THIRTY-SIX
Zarek felt the instant Angela walked into the room, like a punch to the chest, igniting the fire fueling his blood.
She was angry.
And the dragon inside him roared.
The staves on his armor flared and rippled in bold oranges and reds, blazing against his black leather, ready to kill.
Every soldier stopped mid-strike and dropped their eyes to the floor as the flames danced across the surface of his armor. Red sparks floated into the air like embers, as a primal power rolled off him in waves, in a warning that rippled like a territorial menace through the room.
Mine. The word clawed at his throat, forcing him to clench his jaw tight to not say it.
All because she was livid and the dragon wanted to defend her—even though he had no idea why she was so angry.
Helviti.
Was he about to get his face slapped again? The last time she’d let her temper loose, he’d deserved it.
This time?
Yeah. He probably did, too.
Which meant… She knows.
“Go,” Martar said quietly. “I’ll take over.”
Ice curled from Martar’s fingers in thin, waif-like wisps, ready to douse the flames if Zarek lost control. They’d been paired for centuries for exactly this reason.
“Quick,” Martar added, “before you do something you’ll regret.”
Zarek stormed toward the main doors where Angela waited, her mismatched eyes locked on his.
“Okay, ingrates, back to it!” Martar barked out to the soldiers, and the doors slammed shut.
Zarek met Angela in the corridor. “You shouldn’t be here.”
She crossed her arms, radiating fury. “I needed answers. And you said I could seek you out at any time.” Her bitter voice dropped. “Or is that a lie, too?”
“I said that.” He sighed, resigned to the internal anguish that this cursed Claiming kept dragging him through. “But I was going to see you later.”
“What for?” The anger simmered along the edge of her words.
If only he could be so lucky that her logic would temper the rage.
“Through here.” He guided her down the corridor to a small library and closed the door behind them. “Please. Take a seat.”
She did, which surprised him. Angela was a free spirit who did what she wanted and said what she thought. He hadn’t met anyone like her.
He took a deep breath. Alone with her; the staves had stopped glowing on his uniform, even though he still had to squeeze his fists to contain the power of that inner dragon. “We may have a solution to your nightmares that will help us find out what power you have.”
“Oh. Right.” She sighed heavily with disappointment. “The need to search and control my power, right?” In jerky irritated moves, she swung one leg over the other and briskly brushed some dried grass off her gown’s long skirt. “Go on.”
“It may be a way to rid yourself of the nightmares. To sleep in peace.”
“Sleep is good.”
Although sex would be better.
He didn’t hear the thought—he’d never been able to read her mind—but he felt it. The heat. The want.
The question though, was it him, her, or the Claiming misreading her anger?
“How do they do this?” she asked.
“The Sleep Wizard guides you through a dream state to help you face your fears.”
There was a shift in her brow as a flicker of worry crossed her face. “So, I just go to sleep, and what then?”
“While asleep, you’ll enter the dreamscape where you can ask all those questions you want answered.”
“It won’t hurt?”
“No. I wouldn’t let them do it if there were any risk.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you have this need to protect me?” She lifted her chin as if demanding answers.
“I—” Helviti. “I swore to you I would.”
“Do you do this with all female mortals with mysterious powers?”
“No. Just you.”
“Why me?”
“Because Katarra is seeking you out.”
“So…” She stood slowly. “It’s purely because of Katarra, is that it? That if I hadn’t stupidly taken that shortcut to my car and walked into that alley and screamed, I wouldn’t be in this mess?”
“What’s wrong?” Wishing he could read her mind. “I can feel the storm inside you.”
“Sorry.” She took a deep breath then released it slowly, as if forcing herself to remain calm. “Okay, I’ll do this dream thing.”
“Why are you sorry?” If anything, he should be sorry for bringing her here, and what the Claiming was making him want from her.
To lean over and brush his thumb over her lips, or tuck her hair behind her ear and let his finger trace down her neck.
Foreign thoughts that had his heart pumping harder, they also risked breaking the Accords he’d sworn to uphold.
“If you hadn’t noticed, I’m really grouchy from a lack of sleep. I feel like tearing heads off. Or punching something. Or someone.” She glared at him. “And because I’m only allowed to talk to you, you’re the poor pigeon who’s copping all of this.”
Zarek laughed—actually laughed—and shook his head. “I like how you tell the truth.”
