Chapter 39
“ T here has to be a way,” I whispered softly as Atora closed the bedroom door.
My final night with Kidron. My final chance to save him.
“There has to be a way.”
My heart was equal parts despair and hope as I approached the bed. The rich moonlight slanting in through the window showed me the Warkin heir was asleep. Asleep, as he’d slumbered for the past two nights. A slumber I could not break.
“Kidron?” I placed my hand on his chest, shaking him gently. “Kidron? It is Lorna. I am here, again, to help you. Please, Kidron. Please wake up. What can I do if you will not awaken?”
His breathing did not change. Nothing in his physical manner told me he’d heard.
Despair slammed me and I turned my back, slumping on the edge of the bed.
What can I do? Help me, Powers of Good. I cannot surrender. I will not —
“Lorna?”
“Kidron!”
I practically squealed his name, twisting from the waist to see him awake, his golden eyes gleaming in the darkness. He was already half-risen off the mattress and I flung myself into his arms with a cry. “Kidron, Kidron you’re awake!”
His arms wrapped around my torso, dragging me tightly against him. “I am,” he murmured into my hair. “By the grace of the Light, I am. I am awake.”
“How?” I begged, drawing back. This time, tears wetted my cheeks and I did not care. They were tears of sheer joy. Tears of relief. Tears of disbelief that my deepest hopes had been realized. “How are you awake tonight and not yesternight or the night before? What happened?”
Gently, he framed my face in his hands, his thumbs wiping away the tears. “I did not know you were here last night or the night before. Not until the servants told me. They were unaware until last night. One of the maids was up late cleaning after another maid became sick. She happened to pass my door and heard the weeping from inside.”
My eyes widened. “I was heard?”
Kidron nodded soberly. “Luck was with us,” he said. “The servants hate the Scraggen of Moonswept as much as we do. She is cruel to them. Enslaves them. They are desperate for any chance to break her hold. When they realized someone was in my room with me, and it was not Atora, the Scraggen’s daughter, they decided to watch.
“One of them told me they observed Atora visit the kitchens at mealtime and drop a powder into my drink. They swapped out the contaminated drink for a fresh one, and…here I am. Awake. With you,” he said, pulling me close again .
Although I wanted to relish the joy of his embrace, the feeling of being pressed against him, I dared not let down my guard. I dared not forget we had only this night to come up with a plan to liberate him.
“Kidron,” I said, “Atora was the one putting you to sleep?”
“That is what the servants said,” he confirmed. “Why? Does this surprise you?”
“A little,” I admitted. He scooted over on the mattress, and I settled myself beside him. He wrapped an arm around my hips, and I pulled my feet up onto the bed, clasping my knees. “She seemed to lack any interest in you as a husband. In fact, she told me this morning she doesn’t wish to marry you.”
“I don’t think she does,” Kidron replied honestly. “However, she fears her mother. Nor do I blame her. Her rebellion against the Scraggen can only go so far.”
This made sense. I could not say I was in a forgiving mood towards her, for drugging Kidron and ruining my chances of rescuing him. But…I supposed I could find a measure of sympathy for her, deep in my heart.
“Well,” I said, “now that you are awake and we are together, we must plot your escape. I did not travel all the way to Moonswept to be defeated.”
Kidron flashed me an approving grin that had my insides quivering.
“My brave Sandlyn lass,” he said. “When I told you I was going east of the sun and west of the moon, I never dreamt that you would actually find me.”
“It was not easy,” I asserted. “But I had help.”
Swiftly, I recounted my journeys, starting with the mirror in the cave. To my surprise, at the end, Kidron chuckled.
“Why do you laugh?” I asked, perplexed. “You are the one who found me and dragged me into this mess. ”
“I laugh,” he said, “because I cannot imagine any other woman in all of Aerisia who would do what you’ve done to free a dragon from a curse. You are most remarkable, Lorna of the Jeweled Isles. And I love you with the entirety of my heart and being.”
“Even though I disobeyed your directives and ruined your chance at freedom?” I replied, stalling him when he leaned down to kiss me. “You still love me?”
“Do you still love me even though I took you from your home to my cave?” he challenged right back.
I considered the question, replying finally, “Our method of meeting was certainly strange. But we have overcome too much to surrender. I love you too, Kidron. By all that is good and right, I swear we will find a way to break this curse and be together.”
This time, I did not wait for him to kiss me. Seized by a reckless impulse, I twisted towards him, reaching up to slide my arms around his neck. I drew him down until his mouth was pressed to mine.
This.
This was what I’d been waiting for. Longing for. The chance to express my heart and desire, my love and relief. His mouth moved over mine in a way that fully bound my soul to his. His arms snaked around my back and hips, and, in a sudden movement, he pulled me onto his lap. I half-giggled in surprise, but my laugh was smothered by him pressing his lips to mine again. The warmth of his mouth juxtaposed with the scratchiness of his beard was like nothing I’d experienced before, filling me with a strange desire for more. More of his scent. More of his warmth. More of his closeness. More of my skin against his. More of the feeling of his hands on me.
