Chapter 31 #2
“Why, Selene? After all I have done to protect you and care for you! I have done everything to please you after the loss of our family, I have had to patiently endure throughout all your tantrums and your high-handedness within the court, and the one thing I deign to truly keep for myself, you take.”
“Because I saw the way you looked at her,” she stated quietly.
He rolled his eyes at that. “Yes, so I found the witch attractive.” He thought he’d been doing a good job of hiding it, but apparently not. “So?”
“Attractive?” Selene laughed. “That I can handle, dear brother. You’re alone in your lair. You acted as any male would when they have a pretty female in their keeping. All I needed to know was the length of her stay to question everything, even if you both attempted to hide it.”
“Then what was the fucking issue?!”
“Because your gaze was not empty!” she roared back. “Do you think I cannot tell the difference between a male who is interested to assuage his loneliness and one who wishes to... to mate?”
Kier scoffed at that. “As if. I did not wish to bond with Carwyn.”
“Are you really this oblivious? Why do male dragons never see it for themselves? You’re always the last ones to realise it.”
He snapped his fangs at her.
Selene’s expression shifted into one of unfeeling.
“Brother, you didn’t just give her your attention; the moment she entered our vicinity, she stole it from you.
No matter what we were doing or talking about, you sensed that witch before she even entered.
She... calms you. Worse, Kier, she warms you so much that the first time I hear your laughter in years, it’s because of her. ”
He wanted to deny it.
He couldn’t, not when he’d been noticing these things as well. It was what had truly stirred his desire to begin with.
His heart doubled its pace, pounding against his ribcage like it wanted to crack it open from the inside. No. It cannot be true.
“I was stopping you from being a fool. From making a mistake you cannot take back. See how easily she left? Your feelings were misplaced.”
“Because you didn’t give me time to assuage her fears!” he shouted. “She’s an em–”
He snapped his maw shut when he almost spilled Carwyn’s secret. He’d promised he wouldn’t, and he’d made that vow wholeheartedly.
It did nothing to quell the anger, the loss, or the confusion. Or the way his chest ripped into itself until it burned. She cannot be right. His feelings for Carwyn couldn’t be so deep... could they? But if she is...
Wouldn’t it be best if he let her go and let this desire unwind? Remove her from his possessive claws so he could regain his sanity? Get her out of his sight so he stopped seeking her like a male desperate to drown in his dark, forbidden cravings?
So why did he have this unwavering desire to chase after her before she was too far away and truly gone?
Why did the idea of not having that alluring female in his keeping, under his watchful, protective eye, enrage him so deeply? It made him want to turn on his own sister for taking her away from him.
She wields white magic. She will always need protecting. This area was riddled with dark witches. He hadn’t been lying to Selene when he said he thought Carwyn was safest here in his home.
She didn’t have scales to protect her, but soft skin. Her nails were blunt, unable to tear like claws. Her teeth were flat, unable to pierce like his jagged fangs. She was dazzlingly beautiful but small and defenceless, her punches weak against someone strong and dominating like him.
She’s alone out there. In danger. The idea of her being cornered like the day he took her pierced his gut like a human soldier wielding a spear. Without her weapons, because I left them behind.
Eyes stark and nauseating fear clinging to his gut, he turned from his sister and headed straight for the exit of his cave.
“You cannot seriously be considering going after her.”
“That’s exactly what I intend.”
She was travelling. I know what path she took. He’d scour that direction until he picked up her scent. He’d smelt it, tasted it, basked in it. He’d know it anywhere.
His jaw smashed to the ground with an oomph when Selene tackled him. He rolled to the side to get her off him and scuttled back with a menacing growl.
“I’m not done with that female until I declare it so.”
She’d taken Carwyn from him before the pieces of his puzzle could finish forming. Only then will I know. He needed Carwyn’s trust for that. Her faith.
Her heart, perhaps.
Selene may have ruined that.
Then I will keep her until I have it back. He was selfish and confident enough to believe he could succeed. I will obtain her forgiveness.
Selene lowered herself into a defensive position between him and the exit.
“I won’t see my own brother stoop to the Witchlayer’s level, Kier,” she sneered, baring her sharp fangs with her wings arching behind her. “This will merely pass.”
His eyes crinkled at that before he repeated Carwyn’s sentiment. “After all his feats, he deserves whatever he seeks. It’s not our place to mock him.”
He wasn’t quite sure if he wanted this to pass.
She stirs something in me.
Something no other had.
And he was prepared to fight for it.
She’s in danger.