Chapter 5 Kael
The forest held its breath.
I could hear the faint rush of the wind through the branches overhead, the snow crunching faintly beneath my boots. The sharp tang of pine and the metallic edge of fear lingered in the cold night air. It was the scent of her fear that enraged me the most, making my vision haze red.
“Get your hands off her.”
The man jumped, swinging Seranni behind him, his grip on Seranni loosening for a split second. She took the opportunity, scrambling free of his grasp and stumbling backward, coughing as she tried to catch her breath.
“Who are you?” the man asked. He looked like a rich man, the kind of man I would’ve hated in my past life. Shiny blond hair, combed back meticulously, blue eyes that shone with health, expensive boots that had never seen real work, and a fine woolen coat trimmed with fur. His presence screamed privilege, the kind of life where everything was handed to you, where you never had to scrape, bleed, or beg to survive.
He looked like the kind of man who had had his life handed to him on a platter, and so had never developed empathy, compassion, or kindness.
My claws unsheathed themselves involuntarily, the tips biting into my palms as I clenched my fists. I could feel the beast stirring beneath my skin, the dragon blood in my veins roaring to be unleashed. I was sure my eyes were glowing. It was all I could do not to growl like an animal. He flinched.
The man flinched but quickly covered it with a sneer. “Stay back, Seranni,” he said, his voice full of false bravado.
She ignored him. From the corner of my eye, I saw her edging around him, slowly making her way toward me.
He seemed to the notice it at the same time as I did, because he narrowed his eyes at her. “Seranni!”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, Voren.”
Seranni’s voice was low and raspy, and hearing the evidence of her abuse made my blood boil.
“You can’t be serious! You’re leaving me for—for this beast?”
“He isn’t a beast,” Seranni snapped, stepping closer to me, her chin tilted defiantly and her eyes flashing. “At least, he’s better than you !”
It was the worst spot she could have chosen to prick him: his pride. The man snarled, whipping out a hidden knife.
The blade gleamed unnaturally in the moonlight, its surface etched with glowing runes that made the dragon blood in me recoil instinctively.
“Kael!” Seranni gasped. “Be careful! The knife is enchanted.”
And then there was no more time to be distracted, because the man came at me, his knife slashing at my arms. He was not as unskilled as he looked, and soon I had no time to think of anything else but staying alive. Even without shifting, I was stronger than the average man, but even a weak man could do a lot of damage with a sharp knife. Especially if it was enchanted.
“Do you really think she cares for you?" he sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. “She’s just out for what she can get. Ask her. Ask her how she led me on, filling my head with thoughts of love and marriage, before cutting my feet out from under me!”
Seranni laughed mockingly. “I did no such thing, you crazy bastard!”
“You bitch !”
The beast inside me roared, drowning out rational thought. My claws extended fully, glinting faintly in the moonlight as I crouched lower, ready to spring.
“I’m giving you one chance, boy,” I gritted out, my voice a guttural snarl. “Leave this place. Never approach Seranni again.”
“I will gut you and take her with me,” the boy snarled in response. “She is mine! ”
“I was never yours!”
The words sent a flash of triumph through me, but I couldn’t afford to be distracted. I growled, cutting them both off, my claws flexing instinctively as I bared my teeth in a feral grin. “You have no idea what you're dealing with, boy ,” I growled, my voice low and menacing. “I am not to be trifled with.”
The blond bastard laughed, a sound that grated on my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. “Oh, I think I know exactly what I'm dealing with,” he said, his voice laced with arrogance. “A beast masquerading as a man. How pathetic.”
He was trying to infuriate me, and I stopped myself from reacting in rage with an effort.
A moment later, the boy lunged forward— too impatient! —slashing the knife down on my leg.
I dodged, my claws slicing through the air like twin blades of death. The blond boy stumbled backward, his eyes widening in shock as he realized the danger he was in. But it was too late for him to retreat, too late for him to escape the wrath of the dragon.
I moved with lightning speed, my claws slashing at him. Still, he held his own, dodging and weaving out of the way while he tried to strike me, but finally, I saw an opening. I unleashed all the force of my fury, delivering a thumping blow to his side. Bones cracked beneath my fist and he cried out in pain. I laughed, driven by a primal instinct that brooked no mercy.
The boy swung the knife at me blindly, its blade gleaming with a malevolent light as he slashed wildly. I barely had time to react, to dodge out of the way as the blade sliced through the air like a viper’s strike.