Not now .
Not only were we unmarried, but we had only one night to plan. My first kiss had nearly undone us. I would not allow our second to complete the work.
Reluctantly, I broke the kiss, snuggling myself into the hardness of his chest. He clasped me tightly, holding me as though he would never release me.
“I love you, Lorna,” he said again.
“And I you,” I whispered. “When this curse is broken, when we are properly wed, we will find a place to be alone and I will kiss you with kisses that never end.”
“I look forward to that,” he chuckled, and I felt his chest vibrate with the laugh. “There is nothing I desire more.”
There was nothing I desired more, either, save knowing we had accomplished our important work of defeating the Scraggen’s dark purposes.
“I suppose we’d best set to work,” I said, reluctantly pushing myself free of his embrace. “We could spend the night kissing or planning.”
“I prefer the former,” he replied, reaching for me.
Laughing, I dodged, scooting to the very edge of the bed. “You say that now,” I replied. “But what will you say when morning comes, the curse still enthralls you, and you never have the chance to kiss me again?”
“You are not wrong,” he reluctantly agreed.
“No, I am not. We have tonight to concoct a plan. I have no more magical artifacts to trade with Atora. I doubt she’ll permit me back to your room without them.”
This truth was sobering enough that both of us fell silent, thoughts of kissing and romance chased away by danger.
“What can we use?” I said. “What do we have that we can use to fight a Scraggen? Will normal weapons suffice? ”
“One can only fight magic with magic,” Kidron replied gravely.
“You are a dragon. Can you not—”
He shook his head, cutting me off. “She keeps me in an underground cave during the day. Bound by magical chains. I am merely permitted into the keep at night, in my human form.”
That was discouraging.
“I’ve an idea,” Kidron announced. I swung my legs out of the way so he could climb off the bed. He rushed to the corner of the room, where sat a pack, not much different than my own. Kneeling before it, he rummaged a moment, then withdrew a familiar shirt.
“I asked the Scraggen to fetch a few of my belongings from the cave,” he said. “Luckily, she complied, using her magic. We have this.”
I studied it closely, trying to ascertain why it was familiar.
“You do not recall?” Rising to his feet, he stepped closer, shaking it out and holding it up. My sight fell on a familiar stain. Drips of candle wax.
“Is that—”
“Aye. The shirt I wore the night you kissed and awakened me.”
“Oh, Kidron,” I said, feeling a bit mortified. “Why do you still have that? Of what use is it to us?”
“Don’t you see?” As he stepped closer, still holding up the shirt, I could see his countenance change. Excitement had taken hold. His golden eyes gleamed in the moonlight drifting in through the window. He spoke rapidly in hushed tones. “We can use this to foil the Scraggen. The shirt is imbued with magic. Your kiss and the candle wax shattered our chance at liberty. Now, the candle wax can be used to undo the spell. We fight magic with magic. We unseal the curse by the same items with which it was sealed.”
“I fear I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head.
“Then let me explain.”
We spent that night going over and over our plan. As we did, I dithered between hopefulness and despair. It seemed so simple. Hope would spring. Nay, it was too easy. Too simple. How could magic as potent as the Scraggen’s be foiled by something so simplistic? Despair would take hold. Throughout it all, Kidron remained steadfast. He believed it would work.
“You are my mate,” he reassured me, sliding an arm about my shoulders and nestling me into his side. We sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard, passing what remained of the night in each other’s arms. “We share an unbreakable bond. It brought me to you in the beginning. It will not fail at the end.”
I wished I had his certainty. Eventually, I relaxed enough that my head drifted onto the dragon prince’s shoulder. My eyelids slid closed. I slept until a sound outside the room roused me, along with Kidron’s voice saying gently, “Lorna, Atora is here. We must feign that I never wakened.”
He was right. By the time the Scraggen’s daughter had entered the bedchamber, Kidron had slid down onto the bed, resting on his back. I scooted away, lying alongside him without touching him. I kept my eyes closed as Atora traipsed into the room, lifting my eyelids only when she shook my shoulder insisting, “Time to awake, Peddler.”
Sitting up, I pretended to wipe away sleep, yawning and stretching my arms.
“Morning already?” I asked .
“Hssst,” she shushed. “Aye, morning already. My mother is in this part of the keep today. We must make haste. If she catches either of us…”
“Say no more.”
I bolted out of bed, gathered my pack, and followed her out the door without so much as a backward glance at Kidron, pretending that I wasn’t full of fear that I’d never seen him again. Either in the flesh, as a human, or even in his dragon form.
Farewell, my love.
I dared only think it, not say it. The door closed behind us, cutting him off. I prayed the soft click of the latch did not spell our ultimate doom.