Chapter 12 #3
When I’d entered the bathing cavern and found a very naked Serafina basking in the heat of Alaric’s dragon fire, something I hadn’t recognized washed over me.
She’d been so serene, like a mystical water deity, sunning on her rock.
Creamy curves exposed. Red curls blowing against her shoulders.
Pale skin flushed with warmth. Totally at ease with Alaric.
A flarking Draconis who, with one slip of his control, could have incinerated her.
Then she spotted me and shrieked like a banshee. Just as she had in the pasture after spotting my dragon. It was humiliating, to say the least. Naked women didn’t gaze upon me and scream. I was accustomed to them running into my arms, not away.
Alaric had staked his claim on her, and yet it was my flame that had given her life that day.
It was I she was bonded to for eternity.
Despite the fact that I had no desire to be responsible for the girl, I was still due a bit of respect.
That the two of them so easily excluded me from their little interlude was infuriating.
Arms folded, I stood at the edge. When Serafina emerged, I wanted to see the expression on her face. Wanted to see the shock. The spluttering. To bask in her outrage while I laughed at her discomfort. Let her feel the burn of humiliation for once.
Bubbles popped along the surface.
I tapped my foot, glaring at the murky water. If she stayed under to catch me unawares and pull me in, she was a fool. I almost wished she would try.
Was it childish to have pushed her? Perhaps. Was it deserved? Absolutely. Alaric may be angry that I’d revealed his inability to shift to the girl. Except if he wanted me to go along with this farce, believing that she was truly the one sent to rescue him, then it was past time she knew.
Where my dragonflame resided, a dull ache formed. Blasted. Where the hell was she?
“Serafina!” I called out like an idiot. Not like she could hear me underwater.
Damn her. She should have emerged by now. My pulse leapt, anxiety spiking my nerve endings. Whether it was mine or Sera’s leaking through the barrier I kept between us, I wasn’t sure. I rubbed the throbbing in my sternum, my flame flickering. Something was wrong.
“Flark.” I slipped off my boots and dove in.
The frigid blast washed over me, murky water impeding my vision. I kicked down, pulse racing. Where was she? At the bottom of the pool was a pale figure. Sera!
I gripped her arms and pulled. Resistance met my efforts. Some object held her trapped. I slicked my hands over her limbs. Wrapped around a branch was a thick tendril of her hair. I extended my talons and severed the tangled lock.
Lungs screaming, I set my feet against a rock and pushed, rocketing us toward the top. As my head broke the surface, Serafina hung limp in my arms. Dammit. No!
I dragged her out of the water and laid her down. “Sera.” I patted her cheek. Flark, she wasn’t breathing.
Fury and terror tore through me. Quickly, I turned her to her side and pounded between her shoulders.
“Come on, Princess.” When that failed, I rolled her onto her back and pressed my palm to her chest. Drawing deep, I reached for the thread that connected us.
Our thread. Golden light shimmered, fragile as a dying coal.
I followed it to the tiny ember of my own flame. Brought it to life, demanded that it wake.
“Wake, damn you!” An orange glow pulsed beneath her sternum.
“That’s it.” I stoked the flame higher, my own flaring in response.
At last, Serafina stirred with a fit of coughing. She choked, and I turned her on her side while she expelled water from her lungs. Relief near broke me.
When she started shivering, I dragged her onto my lap. Since the first time I’d laid eyes on her, she appeared small and fragile. Breakable. I didn’t like it. Not at all.
I rubbed her back, holding her with more tenderness than I cared to admit. Her arms snaked around my neck, as if she, too, needed what little comfort I could offer.
Dark shadows stirred at my center. Urges rose, demanding that I protect. Console. Urges I’d never felt for another. The experience—unsettling.
I’d have held her all night like that. If she’d let me.
Instead, she stiffened. “You pushed me.”
Thankful she was alive and well, I kissed the side of her head.
“I did.” What the hell had I done? With one reckless act, I’d almost killed her.
One more soul to add to the countless others I’d already lost. Images of my past shoved to the surface, and I muscled them down, back into the depths of my psyche where they belonged.
“I can’t swim.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, the words foreign. “I didn’t know.”
“Let me go.” She squirmed in my embrace.
“Just give yourself a minute to recover.”
“Release me. Right. Now,” she commanded in a voice I’d not heard from her before.
I helped her to her feet, and before I could steady her, she knocked my hands away.
Minutes ago, she’d been warm and content, basking in Alaric’s flames.
At the moment, she resembled a drowned rodent.
Sodden hair was plastered to her head. The shirt I’d loaned her clung to her skin, nearly translucent.
I struggled to ignore the way her nipples pearled against the fabric.
Without uttering a word, she stared at me, lips pressed together. When she reared back, projecting her intent, I didn’t bother to duck. I deserved worse.
Her palm cracked against my cheek with a surprising amount of force. Face burning, I watched her stalk away, dripping water.
I eyed her curvy backside, a feeling of discontent welling despite the comely display the transparent fabric offered. My gut warned I’d lost something valuable today, breaking the one thing I should have protected.