“You don’t know that.” I can’t help but touch her, run my palms along her thighs. Gods, just the sensation of her skin soothes the hurt that lives so deeply embedded it’s become a part of me.
“I do.” She looks up at me, earnestness in her voice. “What happened that night—there was nothing you could do to change it, to stop it. I met Sela. I know what she’s capable of—wascapable of,” she corrects herself. Then she meets my gaze again, her eyes taking on a steely quality. “I’m glad you ended her. You avenged your family. You avengedme.” She lies her head on my chest, her ear just over my heart.
I want to believe her. My brothers have told me much the same over the years—that I did the best I could in an impossible situation. But they weren’t there. “I can still hear her screams. My father fighting his attackers. I can still see it when I close my eyes. Every night, I wish I’d done something differently, made a better choice. Didsomethingto save my parents, to save the DragonLands and its people. To stop the curse.”
“The curse saved your life,” she says quietly.
“What?” I ask sharply.
She traces the bottom edge of the scales below my collar bone, her soft touch soothing the anger that wants to surge to my surface. “I mean it. Think about, Vander. If the curse hadn’t happened, you would’ve been slaughtered. You were greatly outnumbered. You were a child! Do you really think you would’ve survived?”
“No, but?—”
“But nothing!” she says vehemently and leans back, staring me down. “I know you’re a big dragon. Strong. Vicious. Giant teeth. Fire breathing. All that. But you need to listen when I tell youwhat happened to you was terrible. You weren’t in control of that situation. You had no defense. The entire weight of your world fell on your shoulders in that one moment, and you made the only decision you could. You did nothing wrong.Nothing.”
I don’t speak. I can’t, not when she’s looking at me like this, her heart breaking for me. I don’t deserve her pity, her care. I ruined the DragonLands with my choice.
“Do you really think your parents would’ve wanted you to die with them that night?” She shakes her head. “Of course not. They would be glad you’re alive. That the curse gave you another chance. Don’t you see that?”
Silence again, my heart thundering in my chest. Gods, I can feel her certainty through our bond, the absolute fire of kindness, ofrighteousnessthat burns inside her.
Her brows draw together. “Are all DragonKin this stubborn?”
Something in her tone lightens the dark clouds swirling in my head, in my heart. “I can’t say I’ve met all DragonKin, but the ones I have … Yes, I do believe we’re all quite stubborn.”
“This isn’t something to be stubborn about. You have to forgive yourself. Don’t you see that? You can’t truly move forward until you do.”
Gods, how can she melt me like this? Just looking at her, having her so close to me, her skin against mine—all the terror, all the guilt, it seems farther away. As if maybe she’s right. But how could she be? She wasn’t there. She didn’t see what I did. How I failed.
“Don’t do that,” she says quietly. “Don’t turn away. Just trust me. Do you?”
“Do I trust you?” I ask.
She nods.
“With all that I am.” The answer is easy, the easiest things I’ve said in this entire conversation. “You’re my treasure.”
“Your treasure?” She leans over and runs her fingers along the golden coins beside us. Just the look of her hands on my gold, the way her fingertips stroke along its gleaming surface.
“I would ask you if all mortals are as distracting as you, but I’m certain they are not. There’s only you.” I watch her pluck an apple-sized emerald from the pile and hold it up to the light.
“I’m not distracting.” She shifts in my lap, my cock hardening at the sight of her.
The blanket falls from one of her small shoulders, and I catch a glimpse of one dusky nipple. She’s enthralled by the emerald. I’m enthralled by her.
“You like gems, my treasure?” I ask.
She snaps her gaze to mine, her lips parted. I could swear the golden flecks in her eyes dance.
“Anything you want. Anything you’ve ever desired, I will make it yours.”
“You already have so much.” She glances at the coins. “An entire cave of it.”
“Never enough.” I slide my hands to her hips. “I’ll build you a mountain of gold if that’s what you wish.”
She lowers the emerald and gently lays it on the bed. “I don’t know what I’d do with a treasure hoard.”
I scoff and pull her closer. “You don’t do anything. You keep it. You fight whoever dares so much as look at it. And if anyone touches what’s yours?” I run my fingers through her soft hair and squeeze lightly, pulling her mouth to mine. “You destroy them.” I kiss her, unable to stop myself. Gods, the way she touched that gold, her hand around the emerald—I’ve never seen anything hotter in my fucking life andI. Breathe. Fire.
