The fae stirred in my lap. Her eyes fluttered open, hazy at first, and for a moment, we simply gazed at each other. Looking into those eyes felt like coming home, and that made me furious.
My home had been destroyed, long ago, by this female’s kind. Therewasno home for me anymore, not in this forsaken realm.
The fae’s cheeks turned pink as she seemed to realize how inappropriate our position was. “Who are you?” she asked as she struggled into an upright position.
“Hold on,” I said gruffly, pinning her back down. I grabbed a piece of wood lying nearby and blew a flame onto it so I could see her better. Then I checked her pupils and felt the back of her head for any lumps.
“Stop it.” She pushed my hands away and sat up, scooting herself off my lap. I resisted the urge to pull her back onto me—she’s a fae, she’s the enemy, I reminded myself. “I’m fine.” She rubbed the back of her head a bit, sending a fresh pang of guilt through me. “You didn’t answer my question. Who are you?”
“My name is Einar,” I said, fisting my hands to keep myself from touching her. Even through my anger, the need to claim her, to put my mark over every square inch of flesh, writhed within me like a living creature desperate to get free. “I’m the dragon you woke up.”
Her eyes went wide, and she looked past me to where I’d been lying in my dragon form, and then back to me. “You…you’re…” she seemed to fumble for the right words. “Well that explains how you lit that fire,” she finished lamely.
“I’m not the only one who lit a fire in this room.” I frowned as I recalled the fireball she’d been holding when she woke me. “How are you able to wield fire magic? I thought none of the fae had that power anymore.”
“Well you would know, wouldn’t you?” she said, a little snarkily. “Since the dragons killed all the fire fae when they came to Ediria.”
I growled low in my throat at the familiar lie that had spawned generations of hatred between our two races. “The dragons never touched the fire fae,” I spat. “They were gone before we arrived in Ediria.”
“Oh, so they justhappenedto disappear right around the time your kind arrived?” the fae mocked sweetly. “How convenient for you.”
My nails bit into my palms as I once again resisted the urge to touch her—except this time I wanted to wrap my hands around her throat and strangle her. “Where are we?” I asked, trying to change the subject. The last thing I remembered was the inside the heart of Mount Furian. I’d been put to sleep there, not inside a tower ruin. How had I gotten here? And more importantly, why here specifically?
“We’re in Barrowood Forest,” the fae answered. “Where exactly in the forest, I don’t know. I followed the spirit lights here.”
“Spirit lights? What nonsense are you talking about?”
The fae shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. “I was lost, and an elder I met in the woods told me if I followed the lights they would take me to where I needed to go. The legends say that Barrowood Forest is haunted by spirits, so I figured the lights must be ghosts or something.”
I frowned as I considered her words. “Those sound like aural lights.” Aural lights were the work of the Radiants, beings of light who watched over our world. Since Radiants were from the spirit world, they rarely manifested in this realm, but they sometimes sent signs when they wanted to influence certain people or events.
Evidently, the Radiants had decided it was time for me to awaken. So they sent the one person with the power to break the sleeping spell—my mate.
But why? I seethed internally, furious at this betrayal. It was imperative that I remain asleep, tucked away from fae eyes and ears. That was the only way to ensure that the portal remained closed and my people remained safe. Why would the Radiants put us at risk now, after all they’d done to help us?
“Are you okay?” the fae asked, her eyebrows arched. “You look like you’re about to explode.”
I sighed, scrubbing a hand across my face. “What’s your name?” I asked, resigned to the fact that I was going to need to know more about the fae before I could figure out how to extricate myself from this mess. “And why were you lost in the forest?”
The fae crossed her arms over her chest, which had the very unfortunate effect of pushing her breasts together. A vision unfurled in my head of her sprawled out beneath me, hair tousled, face flushed, her upper body completely bare to my hungry gaze. My hands cupping her breasts, drawing one rosy nipple into my mouth so I could lick and suckle. Her breathy cries echoing off the walls, long legs wrapping around my waist—
“Hello?” the fae’s voice cut through my vision, and I blinked to find her staring crossly at me. “Did you hearanythingI said?”
“Sorry.” I shook my head vigorously, my ears burning with embarrassment. I was behaving like a whelp! “I’ve been asleep for a long time. I’m still trying to adjust.”
The fae huffed. “I said my name is Adara, and that I’m tired of answering all these questions. I want to know whatyou’redoing here, and why you were a stone statue before I woke you up.”
Adara.The name suited her, though I’d never tell her so. “I have no idea what I’m doing here,” I told her. “If memory serves, Barrowood Forest is in the earth realm, and when the Radiants put me to sleep, I was in Hearthfyre, deep within the heart of Mount Furian.”
“Hearthfyre?” Adara frowned. “You mean the Deadlands? And you said theRadiantsare the ones who put you to sleep?”
“The Deadlands?” I repeated, incensed. “Is that what your people are calling my homeland?”
“Well, it hasn’t been your homeland for some time now,” Adara said primly. “The Dragon-Fae War ended nearly twenty years ago.” She tilted her head to the side as she considered me. “Is that how long you’ve been asleep for?”
“Must be,” I groused. “Not nearly long enough. I intended to sleep for eternity.”
“Why?” Adara screwed her face up in distaste. “That sounds miserable.”
