The truth was that the kiss we'd shared was no less memorable than his royal blood revelation, and its lingering effect still buzzed with warmth in my veins, but it wasn't something I could share with him while surrounded by our friends.
It was private.
His eyes smoldered. "I do. Very much so." His voice dropped by at least another half an octave, and I had no doubt that if we were alone, he would have kissed me until I forgot my own name.
Suddenly feeling a little breathless, I leaned my head on his bicep. "The dragons are about to arrive. We need to compose ourselves."
"Right." He squared his shoulders, getting himself under control and looking like the prince he was.
The effect I had on Alar was intoxicating. I'd never thought of myself as particularly sexy or beautiful, and I'd rarely turned heads. Alar's hunger for me was the best compliment he could have given me.
A prince, the fifth son of the king of Catonia who was the head of the Council of Seventeen, thought that I, Kailin Strom, was the most desirable woman out of thousands of pilgrims. Heck, he hadn't even spared Erona a second glance, and her beauty was the kind that poems were written about.
Despite our vastly different backgrounds, Alar and I were more alike than not. We were both dragon riders in training, and we both believed that the Sitorians would one day turn on Eluria, and that the Elurian Federation needed to prepare for that eventuality instead of relying on tiny Elucia to be its forever buffer. Most importantly, though, we shared a connection that just felt incredible.
It was more than attraction, more than passion; it was an intellectual and ideological compatibility that felt almost surreal, and something else that I couldn't define.
Fate? Destiny? Those were the words that came to mind, but I didn't believe in the romantic notion of fated or destined love. People got together, and if they were lucky, they got along and saw eye to eye at least on the important stuff.
The rest was about shared goals, the willingness and ability to compromise, and mutual respect.
In fact, I wasn't sure what love was other than the longing I felt for Alar. I was happier with him around; I felt safer, less alone.
"You two are so cute," Shovia said, her eyes flickering first to our joined hands and then to my head resting on Alar's arm.
"Kailin is cute." Alar's hand tightened over mine. "Me, not so much."
"Of course not," Shovia mocked. "You are too manly to be cute. I meant that the two of you together look adorable as a couple."
Alar chuckled, a warm, rich sound that sent a pleasant shiver down my spine. "That we are." He lifted our conjoined hands and kissed the back of mine.
He was more relaxed than I'd ever seen him, as if sharing his secret with me had lifted a weight off his chest. It must have been as difficult for him to keep his real identity from me as it was for me to keep from him all the secrets that I was not allowed to reveal, but unlike me, he had done it for much longer.
As a distant rhythmic sound announced the dragons' arrival, we shifted our attention skyward. Six large shapes appeared on the horizon, wings spread wide as they glided down, and I wondered where they had come from. The aviary was above the Citadel, but it wasn't likely that they could just drop down. They needed to circle the mountain in order to lower themselves gradually for a landing on the roof.
I squinted against the sun, trying to identify them, and as they got closer, my heart leaped at the sight of Onyx. His unmistakable obsidian scales caught the light in a way that no other dragon's did.
"Looks like Commander Ravel is back," Morek said.
I waited for the ripple of tension I'd come to expect from Alar at the mention of Commander Ravel, but it didn't come. Instead, he seemed almost serene, watching the approaching dragons with anticipation rather than suspicion.
As the dragons drew closer, the cadets instinctively moved back to give them more space, even though we were standing next to the mountainside and there was plenty of room between us and the ledge.
The downdraft from their wings whipped loose strands of hair around my face and tugged at my uniform. I kept my hand firmly in Alar's, using him as an anchor as the massive creatures descended upon the roof in a synchronized landing that shook the stone structure beneath our feet.
Onyx's golden eyes found me immediately, and I felt the now-familiar brush of his consciousness against mine.
"Little Warrior,"his voice rumbled in my mind."I see that you and Alar have progressed to outward expressions of affection. It appears to be a significant stage in human relationships."
“It is for us,” I confirmed, wondering whether what I'd learned about dragon mating rituals was true.
"Enjoy your lesson." Alar leaned over and kissed my cheek before letting go of my hand. "But be careful."
I realized that the gesture was deliberately timed, just as Commander Ravel was looking in our direction. A subtle claiming, a message from Alar to Ravel that didn't require words. I would have been annoyed at the testosterone-driven display if I hadn't found it somewhat endearing.
"You too," I replied, fighting a smile.
Men were just such a competitive and territorial bunch.