“That’s not meant to be funny.” She tried not to smile, but it lifted her foul mood just a little.
But it hadn’t quite settled his inner dragon. It was still wary, as if looking for some enemy to kill. Or was that something else that was making his blood pump a little harder?
“Very well, I’ll let Gellar know you’ve agreed to see the Sleep Wizard. We’ll get it sorted as soon as possible.” He headed for the door on the other side of the room. “Unless there is something else you wanted to talk about?”
“What is the Claiming?”
Zarek froze with his back to her.
Now he knew why she was angry.
Slowly, he turned around and faced her. “How did you—”
“I heard these Hearthbound women in the garden,” Angela said bluntly, observing him. “Was it true that you proclaimed me as yours—mine? What does that even mean?”
His head dropped as the shame of that memory burned through him. And she knew it too by their connection, thanks to the Claiming.
“I’m guessing it’s how we can feel each others emotions,” she said so calmly.
“I’d hoped that the emotional bond was the only side effect you had to suffer.”
“Suffer? Right…” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Is it true you’re trying to find a cure for it?”
“Yes,” he admitted.
“Why?”
“I…” He looked at her, jaw clenched.
She wanted the truth, so why not tell her everything?
“I’m a soldier,” he snarled, fists closing.
“It’s all I’ve ever known. As I’ve said before, I don’t have a want or need for any form of emotional attachment.
And yet I have it with you.” He forced the words out, raking fingers through his hair.
“It’s driving me crazy with this constant, nagging worry about you.
I want to tear people’s heads off—especially other men—thinking you might be attracted to someone else.
It’s distracting!” He shouldn’t be like this, when he never allowed himself to feel because if he did, he’d become the monster.
He gritted his teeth and glared at the floor, taking a few deep breaths to control himself before he looked up at her. “Just before, in that gymnasium, with you walking through that doorway? I wanted to kill all those soldiers I’ve been training. And they had done nothing wrong.”
He exhaled as the confession tore out of him. “It’s like my magick is separate from me. And there is a risk I won’t be in control. Especially with you. I’ve always fought so hard to control it, only now its breaking against me to be with you when we can’t be together.”
His heart pounded. The fear of rejection, of telling her the truth, was almost worse than the Claiming itself.
“That’s why no one is allowed to talk to me,” she said quietly. “Or look at me.”
Zarek nodded.
“So this pet peeve of mine for being different, that I’ve felt my entire life… I’m feeling it here too. All because of this Claiming.”
“It’s because of me. Not you. They’ve been told to do this to keep them out of harm’s way. From me.” He’d done this. To protect her. To protect them. And somewhere between strategy and survival, he’d recreated the exact thing she’d spent her entire life trying to escape.
He’d made her feel like a freak. Again. In a world that wasn’t even hers.
“I’m sorry.” The words felt hollow, like offering a bandage to someone after he’d run a sword through their heart. “I am truly sorry, Angela. I did not—”
“So to you, it’s more of a curse?”
“Yes.” Though the actual curse had nothing to do with the Claiming. It was simpler than that—and somehow worse. He enjoyed holding her hand and liked looking into her eyes. He cherished how she looked at him without fear, like he wasn’t something to run from.
He truly cared about her on such a deep level that he had no words to describe this new emotion. And he was the fool who’d done everything wrong in a situation no one he personally knew had ever faced before.
She studied him for a long moment, as if weighing up the evidence. Her arms were crossed, like she had put on her armor. “And it’s against your laws, the Accords, because I’m a mortal from the human realm, and you’re from this one. When we both agreed to not break any more rules.”
“Yes.”
“And that you think you’ll hurt me with your magick.”
“Yes.” He sighed under the crushing weight at the mere thought of hurting her. He had the power to burn the sun and her soul, so he should have no heart for anyone, as he could never be with anyone, let alone a woman as fragile as her. Ever.
“How can I be affected by this Claiming when you said I was immune to magic?”
“You are immune to external magicks, spells cast on you, and the wards meant to contain you. You’ve already proven that from the moment I met you when you could see through our cloaking spell in that alley.
” Zarek exhaled heavily trying to find reason within the confession of truth he’d been putting off for so long.
“The Claiming isn’t a spell. It’s older than the Accords itself.
It’s… recognition. Magick calling to magick.
Like it’s hijacked my magick to be with your magick. ”
“I don’t have—”