Heart of a Dragon (Fallen Immortals #2)

Chapter Twelve

Riding a blue dragon was nowhere near as sexy as flying a golden one.

The wind whipped Arabella’s hair as she clung to Cinaed’s back. His blue scales glistened like sapphire jewels—he was truly a beautiful dragon, even if his nearness didn’t heat her up the way clinging to Lucian’s golden scales did. But they were headed to see Lucian, so she was tense with anticipation. The king and queen had given them the coordinates for his tomb, and Cinaed must have some kind of GPS in his head because he took off right away and was flying without any instrumentation that she could see. But she could tell they were heading north, and it got colder and colder as they went.

They flew deep into the wilderness, leaving Seattle and the keep far behind. Eventually, right as her fingers turned so numb she was in danger of falling off, Cinaed swooped down into a canyon and weaved along it. Eventually, they came upon a small cave in the face of a granite wall. She might’ve missed the cave altogether, but there were burn marks all around the edges and the walls inside.

Her heart seized.

I’m sure he’s fine, my lady. Cinaed’s thoughts connected to hers, but they didn’t reassure her.

When they got close enough to almost land, she saw a man inside the cave slumped against the rock wall, holding his arm and grimacing, eyes shut. For the two heartbeats that it took for them to touch down in the cave, Arabella was certain it was Lucian.

But her worst fears were beaten back in a flurry when the noise of their landing popped open the man’s eyes, and she saw they were icy blue. And then, even in the murk, she could tell it wasn’t Lucian at all—this had to be his brother, Leksander. There was a strong family resemblance, but it was clear that Leksander had inherited his mother’s blue eyes, like Leonidas.

Arabella quickly scrambled off Cinaed’s back, and he shifted. She rubbed her arms and blew on her hands to warm them while she shuffled over to see Leksander. “Are you all right?” she asked as she knelt. He was covered in blood, but she knew that wasn’t a good indicator of anything, not with dragons.

“Just taking a rest.” Leksander used his hand to brace against the wall and boost up from the floor, but it was clear it was causing him pain.

Arabella rose with him. “You sure?”

He seemed to shake it off. “Quite.” Then he peered at her. “Arabella Sharp, my brother is very much in love with you. And that almost cost me my hide.”

Arabella frowned. What did that mean?

“The prince was already in his tomb,” Cinaed guessed.

Leksander nodded. “I managed to bring him out, but…” He gazed off at the mountains below them. “He’s run off again. I know not where.”

“Shall I search for him?” Cinaed asked, quickly. “How long ago did he leave?”

“Not long, but he could be far by now.” Leksander put his hand on Cinaed’s shoulder. “I know you love him, my friend, but you don’t possess the fae senses that I do. I need to be the one to look for him.” He glanced at Arabella. “Lucian may yet return, and if he does, he’ll want to see you. Remain here while I search, in case he comes back.”

Without another word, Leksander slow jogged toward the edge of the cave and leaped into the air, shifting into a bronze dragon as he went.

“So, we’re just going to wait?” Arabella was looking all around the cave, thinking what a horrible place this would be to die. Not that there was a good place to die, but by yourself? In a lonely cave in the middle of nowhere?

“I’m sorry it’s not more comfortable,” Cinaed said, and he actually seemed to mean it.

“I’m not worried about that,” she said, scowling. “I just can’t believe…” She swallowed looking at the desolation of the cave again. “Why would he choose this, Cinaed? Is mating with me such an awful prospect that he would rather run away and die?” It was hard to keep the tremble out of her voice.

“No, my lady, no.” Cinaed took a step closer. He seemed like he wanted to give her a hug or something, but was holding himself back. “It’s as the queen says—his heart was broken once, and I’m afraid that’s not something he thinks he can endure again.”

“But running away?” Arabella shook her head. “That doesn’t sound like the man I know and love.”

Cinaed frowned and dropped his gaze to the rough granite floor. “Pain of the heart does horrible things to a man.” He looked up. “Especially a man who loves so deeply, as my prince does.”

She had to agree with that. There was nothing shallow about Lucian Smoke.

A soft whisper of wings drew her gaze to the mouth of the cave. The silhouette of a dragon was winging through the sky toward them.

Arabella pointed. “Is Leksander coming back already?”

Cinaed’s eyes shifted to dragon slits, something Arabella hadn’t seen happen before. They quickly changed back to human. A small smile jumped onto his face. “No, my lady, it’s the prince.”

As the winged form drew closer, the sun glinted off his golden scales. Arabella’s heart started pounding even as a gush of relief made her feel almost weak. The beauty and grace of him flying through the air gave way to a small glimmer of concern as he didn’t seem to be slowing down.