I felt a searing pain erupting from my side as the knife made contact, a burning sensation that threatened to overwhelm me in its intensity. Blood welled from the wound, hot and sticky against my skin, as I staggered backward, my vision swimming with dizziness.
Was the blade poisoned?
The boy took the opportunity to scramble away, escaping from me into the dark forest.
The woods loomed dark and ominous around me as I prowled through the underbrush, my senses alert for any sign of movement. I fought my dizziness, trying hard to track the boy’s movements. Where had he gone?
The hand I had pressed against my side was wet with blood, a constant reminder of the danger that lurked in the shadows.
I moved silently through the forest, my muscles coiled like springs as I searched for any sign of my adversary. Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig sent a jolt of adrenaline coursing through my veins, heightening my senses and sharpening my focus.
The trees were thinning as I reached the cliffs and mountains that abutted the mage’s tower. Soon, there would be nowhere for either of us to hide.
This fight would be ending soon, one way or another.
I could feel the beast within me stirring, its primal instincts urging me on, driving me forward in pursuit of my prey.
And then, suddenly, he was there before me, emerging from the darkness like a wraith summoned from the depths of the abyss. His eyes gleamed with malice; his lips twisted into a cruel smile as he brandished the enchanted knife with a flourish, its blade darkened by my blood.
As we stared at each other, a wave of dizziness assaulted me. I wouldn’t last much longer.
But still, I refused to be defeated, refused to let the boy have the satisfaction of seeing me fall. With a roar of defiance, I surged forward once more.
And then, suddenly, it was over. The boy swerved as I came for him, stumbling backward. But what neither of us knew was that he was standing on the edge of a hidden gorge. He gasped, his eyes wide with shock as he teetered on the edge of the chasm that yawned behind him like a hungry maw. With a final cry of desperation, he reached out for purchase, for something, anything, to save him from the abyss.
But it was too late. With a sickening thud, he plummeted into the darkness below, his screams fading into the night as he disappeared from sight forever.
I stood there for a moment, panting heavily as I surveyed the scene before me. Blood dripped from my wounds, staining the forest floor crimson as I struggled to catch my breath. But despite the pain, despite the exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm me, I felt a sense of satisfaction coursing through my veins.
My dragon wanted to roar in triumph. Suppressing the urge, I grabbed for the pendant at my neck, the cool metal grounding me as I took a deep, shuddering breath. A moment later, I took another long breath, suppressing my animal instincts. I heard a rustling in the trees and whirled. Seranni! She must be looking for me. She crashed into the clearing a moment later, panting in fear. Her eyes were wide, darting this way and that.
“Voren?”
I shook my head. “He…fell.”
She made her way over to me, raking me with her eyes. “You’re hurt.” She reached for me, and though I wanted to flinch away, I let her approach. Closing her eyes, she placed a hand over the wound in my side. She whispered under her breath, and I felt a rush of energy, the wound closing itself, and my pain lessened. She stepped back, swaying a little, and I caught her under the elbow.
“How—?”
Seranni smiled at me proudly. “I healed you.”
I blinked at her before a distant howl in the night broke the silence. Wolves. They must have smelled Voren in the chasm below us.
“We need to get back to the tower.”
Seranni nodded. “If we’re lucky, the townspeople will think Voren eloped.” She made a face. “With me. But if they come looking for him and find him here, they may think his fall was an accident, that he was dodging the wolves.”
“Which is why we need to cover our tracks.” I pointed at our feet. “We can trust the snow to hide our footprints, it’ll snow through the night. But we shouldn’t stay here any longer.”
She nodded, and we began our long, silent trudge to the tower, the snow muffling our footsteps. By the time we reached the door, the tension in my shoulders had eased, but I couldn’t shake the gnawing guilt in my chest.
I had let the beast take over. I had let my anger, my possessiveness, fuel the fight.
Finally, I could see the light that I had left burning in the kitchen. I opened the door for Seranni, and after so long in the oppressive silence of the snowy night, the cheery crackling of the fire startled me.
I was glad I had got the fire going before I left, though Seranni had seemed alright after the fight, now she looked pale and stricken. It seemed like the shock was settling in, finally.
“Here,” I said, grabbing a blanket from her chair and placing it around her shoulders. I had brought it from the other bedroom for her to use while she worked on the mage’s notes. I was glad I had thought of it, the blanket was proving useful now.
