Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
THORNE
“She owes me her life, and yet she tried to escape. Is this world so lacking in honor that I can trust no one?” Alaric’s roar threatened to bring the mountain down on our heads. Dust rained from the ceiling, the aged stones rattling with his rage.
As pebbles bounced off my skull, it occurred to me I should have forced Serafina to admit to her late-night adventure instead of doing it myself.
Let her face the dragon’s wrath. Unfortunately, the flarking eternal bond we shared wouldn’t allow me to feed her to the beast, stirring an infuriating urge to protect.
I coughed, fanning dust while Myrna plunked a food-laden tray on the table. She shoved a ball of baked dough into my hand. “I’ll not be set afire by the likes of your beast. Best you fix whatever it is that angered him, or there will be no more sweet rolls for you.”
“How is this my problem?” Flarking Alaric. It was one thing to threaten the girl. Quite another to threaten my supper.
Cutting me a dark glare with her one eyeball, Myrna stalked from the room, her sandaled feet slapping a quick pace across the floor. I observed her escape with envy.
“And you,” the dragon snarled. “What the hell were you doing with the girl in your quarters?”
Was that a hint of jealousy I detected in his voice? Or maybe he was feeling a bit possessive of the pretty little addition he’d added to his hoard.
“What I was doing was minding my own business until I sensed your guest lurking in the passage, spying on me.” Like I would be so desperate as to bed the ill-tempered shrew.
Sure, if you looked past her sharp tongue, Serafina wasn’t hard on the eyes. The first time I spotted her in that field, the thought of a casual romp may have crossed my mind. In fact, I’d watched her from above, long before swooping over the flock.
The way she’d appeared beneath the moonlight.
Celestial glow alighting her delicate features.
Coarse skirt hiked above her knees as she reclined on the ground, revealing shapely calves along with a glimpse of creamy thighs.
The cut of her simple blouse couldn’t hide the generous curves of her breasts.
I’d envisioned how she would look splayed under me.
Red curls of crimson pooling beneath her head. A patch of crushed flowers for our bed.
Next to the shepherd, she’d been peaceful, relaxed. A dreamy expression on her face as the two of them had talked. It was clear they were close. The ease they had with each other filled me with a sense of longing. What they shared was something I’d never experienced, not even with Alaric.
Especially not with Alaric.
When I’d finally charged the flock, part of me had wanted her to see me. To see my dragon. See me and be awed by the fierce beauty of my beast.
Instead, she’d started shrieking, waving her arms at me like a woman crazed. Treating me as if I were no better than a flying lizard rather than a rare and mystical being. As if that wasn’t insulting enough, then there was the dung.
Not only was I enraged, but humiliated. Me! One of the most powerful and feared creatures in the realm. Degraded by a mere mortal woman. Pathetic.
One thing was certain: her captivating appearance wouldn’t fool me again. There was more lurking behind those beguiling eyes than she let on, and I intended to unearth every last secret she thought she’d buried in Rottbarry’s remains.
I shoved a chunk of roll into my mouth, speaking past a lump of bread.
“If you recall, I am the one who didn’t trust her on sight.
It was you who brought a stranger here, ordering me to share my flame with her.
All while knowing absolutely nothing about the woman who was masquerading as royalty.
” And in doing so, wasting precious time he didn’t have.
The girl from Nefarr wasn’t his salvation. She was a distraction—a dangerous one. The sooner this charade ended, the better. With the Atlas comet racing upon its path, Alaric needed to stop chasing ghosts and devote every waking moment to his survival.
I was done pouring hope onto kindling only to watch it burn. And I sure as hell wasn’t handing what was left of my faith to some uncivilized nobody with dung under her nails.
Alaric thrust his massive head in my face, his nostrils flaring. “You believe I should fear one scrawny female?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact. I think you should.” Frankly, she scared the scales off of me. Only for entirely different reasons. “I’m telling you, that girl is trouble.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “You truly want me to believe that a slip of a girl could be the harbinger of my destruction?”
An image of my dung-smeared chest surfaced, reigniting my fury. “Princess Chaos? Yes. Yes, I do.”
Rather than argue, Alaric grew silent as though contemplating my words. I knew better. My brother rarely listened to anything I had to say. Especially when he already had his mind set.
I heaved a sigh and lowered my legs, examining my meal. Ah. Mystery sausage. Just what I needed after a restless night.
