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I inhaled deeply, careful to control my emotions. “I’m one of her descendants. Let me tell you the rest of thestory.”
“I should’ve known there was more,” hemurmured.
“There’s always more. History is written by the victor, remember?” Ishrugged.
“Tell me out here,” he suggested, his arm now around my waist as he tried to lead me into the livingroom.
I played along. I sat where he wanted me. After all, my family had been on the losing end of history for nearly a thousand years and our role had been nearly blotted out ever since. I curled up in a corner of the couch and he plopped down in the middle, giving me absolutely no room to breathe, and I rather liked it. Despite my sadness and my fear, deep down, I had strange stirrings and I knew they were about this dragonshifter.
“Once upon a time, there was a sorceress named Sabine who held in her heart a great love for the king of a once-great kingdom. The city had been under attack for many years and finally an accord had been struck. The king would marry his daughter off to the prince of their enemy. This union would bring peace and great wealth in the form of her dowry.” I glanced at him briefly before reaching out to take his hand in mine. Closing my eyes, I felt the thrum of energy between us which, while unnerving wasn’t altogetherunpleasant.
“Go on,” Mishal urged, even as he squeezed my handtighter.
“Of course.” I took a breath and adjusted my position on the couch to lean forward instead of back. “While the princess was being transported to the Turks to take her vows, a dragon kidnapped her and killed most of her entourage. When the king found out, he called upon his knights to battle the dragon, and when they ultimately failed, he reached out to his trusted sorceress, Sabine, to rescue his daughter. She made her way to the dragon’s lair, which was little more than a cave in the cliffs over the ocean. Though she expected to find the princess miserable and frightened, Sabine found the princess curled up in his arms, singing to him, nuzzling up to him, and the dragon was practically purring.” Ichuckled.
“I know this story. Sabine made the dragon into a man, and he became the first dragon shifter.” Mishal grew serious. “Tell me more about Sabine. What happenednext?”
“This is where your historical account ends, but where it suddenly becomes interesting for my family.” I shook my head. “See, Sabine returned to the king. She explained what happened. He was furious. All he saw was the end of his kingdom, the loss of money, the continued war.” My eyes flashed as I looked at him. “The king was a ruthless, greedy man, and yet Sabine lovedhim.”
“Sounds like he was worse than the dragon.” Mishalfrowned.
I nodded. “Oh, he was. He blamed Sabine, threw her in the dungeons without hearing her out. It took a month before he could bring himself to look at her. By then, her love had turned to hatred. She told the king she would’ve married him. He’d been a widower for years. She told him he would’ve wanted for nothing.” I released his hand and rubbed my temples. This part of the story always made me hurt. “The king laughed and told her he wanted no part of marriage to her. She had no dowry. She had no title. In his world, she had nothing to offer.” Pain shot through my temple and Iwinced.
“You okay, cupcake?” Mishal reached out and gathered me into his arms. He pressed my head to his chest and rocked me, comforting me like he would achild.
I sniffled. “You still see me as that little girl who wanted nothing more than to curl up in your lap every night,” Imumbled.
He froze and pushed me back from his chest so he could look me in the eye. “Actually, no…I don’t. That thought never occurred to me. Instead, I wanted to comfort a woman I’ve quickly grown to…care about.” Mishal finger-combed my hair, rubbing my scalp as he wound his fingers through my wavytresses.
“You mean it?” I whispered, feeling more hopeful than I had in such a longtime.
Leaning down, he pressed his forehead to mine, then slowly met my eyes until we were staring at each other. Pangs of longing hit me in the heart and where once I felt strange tingles, a fire now raged. A whimper escaped my lips and then nothing because his lips were against mine. Part of me wanted nothing more than to give in to this temptation. But the sensible part overruled and insisted I finish what I’d started. I pulled back and pressed my fingers to his mouth. “Wait,” I whispered. “There’s so much more you need to know before…before you kiss meagain.”
He pulled my fingers from his face so he could speak. “You think I won’t want to after that, huh?” Mishal shook his head. “Just hurry up so I can prove you wrong.” He grinned, then tucked me under his chin. “Continue.”
I licked my lips, wondering where to pick up the story. “When the king refused her, humiliated her, she lost it. Heartbroken, she never considered the ramifications of her words. She didn’t even think of them as a spell. They were just the ramblings of a scornedsorceress.”
“She cursed him. Good for Sabine.” Mishalchuckled.
“Ah, but also bad for Sabine, almost as bad as for the king. See, spells should always be made with caution. We’re now taught to watch the wording, pay attention to our emotions, and remember the rule of three.” Isighed.
“What’s the rule ofthree?”
“Whatever we do comes back to us threefold, good or bad. Cursing is no joke. Sabine became a cautionary tale. She told him he’d never know love, he’d lose all his wealth, and he’d lose all his power,” I whispered. This part of the story still gave me shivers. “The kingdom was overthrown. The coffers were empty. And because he was truly a terrible person, not a single soul loved him, except maybe his son. As the castle began to crumble under the Turk’s attack, one of the knights rescued Sabine and they ran off together, but she was never the sameagain.”
Mishal quietly digested the tale before asking, “Howso?”
“Well, though the knight loved her, she had no love in her heart. Their union was fruitful in that they had children, but there was no love, no money, and she’d grown afraid of using her magic, so in a sense she lost her power too.” I bit my cheek and nuzzled deeper into hischest.
“And since?” He wondered. “What has become of your line in the last…what, nearly nine hundredyears?”
21
Mishal
“Well,I’m no sorceress, if that’s what you mean.” Peri sighed. “We’re pretty much third tier now, and some of us have no magic atall.”
My eyes widened. “Fredo?”
