Chapter 54
Chapter
Fifty-Four
EVIE
M y blue tendrils had already slid down my arms by the time I recognized his energy.
I stopped mid-kick and wrenched my face away from his hand, turning to face The Dragon. He was very much alive, not bleeding from his nose, a small smirk playing on his lips.
“Godsdammit, I almost incinerated you,” I whisper-hissed and rolled my wrists, sending the blue tendrils back to their pulsing pocket.
He’d dragged me inside a little alcove in the rock, so cramped our chests touched with each breath.
“What are you doing, sneaking up on me?” I asked.
“I couldn’t let you wander alone in a strange stronghold with guards crawling all around,” he said.
Not surprising. Whatever happened between us, that protective instinct of his couldn’t rest. It warmed a part of me that it had no business affecting. I’d been so in my head and had gotten used to his presence in me that I hadn’t realized just how close he was until he touched me.
“What did I just see?” I asked, eyes still wide as plates. “And do not go bleeding on me again.”
Please.
“I believe you just witnessed a display of love,” he said, his entire energy lighter. It was like the dark cloud which had been hounding him had finally lifted, letting him breathe.
“Kaya and Vexa,” I deadpanned, mind racing to all the times I’d seen them together. Literally always. “ Of course Kaya and Vexa.”
I felt stupid for not seeing it. The truth had been right there in front of me from the beginning.
The two of them being glued at the hip, Vexa on the verge of growling every time someone came within breathing distance of Kaya, always protecting her.
Even on that first day I’d met them, Vexa had acted strangely when I’d taken off my bloody wedding dress. She’d been jealous. Yes, also highly suspicious of the Protectorate Lost Daughter who’d just arrived in the Capital and standing dangerously close to her girlfriend, but jealous.
Kaya had said her heart belonged to another–to her own guard, apparently.
I ran a hand down my face. “Gods, how didn’t I figure it out?”
“They’ve been extremely careful about it,” he said, smile growing. “All I can tell you is that Kaya is very happy with Vexa.”
“If she truly is, I’m glad.” Honestly, I was elated to know Kaya wasn’t lying about having someone just to sweeten me up after what she’d done. “But she’s been looking like a walking corpse for weeks now.”
The Dragon hesitated. “Kaya tends to fret when she feels like she’s disappointing people.”
This truth, I understood instantly. “You mean me ? She’s been stressed and sick because she’s worried that she upset me?”
“I have it on good authority that Vexa was pondering poisoning you. She might have been joking, I can never tell with her.”
“ Me ? Her girlfriend’s the one who backstabbed me, I should have been thinking of the most effective poisons.”
His grin turned soft. “That’s not your nature.”
“No,” I grumbled. Some days, I wished it could be. “How does Vexa feel about you two getting married?”
“I might have also been on the poisoning list. But she…understood. Vexa would die for Kaya, no questions asked.”
Blood Brotherhood members were too comfortable with dying. Among them, I was the unreasonable one.
“You were about to die for me today,” I said.
He shrugged, as if it was nothing . But I noticed the little drops of blood on the collar of his armor. He’d bled and now he was shrugging. “There are worse ways to die than beside you.”
“It’s not beside me, it’s in front of me.” I shook my head. “I don’t even want to imagine it. Never do that again.”
He took a big gulp of air, face turning more sharp in the shadows. “What if I don’t die?”
“What if you do?” Even speaking the words ripped something from inside me. “And if we’re true mates, I could follow you.”
“I already told you.” A sad smile took hold of his lips. “I don’t think that would happen. The Oracle said you will live a long life.”
You’re weak. How could she ever want you?
The words echoed in my mind, as if ripped from my own soul.
The mighty Dragon thought I wouldn’t die because I didn’t want him anymore–and I hadn’t done much to convince him otherwise.
I leaned into him. He stilled, watching me intently.
“Whatever happens with us–” I licked my lips. I was confused, not a coward. “I need you to know–”
The angles of The Dragon’s sculpted face changed once more. This time, they turned deadly. Before I got another word out, his sword hissed through the air.
“Listen,” he mouthed, mighty gaze scanning the courtyard.
I frowned, but did as he said, letting my senses drink in the quiet murmurs of the sleeping stronghold. The breeze, the leaves, the floors creaking in Owyn’s room–
There.
Steps.
Dozens of them, rushing toward us and trying to be as silent as possible.
In the distance, Zorin and Madrya neighed.
A warning.
I flicked my switchblade open. “An attack,” I whispered.
He nodded, unforgiving gaze narrowing on the only entrance into the courtyard. The only exit, too.
With the cliff surrounding us, we were trapped.
“At least now we know what the guards were doing here,” I went on, already crouching in the defensive stand Adara had taught me.
“They’re not guards.”
He was right.
It was so much worse.