Alaric’s taloned foot tapped an anxious rhythm against the floor. “Why is she so desperate to escape me, anyway? Within this mountain, she has food, shelter, safety.”
And a stubborn dragon snarling at her. Honestly, I could see the appeal of running. “She claimed she was looking for a way out to search for someone named Speck.”
“Speck? Who is this Speck to her? A lover?” Flames flickered in the depths of the dragon’s eyes, his pupils sharp like a serpent’s.
I only hoped I hadn’t sounded as crazed when I’d asked Serafina the same. “What does it matter to you?”
Alaric paced back to his nest near the fire and lay down, the collapse of his large body sending a tremor through the floor. “Because it will be easier for her to fall in love with me if her heart is unattached.”
“You’re joking.” I barked a laugh, his declaration too absurd to even spark a flicker of jealousy in the connection I shared with the wench.
Alaric rested his chin on his foreleg, his scaled face looking almost haunted.
“The thought came to me as I rested on my palate last night, my discomfort so great I could not sleep. I’ve tried everything else.
Maybe love is the solution. It wouldn’t be the first time a curse was cast with similar stipulations. ”
I had about as much concern for his feelings as he did mine, so I didn’t pull my punches. It would be better if he didn’t succumb to this ridiculous theory. “You and I both know there isn’t a woman alive capable of falling for a monstrous lizard with fire breath.”
Alaric grew somber. “Time is running out. The comet leaves this realm in one lunar cycle. Once it is gone, this curse will consume me. Serafina could be my last chance. Meeting her feels fated. It can’t be a coincidence she’s been marked by the goddess.”
“And that mark could signify your salvation or your destruction.”
“Either way, I’m dead.”
Flark. The manner in which he said it—resigned, raw—hit something in me I thought was broken.
He looked up, eyes heavy with desperation. “There’s more than one kind of love. I don’t need her passion. Just her heart. Tell me, how do I win it? You’ve…more experience with these matters.”
Damn him. I liked to bed women, not get tangled up in their feelings. Emotions made things messy.
“You assume much. Seduction is my game, not romance.” I stabbed a sausage, raising a brow when brackish juice oozed from the puncture.
“Where is she anyway?” Alaric snapped.
“Her room.” Thanks to the flame I’d shared with her, I could sense her location, despite the blockade I’d erected in my mind. Unrestricted, emotions could travel along the bond—floating embers drifting on a shared breeze.
Gravestone Mountain would crumble before I allowed a single spark of her to infiltrate my twisted head.
“Why doesn’t she come out?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I drawled, twirling my fork. “Perhaps because you bellowed at her yesterday, behaving like a twat, issuing commands. You know you’re far from charming when you’re in one of your moods.”
“I can be charming,” he huffed.
I bit back the comment that hovered on the tip of my tongue. “The girl can barely stand to be in the same room as you. How do you plan to win her affections?”
“I won the heart of many a fair damsel in my day. I’m certain it will come back to me.”
Right. Back when he walked on two legs and ruled over a powerful kingdom. What woman didn’t desire wealth and power? Again, I kept this to myself.
Feeling rather proud of the restraint I’d shown, I stuffed a bite of sausage in my mouth. Mmm. Earthy, with a savory hint of beetle. I’d had worse. Only yesterday, in fact.
“Myrna,” Alaric barked at the trogg, who’d just returned to the room, broom grasped tightly in her forest-green hands. To sweep or to defend herself against the dragon, I couldn’t be sure. “Fetch the girl. And don’t take no for an answer.”
“Let it be noted” — I twirled my fork — “you asked for my guidance in wooing her. I gave it. You ignored said guidance.”
“I don’t have time for feminine fits of ire.”
“May I suggest you not share that with her?”
“When she arrives, it would help if you expounded on my many feats of bravery and daring.”
I stabbed another sausage with too much force. “You want me to lie?”
“Oh, and don’t tell her about the curse or our past. I fear both could taint her opinion.”
As it should. Hell, the things I knew made me hate both of us, but especially myself.
I pushed the thought away. “Then what shall we talk about? The weather?” For someone looking for love, my brother planned to keep a lot of secrets.
Big ones at that. Even I recognized this was no way to win a lady’s affection.
Serafina’s voice rang out before Alaric could respond. “You summoned me, Your Beastlyness?”
At her appearance, his snarling visage spread into a terrifying attempt at a smile, the effect far from what he intended.