Chapter 28 #2
“True, but you can’t decide for him how he’s going to live his life. Even if he wasn’t a prince, he would still have the freedom to make those choices, whether you agree with them or not.”
Adrian lifted a hand and pointed at Haru. “You…are not allowed to spout so much sense. You’re supposed to agree with me.”
“You are too strong to surround yourself with people who will agree with you blindly.”
“But you think I need flattery?”
Haru lifted one elegant shoulder. “Yes, but we all do.”
The dragon’s sweet words would not sway him. “Do you think I’m wrong for wanting to stay? My job is to protect the king. Am I really doing that from here?”
“Adrian Westergren is more than his job. He is a smart, talented man with a big heart. Like Prince Shey, you have seen these people in need and wish to help them with the skills you have.” Haru shoved to his feet from where he had been perched on the arm of the chair and crossed to stand in front of Adrian.
“Besides, aren’t you assuming these people don’t know they are hunting gods?
Ruben may be in the dark, or he could be hiding the truth from us.
I do not feel as confident regarding his boss.
What if their true goal isn’t controlling people with magic but controlling gods? ”
“Seriously?”
“It’s a possibility. We still know too little, and what we do know, I do not trust. However, I believe that what happens here won’t be limited to Damardor or New Rosanthe.
If these people have the power to seize control of those two countries, what is to stop them?
Will it be all of Erya’s armies? Caspagir’s navy?
A horde of dragons racing across the skies?
I would prefer it to not reach that point if we can stop them now. ”
Adrian closed his eyes and let himself release a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. His body tensed and immediately relaxed when Haru’s long, slender fingers slid into his hair and pushed it back from his forehead in a tender caress.
“You need to relax. Celebrate the victory we have achieved. We have located and rescued the crown prince of Caspagir. That is good because he’s your friend. It is good for Caspagir. And it is good for Erya. All things you’ve done.”
A smile twisted Adrian’s lips. “With a lot of help from you.”
“It was fun. You should also remember that you have helped to save the God of Luck. Tyche does not strike me as the type to forget something like that.” Haru lowered his voice to near a whisper.
“As someone constantly managing good and bad luck, he is probably someone who seeks balance. Right now, he owes you.”
Adrian’s eyes popped open, and he tried to glare at Haru, but it wasn’t easy when the dragon was playing with his hair and looking so smug. “He doesn’t owe me. If he can be one less god wreaking havoc on the world, I’ll take it as a win.”
“And what will you do to keep one less dragon from wreaking havoc on the world?”
Haru’s expression remained playful, but there was a new sharpness in his gaze that left Adrian frozen.
This question felt bigger for some strange reason, and he wasn’t sure how to answer without causing monumental damage on all sides.
In the end, Adrian forced a laugh and stepped around Haru, trying to move to the other side of the room.
But the damn room was too small, and it was shrinking by the second now that Haru was shadowing his steps.
“I think Nori would jerk a knot in your tail if you created chaos,” Adrian joked.
“Return to the Isle of Stone with me,” Haru murmured, but the way those words hit Adrian in the chest, he could have been shouting.
He’d loved staying on the Isle of Stone with the Omari Clan more than he cared to admit.
It was peaceful and breathtakingly beautiful there.
And he’d seen only a fraction of it all.
There hadn’t been enough time to explore.
“If we survive all this, I’m sure Cael will be happy to give me some time off.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Adrian stopped at the foot of the bed he’d chosen, though he was sure Haru was going to weasel his way into sharing the same bed.
It didn’t matter that there wasn’t enough room for both of them.
Haru would destroy the other bed or pitch it out the window if it meant cornering Adrian into sharing a bed.
He knew Haru hadn’t meant coming to the Omari clan as a vacation like he’d originally suggested weeks ago, but Adrian was determined to avoid thinking about where all this was leading with Haru.
“Haru,” Adrian started in the hardest voice that he could muster. “Where do you think this is all going? You agreed this was just sex and fun. Nothing else.”
Adrian hadn’t heard a whisper of sound from Haru, but when the dragon replied, his voice was right in Adrian’s ear. Haru was the same height, but it felt as if he were towering over Adrian. The power rolling off the dragon was immense and oppressive.
“I do not call you ‘my Adrian’ and ‘my mate’ lightly,” Haru said.
There was a sharpness to his voice that Adrian had never heard.
It was as if Haru had pressed a blade to his throat, and the slightest movement would cause his flesh to be cut.
“I realized before you left my home for Stormbreak that you were my mate. You fit in my home like no one else ever has. It is where you belong. Beside me. You are mine.”
Something inside Adrian shivered and threatened to snap in half. That something wanted to belong to Haru. It wanted to return to the Isle of Stone and never look back. He wanted to get lost in that world and maybe find a piece of himself that had always been missing.
But that wasn’t possible.
“You seem to be forgetting something important.” Adrian turned and put a hand on the center of Haru’s chest, pushing him as hard as he could.
It was still only enough to get Haru to take a tiny step back.