As if my gesture had reminded her of her chill, Seranni shivered, and her teeth chattered against each other.
“Here, sit closer to the fire.”
Seranni nodded, her eyes still far away. While she sat at the fire and stared into its depths, I fidgeted with the hem of my sleeve. Seranni was a healer. No doubt she was appalled by my lack of empathy, the ease with which I had dispatched of the man accosting her.
I had scared myself with the blinding rage that had coursed through me at the sight of Seranni’s delicate neck in the blonde bastard’s hands.
My mind churned with questions and regrets, circling back to the same, nagging thought: Did I go too far?
I hadn’t meant for her to see me like that, the beast clawing its way to the surface. I had let my brutality get the better of me. If Seranni wanted to leave, if she was scared of me now…I licked my dry lips. I had no right to keep her here with me. If she wanted to leave, I would let her go.
I had wanted to protect her, not to scare her.
Seranni stirred, breaking me from my spiraling thoughts. She turned to look at me, her expression clearer now. The glassy haze had lifted from her gaze, replaced with something I couldn’t quite name. Gratitude?
“Thank you,” she said, her voice quiet but steady.
I blinked at her, momentarily thrown. “Seranni—”
“It’s the first time someone has ever stood up for me,” she said, giving me a watery smile as her eyes skipped away from mine. She looked down, her fingers fidgeting with the blanket’s frayed edge. “I’ve always had to fight my own battles. It was nice to be…protected, for once.”
Her words twisted something deep in my chest, both painful and oddly fulfilling. I felt my throat tighten as I tried to form a response.
“Seranni,” I waited until she met my gaze again. “If you will let me, I will protect you. I was happy to help.”
She nodded again, her face crumpling. Putting her face into her hands, she let out a long half scream, half sob. The raw sound of it made me wince, wishing I could cover my sensitive ears. Still, I stayed where I was, letting her release the storm of emotions that had been bottled up inside her. When she finally looked up, her eyes were red and swimming with tears, but there was a lightness to her expression that hadn’t been there before.
“I can’t go back to Vilusia,” she said blankly. “The minute I do, the whole town will know I had something to do with Voren’s death. Better they think that we both eloped.”
I felt my hackles rise at the sound of the bastard’s name in her mouth. I forced myself to unclench my fists, tamping down the dragon within.
“You can stay here,” I said through my teeth, ignoring the way my claws wanted to extend themselves and hang on to her.
Seranni looked at me in disbelief, and I went on, warming to my idea. “You can stay in the tower for as long as you like. There’s another bedroom upstairs.”
Seranni shrugged, looking lost. “If you’re sure I won’t be a bother.”
I shook my head. “Not at all. In fact—”
Seranni cut me off with a dark chuckle. “Oh, who am I kidding? I have nowhere else to go.” Her expression softened then, and she met my gaze with a small, genuine smile. “Thank you for saving me again, Kael.”
Her gratitude struck me like a hammer blow, rendering me momentarily speechless. I nodded stiffly, clearing my throat. “If you will join me, I’ll take you up to your bedroom now. You can see the rest of the tower tomorrow.”
Seranni nodded, and I led her up the stairs to the empty bedroom. The room was sparse, the kind of room designed for utility rather than comfort. The stone walls were bare, and the single bed was pushed against the far corner, its mattress thin but serviceable. In the dark, it looked drafty and uncomfortable.
“It’s not much,” I said as I lit the fireplace, the flames quickly filling the room with warmth and light. “But it’s warm.”
Seranni hugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders, her eyes scanning the room. “It’s perfect,” she said softly.
I nodded, stepping toward the door. “Goodnight, Seranni.”
“Goodnight, Kael,” she replied, her voice carrying a warmth that chased away some of my lingering doubts.
The next day, Seranni didn’t come downstairs until noon. I didn’t mind. It gave me time to prepare. I busied myself in the kitchen, slicing cured meat and baking flatbread over the fire. The simple act of preparing a meal steadied me, giving my hands something to do while my thoughts wandered.
I was used to keeping late hours, after all, living alone and being subject to insomnia, I had no need to do anything else. I had nowhere to go, no one to see—until now.
Just the thought of it made my step feel lighter. My heart gave a funny little leap, and I had to fight to stop the smile that wanted to spread from ear to ear.
As a child, I had had many friends. Even in the army, I’d made friends easily. For a man used to living with his comrades and enjoying their camaraderie, the eighteen months I’d spent trapped as the mage’s prisoner had been torturous.
