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Then she left.
I was breathing like an old man, but my dragon had woken at the thought of another man touching Veronica, and the shifter side of me lent enough strength to my limbs to follow her. The pain was manageable and anger fueled my body as I limped to the door and out into the hallway.
Veronica was about ten steps in front of me, heading toward the stairwell. She dashed down the steps and ran over to the footman. Servants flew every which way. I staggered down the steps, one at a time, holding onto the balustrade in case my legs collapsed beneath me.
When I finally made it to the landing, my chest was heaving and my lungs were burning as I dragged in air. “Where... now?”
She offered me a fur-lined cloak. “Put this on. We’re going by coach.”
I dragged the cloak around me and let Veronica lead me outside and into the coach. The snow was thin on the ground, which meant the sleds weren’t necessary today.
“Stay warm,” Veronica said, tossing a fur blanket over me from where she sat on the opposite side.
I did as she said, though my head was still filled with hateful thoughts and my body shivered, unable to decide if I was too hot or too cold. The only thing that was saving me from keeling over at this point was my dragon, growling inside my head, mad at my mate. She’d threatened to leave us again. Be with other men. He was pushing hard to grab her and show her how much we loved her.
The poison wanted me to throw myself out of the carriage and lie down to die in the snow. The duality was maddening. I couldn’t talk properly or think straight.
We rode for a while, through the town and past farming fields.
I wanted to ask about where we were going, but my jaw was practically wired shut.
I didn’t trust myself to speak without saying something wrong, or hurtful.
So, we traveled in silence until, finally, the rocking of the carriage stopped.
“Where are we?” I bit out, the pain beginning to overwhelm me again. Everything hurt, throbbing hard.
“Come on. Let’s go.” Veronica pushed open the door and got out of the carriage.
I took a deep breath, not sure I had the strength for this next part of the journey if we had to walk far.
“Iain. Get your ass out here.”
A smile quivered on my lips. There’s my dragon princess.
I hauled myself up off the carriage seat and fell down the steps to the ground, moaning as pain shot through me. “Fuck... me.”
“If you can get your head and your body sorted out, I might just do that again. Let’s go.” Veronica marched off toward the foothills, boulders and darkened cave mouths stretching ahead of us.
“Where are we?” I’d never seen this part of the Winter Kingdom before.
Veronica didn’t answer; shejust disappeared into the mouth of one of the caves.
It was late in the day, and the setting sun cast spectacular colors across the landscape. Burnt oranges, yellows and purple.
I inhaled the chilly air through my nose and shivered. I had no idea if this was going to do anything good, but at this point, could it get any worse?
I limped to the cave entrance, annoyed that she’d left me to make this walk by myself.
Stupid, I knew, because I wouldn’t have wanted her pity, or her help. But in the moment, I wasn’t thinking straight. And I knew it, so I forced the words and thoughts down and just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
As soon as I stepped into the cave, a wave of relaxation washed over me and my thoughts felt less like they were tumbling around in a washer.
“You weren’t joking.” Steam rose from pools of crystal clear water inside the cave.
Veronica was lighting candles and lanterns. “My dad kept this as his private sanctuary for a while. The one place that was truly his, while he rebuilt his kingdom. Then he brought Mom here, and they opened it up to the people.”
I glanced around. “Looks like noone really uses it now.”
