all knew how that ended.
“I think our connection formed long before that day,” I confessed, seeing her reach for the natural shampoo bar they used, and beginning to lather my hair with it. Its delicious smell gently engulfed my senses.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s the only explanation I can come up with. He had only peaked at me through the darkness of his cave before. He didn’t approach me like the others did the first time I was in the honeycomb lairs, or ever after that. It wasn’t until I fell from the Dragon’s altar while sparring with Kingston that he approached me, saving my life for the first time.”
Trying to figure it out, I became silent, feeling her fingers massage my scalp and rinsing it with clean water.
“Before that, I only ever saw his fiery eyes looking at me, assessing me, searching for something... even when he brought me into his lair after rescuing me. It was like he was intrigued by me.”
There was something oddly comforting about Evie washing me like she was, so I pulled her closer, resting my cheek over her chest.
“He smelled me,” I continued. “Observed my every move while I tried to get out of there alive by following Kingston’s instructions. There was somehow a connection between us already. I’m certain. It’s why he felt my distress with Azazel’s attack and went to the greenlands to protect me.”
Evie’s breathing became as deep as she became quiet. Her chest rose and fell against my face, and I could almost sense the anxiety growing in her.
“He’s not going to hurt me, baby,” I assured, trying to give her peace, because I believed it with all my being. “Tharion was willing to give his life for mine that day, and we hadn’t even bonded yet. I am hisSoulris, he’ll never let anything happen to me.”
“He’s killed our men before.”
“It’s not the same. Those men went into his cave, trying to force a bond with him,” I clarified.
Immediately, I felt her try to pull away, but my arms tightened around her, keeping her with me. My eyes connected with hers.
“I’m not excusing him, Evie. I’m sorry those lives were lost, but there is a reason it happened. You can’t poke a cobra and then whine because it bit you.”