Now, I could feel the pieces of my broken self being put back together again. I wasn’t just a beast, a dragon shifter stitched together by dark magic and foul enchantments. It almost felt like I was Kael Duzac again.
When Seranni finally appeared, she looked better—less pale, less stricken. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and she wore a borrowed cloak I’d found in the tower’s storage.
“Morning,” she murmured, sliding into the chair across from me.
“Afternoon,” I corrected with a faint smile. “Hungry?”
She nodded, and I handed her a plate, watching as she tore into the bread with the kind of appetite only hunger could bring.
Over lunch, she told me about Voren, the man who had accosted her. How a childhood friend had turned into an unwanted suitor, and then her enemy. Her words were measured, but I could hear the bitterness beneath them.
“He thought he could control me,” she said, her voice tight. “As if I were some prize he could claim. It was infuriating.”
“You stood up to him,” I pointed out. “That takes strength.”
She shrugged, her gaze dropping to her plate. “Not enough strength, apparently.”
My claws itched at her words, the dragon within me bristling at the thought of her feeling powerless. I gripped the edge of the table, grounding myself in the mundane sensation of the rough wood beneath my fingers.
“You have plenty of strength, Seranni,” I said quietly. “Don’t doubt that.”
Her eyes flicked to mine, surprised, before a faint smile curved her lips.
“So, he thought he could get away with it because he was the mayor’s son?” I asked, my hackles rising again at the thought of the man who had hurt Seranni.
“And because of what I am,” Seranni said carelessly. I frowned, and through careful questioning that wouldn’t give away my ignorance, I finally understood the status of magic users in Telluria, explaining something I’d wondered about before.
Why was the mage given such freedom?
Now it all made sense. If magic was rare in Telluria, a King would do much to get his hands on a secret magical weapon.
I shivered. Perhaps it was a good thing that magic was so common in the Drakazov kingdom. Back in Kalinovo, I could not have imagined one magic user having so much political power.
Now, I understood why Seranni had come to the tower in secret, stealing away in the night when she should’ve been asleep. If anyone had seen her coming to the tower, her secret would’ve been out, and she would’ve been sent away to the army.
My hackles rose at the thought of Seranni being pushed into serving her corrupt King. I was glad she was smart enough to steer clear of her country’s army.
As we finished up and washed our dishes, Seranni sighed. “I guess I’ll have to stay here until spring, when I can travel again.” She looked out of the window toward the West. “I’m going to leave Telluria.” She turned to look at me, and smiled. “That means I have three months to solve whatever problem it is you’re trying to tackle.”
We spent the evening in a tour of the tower, starting with the kitchen and the larder.
“Where to next?” she asked brightly. “Ooh, can I see the lab? I’m sure the mage must have had a lab!”
“Of course,” I said through bloodless lips, hoping she hadn’t caught my change in mood.
With a heavy heart, I showed Seranni the laboratory, where the mage had conducted his experiments. I gritted my teeth as I stood in the doorway, unable to make it past the threshold. After fluttering around the room for a while, talking to herself, Seranni seemed to notice my silence, because she grabbed two books from the table and quickly shut the door.
“What’s next?”
My spirits rose the further we walked away from the lab, seeing the stores of magical supplies, the study, and my bedroom, finally ending with the observatory on the top of the tower. I omitted mentioning the underground dungeon that had been built below the tower, where I had been kept in isolation for six months before I had managed to escape. Seranni would never step foot in that squalid place.
The next few days passed in a haze of shared meals, long hours spent quietly reading before the fireplace, and gentle conversation. We had started by making polite small talk, before moving on to talk about our childhoods and our dreams for the future.
What I had learned was that Seranni’s father did not deserve her love and that he was a selfish ass who only thought of himself. The man had left his only daughter behind nearly two years ago, and she’d not heard from him since then. Not even a letter.
He had abandoned Seranni.
I also knew that she didn’t want to hear it. The first time I had said something about it, Seranni had blown up at me, slinging vicious barbs at me that an orphan like me could never know what it was like to sacrifice for family.
I’d said nothing, then, but after she’d calmed down, I’d said to her, “And what has your father sacrificed for you ?”
Seranni had retreated to bed in a cold silence, only returning to her normal self the next day, when I had apologized for speaking out of turn.