Arabella took a step back and put a hand on Cinaed’s arm. “He’s going a little—” But before she could finish, Lucian landed roughly on the cave edge, absorbing the speed with a screech of talons digging into the granite. Then his dragon feet turned into boots, and finally, the rest of him transformed. He stood before them, looking haggard and a little wild-eyed.

“My liege—” Cinaed started.

Lucian threw him a cold look. “Leave us.”

Cinaed’s eyes went wide, and Arabella was right there with him. Why was Lucian acting so… strange?

Then his amber eyes snapped back to her. “I wish to talk to my mate alone.”

Arabella struggled for something to say. On the one hand, this was exactly why she came—to talk to him—but a chill was running down her back with his gruff tone and angry demeanor. Then again, she did need to apologize.

Cinaed looked severely troubled. “Lucian, are you sure—”

Arabella squeezed his arm. “It’s okay, Cinaed. There’s something I need to talk to Lucian about… in private.”

Cinaed seemed thoroughly unconvinced, flicking looks back and forth between the two of them. And she could understand why—maybe Lucian’s wyvern form was coming out again. But she knew he would never hurt her.

“All right, my lady,” Cinaed said, his voice full of reluctance. With a nod to Lucian, he took several quick steps to the edge of the cave, leaping off and shifting just as Leksander had. Cinaed banked hard to the left and rose quickly out of sight above the mountain behind them.

Arabella turned to Lucian. “Look, I know you’re upset, but before you say anything, I just want to apologize.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Apologize?”

She found one of her hands pounding the other open palm silently—her nervous habit—and forced her hands to be still. “I’m sorry I brought up the sealing. I know you’re still hurting over… over Cara.” She swallowed. His eyes took on a shine when she said his dead mate’s name. She prayed she wasn’t screwing up even more by bringing it up again. “I shouldn’t have just rushed into that. I want to take things slow—not too slow, of course, because of your wyvern coming out—but I should let you set the pace on this. I promise I won’t push anymore.”

“Do you truly promise?” He edged toward her and touched her cheek with the back of his fingers

Relief gushed through her—he was touching her again. “I promise.”

“Good.” He stepped even closer. “Because I can think of something much more pleasant to do than talking.” Suddenly his lips were on hers, kissing her, devouring her, pulling her against him. Her body zoomed from feeling wracked with guilt and stress and worry to wanting him. It was dizzying. Of course, she wanted him—he was gorgeous, and she loved him—but this kiss… it was so rushed and hurried and strangely aggressive.

She pulled back, and he almost didn’t let her go. Her breath was heaving. She looked up into his eyes. “Do you really want to do this…” They were in his death tomb. What the hell? The mere idea of making love here was creeping her out.

“Don’t you want to?” he asked with a smirk, moving in on her again. This time, he backed her up two steps until she was against the rough rock wall. It was poking into her shoulder, and she had to duck in order not to bang her head on a sharp edge that was jutting out.

But as soon as Lucian touched her cheek again, a strange lust pulsed all through her body—as if she only had one chance to have him, and that chance was right now. It was now or never… and never was not acceptable.

“Of course, I want to—” But her words were cut off as his hand slipped to the back of her neck, and he pulled her in for another hard kiss.

Her body was saying now now now, but her head was clearly in what the fuck land.

There was something very wrong here. And if she didn’t know what was going through his head when he was making love to her before… well, she didn’t want to repeat that mistake. They needed to air this thing out before it went any further and just ruined things again.

She planted her hands on his chest and pushed him back. She had to do it three times before he finally broke the kiss.

“Lucian!” She tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go. “What are you doing?”

A sudden rush of wings beating the air heralded Cinaed’s return. “My lady! Is everything all right?”

Arabella flushed— shit, Cinaed must’ve been eavesdropping and thought Lucian’s wyvern was coming out—but before she could open her mouth and tell him everything was fine, the look on Lucian’s face told her everything was not fine. He was glaring at Cinaed like he wanted to drill holes through his body, slowly and with lots of pain.

“I told you to be gone.” Then Lucian swept a hand out toward Cinaed, and the man flew backward as if punched by a giant fist. He lofted so high in the air, he had no chance of landing inside the cave. He quickly dropped below the cave lip, out of sight.

Arabella gasped. “Oh my God!” She started to run toward the edge of the cave, but Lucian’s hand roughly grabbed her arm and hauled her back. “What the hell are you—” But when she looked back, all words fled.

The man holding her arm wasn’t Lucian.

It was the fae prince.

Zephan.