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“No. I think the people still thought of it only as the king’s place. They never really came much, but Mom and Dad did bring us here and I always felt, I don’t know... healthier afterward.”
I hoped she was right.
Veronica began to undress, stripping off her clothes to fold them and place them in a nearby basket.
I watched, not moving. She was spectacular to look at. Skin as smooth and beautiful as silk. I ached for her, especially with those beautiful curves this close. Then I started as I realized I hadn’t thought about anything physical with her since I’d been brought back from the dead.
Maybe there really was some truth to her story about this place having healing powers. For the first time in ages, I began to feel more like myself.
Veronica’s final pieces of underwear fell to the rocks at her feet and she scooped them up to put them in the box alongside the other clothes.
She stood on the side of a pool, facing me. The curve of her breast was lit up by a lantern positioned behind her. The still-angry flame in my gut began to ebb in the presence of desire unexpectedly growing once more.
“Come and swim, Iain,” she said. “I’m not giving up on you. We’ll get you better, no matter what. As long as you don’t give up on yourself. That’s what made me so angry, earlier. I couldn’t bear it if...” She shrugged and turned to the water. “Come on.”
She waded into the pool, not waiting for me, the clear waters rising as she descended, caressing her hips, her back. Her breasts. Then she was submerged almost to her neck, smiling at me in anticipation, her long hair floating around her like a mermaid.
“Well? Coming?”
I began to undress. First my shirt, then my pants. And then a thought struck me and I paused. “But my poison... my blood. What if I ruin the spring, Veronica?”
She shrugged, her breasts bobbing in the water, drawing attention to her strawberry pink nipples. “A price I’ll happily pay for your health, Iain. We’ll drain the pools, and start again.”
“A second chance?” I whispered, limping toward the spring, fully naked.
Everything still hurt, but whether it was the rocks, or the steam, or the fact my mate was forcing me into the light, I felt markedly better. Clearer in my head.
She nodded.
I stepped into the water, the heat surprising me. “Whoa... that’s hot.”
She smiled, reminding me of a siren calling me to throw myself into the sea. “No... it’s only warm, I promise. Your body is out of whack because of the fever you’ve had, so the contrast will burn for a moment. It will settle. Just keep walking. Come to me.”
My dragon rose up inside of me, not making me shift, but controlling my limbs; forcing me forward. I took one step, then the next, and then another, reaching for the woman who’d traveled worlds to keep me alive.
Chapter 14.
VERONICA.
I was playing it as calm and cool as I could, but I wanted to rip Iain’s clothes off his gorgeous, damaged body. My body was on fire for him. But I had to give him time to recover. If he could recover from whatever darkness he had sunk into.
I only hoped the waters here in the hot spring were as powerful as my parents had said they were.
I’d lied to Iain, saying I could just go away and ignore my call to mate with him. Maybe I could have if I’d stayed away, but now that I’d come back, and knew how it felt to be so drawn to him, so connected on a level I’d never felt before, there was no turning back.
When he finally submerged himself in the waters, I watched his face intently. He’d had this strange, dark shadow hovering over him since he woke up. Almost not there, when I tried to stare directly at it, but it had cast a shadow over his face and left a sour taste in my mouth. But, as I stared, the shadow seemed to dissipate and his features became clear.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, worried that I was only imagining the improvement.
He leaned back, dipping his hair in the water, then dropped down to submerge himself completely.
When he finally came back up, a true Iain smile was on his lips and my heart began to pitter-patter way too fast. Was he finally coming back to being himself? “So much better,” he said. “How did you know this would work?”
“I didn’t. But we had to try something, didn’t we?” The healer had said there was no hope and my father’s advice wasn’t going to do more than make Iain think twice about dying.
I had to do something drastic to help him. Say something provocative. Despite being the second son, the spare to the heir, Anselm, Iain was the king of my heart. He was a dragon, through and through. And he would protect me to his dying breath, I just knew it.
I waded over to him, unafraid now. “Kiss me.”