For her part, Seranni learned not to talk of my past. As a soldier from Drakazov, an enemy to her country, what could I tell her? And I had no interest in talking about the war or my fallen comrades from my old regiment. The Stonehearts with whom I’d ridden into battle had all died, and I considered myself the least of their number. By rights, now that I was free from captivity, I should be returning home to my village, where I would carry tales of their deeds and their brave, honorable deaths.
But I couldn’t return like this —more beast than man.
My frustration with myself, with my fate, with the godsdamned mage who had condemned me to this life—all of it had me raging any time the past was brought up. It was an animal rage, called forth from somewhere in my being that I couldn’t fathom. I couldn’t control it or mitigate it. When the rage took me over, I could only wait until it had dissipated and I felt human again.
Those were the times I usually escaped into the woods, going on long walks through the snowy forest, cooling my head by communing with nature.
Time went on, and before I knew it, two weeks had passed. Seranni had settled into her new home, and we had come to form a routine of our own.
Every morning, we woke, broke our fast, and started our research. We each shared the chores—neither of us was overly fussed about meals or cleaning, so it all worked out.
We both made good time combing through the books on magic that the mage had left behind.
Seranni was a balm I hadn’t known I needed. Her presence softened the edges of my solitude, giving me something to look forward to each day.
And though I knew she would leave eventually, I couldn’t help but hope she might stay just a little longer.
Seranni looked through each book I gave her, translating and explaining as she read. Sometimes, she made notes, while I wrote down whatever seemed useful in a little book of my own. In the evenings, Seranni worked on her own research while I hunted and then cooked our supper.
Tea and personal conversation lubricated our discussions about magic, and we spent many hours trying to understand the arcane enchantments and spells that were inscribed in the books that covered nearly every room of the tower.
I was hopeful that I would find something useful soon. I had found a spell to transform substances from one form to another, it was only a matter of time before I found something that could alter living creatures.
I had shown Seranni the telescope on top of the tower, where I still spent some sleepless nights gazing up at the stars. She’d been so excited, pointing out constellations and explaining their significance to her magic.
Unlike the Four Kingdoms, magic in Telluria had come from the old gods, she had explained. The magical beings tied to nature—powerful, generous, capricious, malicious, by turns benevolent and malevolent—had granted magical powers to humanity in a fit of boredom. The descendants of those men had become the magic users of Telluria today.
It was a pretty story, and maybe it explained how magic had come to be in Telluria, but it was no help in understanding the mage and his doings. But I enjoyed hearing Seranni tell me the story in the gathering dark, as we both lay under the stars, safe under our blankets.
And so, the days would have continued to pass peacefully, if it hadn’t been for the day I found the damned book.
The notebook was small and unassuming, a simple leatherbound book filled with the scribblings of the damned mage. But it looked important, so I handed it to Seranni. She’d flipped through the pages and beamed from ear to ear, laying a hand on my arm and squeezing hard as she thanked me.
That night, I dreamed of her for the first time.
Worse, it was as if the first dream had unlocked others—I began to dream of Seranni every night.
I told myself it was only a natural reaction to her nearness, that I had been locked up without companionship for eighteen months. It was only to be expected that I was…eager.
The last woman I had been with had been Nina, back in Kalinovo. We’d spent an enjoyable evening together before I’d shipped off for war, and that memory felt very distant now, hundreds of miles and so many months away.
It would have been one thing if I dreamed of Seranni because of my raging lust. But mixed in with those dreams were others. Dreams where I held Seranni close and whispered in her ear, making her giggle. I had never heard her giggle, but in my dream, I was able to make her laugh, and when she smiled at me, I felt like my heart would burst with emotion.
I hid it from her as best as I could, and I would like to think I succeeded. And even that would have been alright, if only I had gone to bed early the night before, when the full moon had hung low in the sky. I remembered Seranni telling me that the old gods were most active on full moon nights, and it made the magic that ran in Telluria more potent, as well.
We were sitting at the kitchen table, like so many other days we had spent together, researching the the mage’s magic books. The fire was burning merrily, and with our bellies full with the warm stew we’d just had for supper, I had fallen into a meditative trance, not caring when my mind drifted and I had to read the same sentence twice.
The cozy silence seemed to be getting to Seranni too, she gave a tiny yawn, grinning when I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Been sitting too long,” she said, and she got to her feet and raised her arms above her head, giving her body a luxuriously large stretch. My blood zinged through my veins at the satisfaction on her face—and the sound she made!
