Wyvern’s Gold (The Ruins Of Men Book 1)

Chapter 76

Seventy-Six

Ayla

E ventually, we had to leave. Outside, the streets were quiet. Last time, there had been wounded and dead scattered all over. This time, all of the bodies belonged to Moles. I let my eyes run over them, not caring about the gore.

I wanted to stamp my Phoenix into all of their skin, but it wouldn't matter. They wouldn't be seen by the people who needed the message. These men were all going to be dumped in the forest for the predators to dispose of - and so far as I cared, even that was too good for them.

"Ayla?" Zasen asked as we made our way off Saveah's front porch. "Are you okay? I still need to look at your hip."

"It's fine," I assured him. "Not even worth stitching."

"I'd still like to clean it," he said, stopping me in the middle of Saveah's yard as Kanik left the house. "It needs a bandage at the very least."

I nodded. "Okay."

And Zasen smiled at me. "Damn, you are a good Dragon. The best stupid decision I've ever made."

Before I knew what was happening, he'd palmed the side of my face and leaned in. His mouth found mine. His tongue flicked across my lips, and I gasped in shock.

That was all he needed. There, in the aftermath of a war that had turned everything I knew upside down, Zasen kissed me. He kissed me the way the men in those romance books did. He kissed me with his tongue, sliding it through my mouth to bump and tangle with my own.

I didn't pull away.

My entire body felt like it relaxed, making me lean into him. This felt good. It felt safe. It felt so right, so I tried to match him. My mouth moved. My tongue swirled. Lifting a hand, I pressed it against his chest to hold myself up.

And I gave in. Maybe this was improper, but it was what Dragons did. It was good, safe, and I knew this man wouldn't do more. He kissed me and I kissed back, feeling my pulse race and my breath catch. My stomach erupted with what had to be butterflies and my body felt like it was glowing.

Then he pulled away. "They say you're my gold, Ayla. Mine." His orange eyes shifted from one of mine to the other. "So I give you back to yourself. You came to us as a Mole, burned that to the ground, and now you are the Phoenix. No one will ever own you again. No one will send you away, because I will fight for you. All of us will." Then he glanced over at one of the corpses. "Because you, Ayla the Phoenix, saved all of Lorsa tonight. Never forget that. Even when you learn things that are horrible, like you have tonight, remember that one thing and let it keep driving you."

Letting go of my cheek, Zasen turned and marched towards the house. "I'll get the supplies to tend your wound."

Confused, I lifted a hand to touch my bruised lips. Zasen had just kissed me? But why? What did that mean?

I was still standing there when Kanik made his way over. "Ayla?" he asked, sounding worried.

My hand dropped and I turned to meet his eyes. "It didn't hurt."

"No," he agreed. "It shouldn't. I think that's why he did it."

I just pressed my lips together, trying to remember the feel of a real kiss. I wanted to burn it into my memories to replace the one of Mr. Saunders shoving his disgusting mouth against mine. That had been hard. It had been cold. Zasen's had been hot.

"I still don't want to get married," I said, trying to force a smile so Kanik would know it was a joke. Mostly a joke. A bad one, but the best I had to push away my embarrassment.

He chuckled. "You still don't have to, Ayla. You can also slap the shit out of Zasen when we get home, because he was a dick for doing that."

So I touched my lips again. "But it didn't hurt."

Gently, he reached up to push away a few strands of hair from my face. "And that doesn't either. People are made for touching, Ayla. Even Dragons."

"Especially Dragons," I decided, reaching down to trail my fingers across his arm.

And I kept going, across his elbow, down his forearm, and over his wrist. Then Kanik turned his palm up, spreading his fingers. I paused, but only for a fraction of a second, and then pushed mine into the gaps. When he curled his hand around mine, it made a smile break out on my lips.

"It shouldn't hurt," he said again. "I just hate that killing people is easier for you than holding someone's hand."

"But I have to keep this place safe," I reminded him.

"We're supposed to do that, Ayla. The people who live here, not the woman we dragged to Lorsa without asking."

"I'm glad you did, though." I pulled in a deep breath and looked up at the stars shining above us. "I'm so glad you were there, Kanik. All of you. I just hate that I can't tell my friends about this place. That I can't figure out how to bring them here."

"So that's what we'll work on next," he promised, turning me towards our house and guiding me forward.

But he didn't let go of my hand. His fingers cradled mine, and it felt so good. He also didn't chide me for kissing another man. I knew he'd seen Zasen's mouth on mine. He'd been right behind us! And yet Kanik didn't seem to care. He was still treating me as a friend, as if my decisions were okay. As if this new me was someone he wanted to be around.

"I'll sew your arm," I said, breaking the warm and comfortable silence between us.

Kanik chuckled. "How about we let Zasen fix up both of us, hm? He's the one who was almost a doctor."