“I’m a human. You are a dragon. Your kind looks down on pairings like that.
I’ve seen it firsthand in the Chasm.” That was where all clanless dragons were forced to live.
Any dragon whose former clan had dissolved in disgrace.
There were also more than a few mixed breeds from dragons and humans.
Dragons trapped in human form but with some scrap of magic to call their own.
Yet, the only magic Adrian could claim was a loan from Caelan. Adrian was thoroughly human, and in the eyes of dragons, he was less.
“Nori wouldn’t care, and his opinion is the one that matters to me. His grandson is half dragon.”
Adrian snorted. “He’s also a god and a king, so it’s kind of hard to snub him. I don’t have those things going for me, and I never will.”
“I don’t care. You have met the Omari clan, and they like you. It will be your home, and you will be happy.”
Joy blossomed deep in Adrian’s chest at his words, because he believed he could be happy with the Omari Clan. Yet…
“Nori is still trying to convince dragons to be more accepting of those in the Chasm. I worry that my presence would cause more problems. I don’t want to be a hindrance. If the clan is unhappy because of how other clans see them, I would be unhappy for causing it.”
Haru shrugged. “Very well. I shall remain in Stormbreak with you. I am the king’s cousin. He can find me a job. Or I can be a diplomat from the Isle of Stone. Either way, I will remain at your side here.”
Adrian lifted his hands, fingers curled, just to keep him from grabbing Haru and shaking him.
The dragon was driving him to madness. “Stay here? You get twitchy if you have to go more than a few days without shifting into your dragon form. I can feel your magic pouring off you in waves. You got this…” Adrian threw out his hands and waved them about Haru, encompassing the open air like a bubble over him.
“You’ve got this larger-than-life aura about you.
If people understood more about dragons, they’d never believe you were human. How can you stay here?”
“I’ll adapt. Drayce learned to adapt. You didn’t know he was a dragon until you were told. Omari Kei lived here for decades, and no one ever suspected that he was a dragon,” Haru argued, mentioning the bodyguard who never left Queen Amara’s side and who was also Caelan’s father.
“But would you be happy? You’re having fun now, but you love the Isle of Stone and living with your clan.
You would be homesick all too quickly and come to resent me.
I…” Adrian’s voice cracked and he swallowed, forcing himself to continue even if he could no longer meet Haru’s gaze.
“I don’t think I could take it if you hated me. ”
Haru cupped his jaw, forcing him to look up.
Piercing dark blue eyes held his, and the sweet scent of midnight jasmine swept around them, seeming to fill the room.
“I could never hate you, my treasure. No matter where we are, I will always adore you. We will figure this out and be together for all of time.”
Adrian rested his hand on Haru’s heart, feeling the soothing, steady beat against his fingers.
It was as if nothing could rattle the dragon, but he knew better.
When Adrian had dared to brush off what Haru felt was their destiny, it had rattled him.
Push him a bit more and he could have broken out in talons, scales, and wings.
But aside from the two very different worlds that they came from, there was one very big problem that there was no way they could get past.
Four hundred and twenty-three.
That number repeated through Adrian’s mind as he tried to fall asleep at night.
Haru was four hundred and twenty-three years old.
Adrian was twenty-eight. Haru was a dragon and would live for hundreds of years more.
At best, if Adrian was careful and healthy, he could squeeze out another fifty.
That was unlikely, though, considering the life he lived as a royal guard.
What kind of life could they have? Maybe Adrian could squeeze about ten more adventure-filled, crazy years, but all too soon he was going to slow down. He would age while Haru remained youthful and beautiful. Haru would grow bored with him and regret claiming the human. And that would kill Adrian.
But Adrian couldn’t bring himself to spit out those fear-filled words, because he didn’t want to hear Haru brush it off as not important. There was no way around this. Unless Adrian became a god, there was no way he could build a life with a dragon.
“Let’s focus on keeping Shey alive and stopping these magic-crazed assholes.
We’ll figure out the rest later.” Adrian slipped out of Haru’s grasp.
“Wait here. I’m going next door to get sizes for Shey and Tyche.
They’re going to need more than borrowed clothes if we’re going to get them on the train tomorrow. ”
As Adrian grabbed the door handle, Haru’s voice swept through the room like a soft spring breeze. “Don’t think that I didn’t notice that in all your arguments, you never once mentioned that you don’t care for me.”
An ugly laugh broke from Adrian’s throat, and he thumped the top of his head on the door. “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure we both would have seen through that stupid lie.”
“Yes. I’ve owned your soul since our last meeting on the Isle of Stone.”
Adrian had only to close his eyes, and that moment would flash to the forefront of his mind.
The darkened room. The thick scent of jasmine filling Adrian’s nose.
Haru pressed against him, the heat of him burning through their clothes as if the dragon were branding him with his body.
Whispered promises. It wasn’t just that he’d known in that instant that Haru would come for him.
It was that he knew down to the very marrow of his bones that Haru would never let him go.