My mind whirling and my face burning, I turned back to the book in my hand.
“Did you find anything interesting?”
I bit back a groan and shifted in my seat when Seranni leaned closer to look at the book I was reading. This close, the beast within me could feel the shadow of her body heat, and a hint of roses made its way to my sensitive nose.
Was it the oil she used to tame her riotous hair? Her soap? Whatever it was, I wanted to bury my nose in her neck and take long, drugging breaths of it.
I wanted to kiss her neck, to feel the salt of her skin under my tongue—to nip at her flesh and feel her moan burn through my skin—
I pushed away from the table, and the sudden rattle of the ink bottle and the quills made Seranni look up at me in surprise, her eyes wide.
“Kael?” she asked and when I remained silent, she bit her lip, nearly making me groan aloud.
“Thirsty,” I grunted out and made my way to the kettle boiling over the fire. Turning away to hide my reaction to Seranni’s nearness, I took a few calming breaths. Clearing my throat, I willed my body back under my control. I was more than a beast, dammit.
And Seranni deserved more than the lust of an unthinking animal. She was here trying to help me. Did I have no shame?
I felt her eyes boring into me and forced a light tone to my voice. “Would you like some tea?”
“Yes, please.” She laughed, and my mouth lifted in a smile she couldn’t see. “I’ve been staring at these words for so long that I’m in danger of falling asleep sitting right here.”
Five minutes later, I was carefully balancing both mugs of tea as I sidestepped the stacks of books we’d brought into the room. “Here,” I set her tea before her and settled back into my own chair. Seranni took a sip and smiled, her eyes lighting up. “You stirred honey into my tea!”
“Of course,” I shrugged. “I know you like your tea with honey, I’ve seen you make it often enough all these days.”
She smiled at me as if I’d done something far greater than make her tea the way she liked it. I turned away, uncomfortable at the light in her eyes. She shouldn’t be feeling grateful to a beast like me. Not after the way I’d been lusting after her.
Seranni took another long sip and let out a long hum of pleasure that had my lust roaring back to life in my veins.
It also had the unfortunate effect of making me splutter into my tea. I coughed and Seranni looked up in alarm.
“What’s wrong, Kael?” She jumped up from her seat when I continued to cough, unable to answer. She pounded me on the back until my coughing had subsided, and then she looked over my tunic and clucked her tongue.
“You’ve soaked yourself through in tea,” she said, shaking her head.
With a sigh, I pulled the laces free and let my tunic hang open low over my chest. The onyx pendant at my neck swung free as I pulled the shirt out of my breeches. The fire would soon dry out my shirt.
But Seranni was already tugging one of her sleeves lower and now she raised it to my chin, where she wiped off the liquid on my skin. I caught her hand in mine, intending to stop her but instead, the words on my tongue died as I saw her eyes drift lower, to my bared chest. My skin burned where her gaze landed. I felt each glance like a caress.
“Seranni…”
She looked up, and I saw that her cinnamon brown eyes were dilated and her cheeks were flushed. Her breath was coming faster than before and she flicked her pink tongue out to wet her lips. Placing a hand on my shoulder, she leaned closer to me until we were sharing the same breath. Her eyes slipped shut.
The beast within me roared in triumph. She wanted me to kiss her.
But Kael, the man, resisted. Why this sudden change in her behavior? Why was Seranni—?
And then it came to me in a flash. I’d heard the mage explaining to the King’s men that when he’d crossed us with wild Tellurian firedrakes, he’d taken the essence of the creatures to create a dragon who could shift into the form of a man and hide amongst the other soldiers. Telluria’s secret weapon.
If I was half firedrake, then I was more beast than man. And was I not subject to the same instincts as beasts?
Just like a dragon, I was seeking my mate.
And as a creature made from sorcery, the magic in my veins had called to the magic within Seranni.
She didn’t truly want me. This was all the result of the magic I had been unwillingly given. She was being forced by an enchantment.
With a curse, I pushed away from the table again. Seranni stumbled against me when I stood up, and I caught her shoulders to steady her. She looked up at me, her eyes wide and her mouth parted, a high color on her cheeks and her breath coming fast, drawing my eyes to her enticing breasts—
The dragon within me roared at me to take her, to claim what was being offered, but I knew I couldn’t do it without losing my last hope of remaining a man and not a beast.
I stepped aside, forcing my words past a hoarse throat. “I need to get changed.”
And then I beat a hasty retreat.