“Don’t be.” She shakes her head, her wavy hair mussed from our rendezvous. “You’re needed.”
She grabs her nightgown from me as she hops down to the floor. I work on putting my clothes back on. Running a hand in her hair to whisk back the wild strands after she’s pulled her clothes back on, she waltzes up to me.
As I’m adjusting my coat, she takes over tightening the clasps.
Brown eyes flicking up to me, she murmurs, “Thank you for that.” She finishes my coat and leans up to kiss me on the cheek. “Now go. I’ll leave once you’re gone.”
Still holding the kiss she left me on my cheek, I back away toward the door. Not wanting to take my eyes off her and her small grin. As I open the door and slip out, her face is the last thing I see.
Forty-Four
- CYRUS -
Three years ago
It’s been four days since I laid Marcella Briarstone down on my desk. Four days agonizing over the fading taste of her on my mouth. Four days of missing her scent on my clothes, my skin. It’s been unbearable watching her saunter around the castle, face drawn into her usual professional mask. It’s beginning to weigh like a stone in my chest.
Did it truly mean nothing to her?
Does she not relive it every chance she can? Does she not hold her breath every time I enter the room, as I do her?
I am simply…pathetic. Perhaps it was a mistake. Because all I can think of, morning, noon, and night, is her. Of that look in her eyes. The way she kissed me. But I don’t dare request her for a private audience. I can’t. Using my power and position feels wrong—disgusting, even. And while her eyes slide to mine when I’m speaking directly to her, they don’t wander as mine do.
It's day four and I’m sitting at the head of the dining table as representatives from all the towns have gathered to discuss the annual tax distributions. My council is also gathered with us. While the council is aware of my condition, the rest of the Dragon Lands are not.
The council suggested we keep that information safe, because if it were to spread—if it were to get to King Aaric—it would be disastrous. Aaric knows of my existence, that we’re all sure of. But if he knew I had an upper hand in magic, that not only do I hold the Blood Ring, but also the magic bloodline of the sun dragon, Vue?
There’s no telling what a man that fearful and desperate might do.
Right now we both hold our borders, waiting for the other to strike. Considering he wears the Bone Ring he won’t risk killing me if he assumesI’m wearing the Blood Ring. Doing so would kill us both. It's a delicate game of patient deception.
But the truth of the matter is I can’t wear the Blood Ring. Not only does my abnormally large physique prevent me from physically wearing the ring, my dragonblood forbids it. If I were to somehow slip it on, I would wither away. Overcome by magic.
That’s why the council proposed I must marry. I must find a woman who can not only be trusted to wield the Blood Ring, but also bear my children. To produce heirs to secure the throne.
My stomach turns sickly at the thought. Why should I be passing on any sort of unnatural magical blood to a child? What would it even mean for the woman bearing it—would it destroy her from the inside out? Would the child survive after birth? Even if they did, and lived on well into adolescence and adulthood, would they be just as haunted as I am? The knowledge that they couldn’t risk getting close to someone. Because that someone could be hurt by the inevitable, carnal, unpredictable beast inside?
And there’s the cage of immortality. That eventually everyone around us will die. Including the ones we love.
Absentmindedly, I push a slice of meat around my plate with a fork. As I’ve gotten older and the beast has prowled closer to me, my appetite is beginning to fade. I was told dragons can sometimes go months without eating, and perhaps that’s affecting me now. Still, I must put on the illusion of normalcy.
Stabbing the piece, I bring it to my mouth as a representative from the Dragon Academy switches their pointed conversation from someone at their left to me. “King Cyrus, it's been months since your last visit to the Academy. As we plan our curriculum ahead, we must also plan for your arrival with heightened security. Might we ask when you’ll come next?”
As I work through my chewing, Devin answers before I can reply, “How many greenhorns are there this year? And expected for next? Perhaps we combine both visits, in order to keep the King here in Vitalis.”
“Twenty-two students have made it through their studies this year, and about seventeen look promising for next year. Though, I worry if we wait until next year because we’ve combined the classes, it’ll disrupt the natural flow of our lessons. I’m not sure what we would do to keep the current students busy for a year, as the water dragons will soon go out to sea in hibernation.”
Swallowing, I hold out a hand to Devin to silence him before I speak. “I am more than happy to visit for both classes. I’d rather not disrupt the order of things, considering we’ve seen so much success in dragon bonding.”
“We can always send someone else in your stead, my King,” Devin says with a bowed head. “Just…as a reminder.”
“But King Cyrus has a way with the dragons,” the representative from the Academy argues. “Even Queen Elara and the royalty before her were never able to secure so many dragon and student matches.”
“Enough,” I say in a firm voice. “I’m more than happy to attend as many classes as needed. Besides…” I lean back in my chair, tilting my chin toward the windows lining the walls to my right. “I do enjoy leaving the castle every once in a while.”
The door across the room where the stairs lead down into this dining hall opens. Down come several sets of guards, and I don’t even need to scan them to know she’s there.
Her scent wafts over me, making my heart skip and flashing memories of her moans as I moved over her. Of her fingers tangled in my hair.