Sure enough, when we made it inside, Zasen had all of his medical supplies laid out on the coffee table. The man sat in his chair, his blue tail flipped over the side and twitching slowly. When Kanik and I entered, his eyes dropped to our connected hands and hung for a moment.

I let go, pulling my hand back and trying to pretend like nothing had happened. Zasen just gestured to the couch with a smile.

"So it seems you don't mind touching Dragons," he teased.

"Well, she's a Dragon herself now," Kanik pointed out.

"Mm..." Zasen shot him a look. "And your arm needs some stitches."

Kanik ducked his head to hide his smile. "Ayla already offered. I said you should deal with it."

"Then sit," Zasen said. "Rymar should be back soon, since there weren't as many injured as we feared. I'll get you a beer. You convince Ayla to put on something so I can see her hip."

"A dress," I said, heading for the bedroom I'd been using.

When I came back out, the men were laughing at something, but I was told to lie on the couch. Zasen then guided my dress up, helping me to tuck the fabric between my legs to hide anything he shouldn't see, and then he cleaned the wound. When that was done, Rymar arrived home just in time to watch Zasen apply a bandage that stuck to my skin.

Then he turned his focus on Kanik's arm. I tried to watch. I wanted to see if his technique was different from mine, but my lack of sleep the day before and all of the excitement tonight left me drained. Somewhere in there, I blinked for a little too long.

I woke the next morning with my head on a pillow and a blanket over my body. There was an annoying noise coming from the chair beside me, like someone's nose was stopped up. Forcing my eyes open, I looked to see Rymar draped sideways in the chair, and the sound was him softly snoring.

"Ry," Zasen said from the kitchen.

It didn't sound like the first time, and that was probably what had woken me up. Pulling in a breath, I sat up. In the darkness before the dawn, I could see the silhouette of Zasen in the kitchen, headed this way.

"Sorry," he said as he set a pair of cups on the table before us. "I was trying to wake him."

So I reached out and grabbed Rymar's tail. "Hey," I whispered.

The snoring stopped. His tail tensed, and then wrapped around my arm. Eventually, the man's eyes opened, scanning the area around him before looking down at where he held me trapped. Quickly, he unwound his tail.

"Shit, it's morning?" he asked, pushing himself back to a normal sitting position.

"Kanik's up," Zasen said. "Ayla is too, now. Tea's on the table and I'm about to light the lamps."

"Caffeine," Rymar mumbled lovingly as he reached for a cup. "Take the other, Ayla. It will help your mind work at this ungodly hour."

"Why do we need to be awake?" I asked as I reached for the second cup.

"Town meeting," Zasen said. "There's always one at dawn after an attack."

"Jerlis will have been up all night figuring out our losses," Rymar explained. "He'll assign survivor benefits to the ones who had someone die, pushing off their bills and responsibilities for a few months. The rest of town will want to know if we defeated the Moles. Basically, it's an update."

Which was when Kanik stumbled down the stairs, his steps uneven and tired sounding. "I need some of Ayla's pills," he said. "The numbing wore off and my arm hurts like a bitch."

"Isn't that a female dog?" I asked.

Rymar just laughed. "Oh, Ayla. I'm going to teach you to cuss beautifully one day. It's going to be so much fun."

"Okay," I agreed.

"And Zasen kissed her," Kanik said, dropping that out there. "She decided it didn't hurt."

"You didn't tell me that part," Zasen said.

"Nope," Kanik agreed, heading into the kitchen to get his own tea.

This version wasn't iced, though. It was hot, which made me want to cradle my cup. Curling my legs under myself, I had a million questions to ask. All of them were about different things, but one was more important than the others.

"So..." I said, blinking as the lamp caught and began to get brighter. "Do we tell them about my mother?"

"What about her?" Rymar asked, having missed that part.

"Yes," Zasen answered, claiming his own chair. Then he looked at Rymar. "I think Ayla should talk today."

"On the stage," Kanik added. "Take her up there with you."

"Jerlis will not like that," Rymar pointed out.

Zasen just leaned over his knees and looked at Rymar seriously. "And you can handle him, or so you keep saying. She needs to talk, Rymar. They need to hear her speak Vestrian. They need to see she's no longer orin."

"She's just gold," Kanik agreed. "A very common shade of gold, too."

"Like Lessa," Zasen said. "Like Saveah. Like all the blondes in Lorsa. She's not a Mole, and you need to give her the chance to prove it to all of them, because what Ayla has to say?"

"Which is?" Rymar asked.

"They lied," I told him. "Over and over, they lied, and we have to do something about it."

Zasen just lifted a hand. "Drink your tea, because we need to be on our way, and I think there's no harm in all of us getting this information at the same time, Ayla. Kanik and I may know part, but I have a feeling that's not even the half of it."

"No," I admitted. "It's not." I licked at my lips. "Because I've figured out how to defeat them. How to truly defeat them."

"Then say it loudly," Kanik told me. "Say it like a Dragon, Ayla, and make sure none of us can ignore it."