Chapter Twenty-One
Dela
“Crap.” I hesitated at the intersection of corridors, looking left and right, trying to discern which way I was supposed to go.
I thought “my” quarters were somewhere over there.
I looked to my left, but the corridor on my right looked vaguely familiar.
I swore I’d seen that tapestry hanging from the wall.
The image of dragons flying in formation had caught my eye earlier, hadn’t it?
I studied the other artwork lining the walls, but none of them jogged my memory.
I was lost. Which was more irritating than embarrassing, given how I’d wanted to storm off in anger after Pyre intercepted me outside the kitchen.
Now I had to either sit around and wait for someone to find me or try to find my way without help.
I definitely couldn’t find my way back. I’d made too many turns already.
“This place is a fucking maze,” I said with a groan, rolling my shoulders, trying to stay relaxed.
I’d been doing a lot of that the past few hours.
Dragons, fights, flying. Nearly plunging to my death in a skydiving accident gone wrong.
Worst of all, I still hadn’t gotten my mint chocolate chip ice cream.
That one stung. Very stressful. Plus, I’d gone from cheated on and dumped to some sort of sexual supernova of tension with Ember, which I had no idea what to make of it.
There was clearly desire on his end. I’d felt it pressed against my waist, hard and firm and very obvious.
His kiss hadn’t been to shock and awe either.
It had come from somewhere deeper, somewhere honest and true.
Perhaps that was why I still tingled whenever I thought about him and his hands on me.
Stop it, I admonished, forcing myself to focus on my present predicament.
Lost in a castle full of dragons. It was probably safe to assume that most of them would be more like Ari and inclined to detest me, which meant I had to move cautiously, lest I offend one of them and they snap their fingers and turn me into a matchstick.
Death by fire was not high on my list of ways to go out.
Unable to stand still, I took a left, going with my gut instinct about where to find my quarters. I strode down it with purpose. If I came across someone, I wanted them to assume I knew what I was doing and that I wasn’t some lost puppy dog that needed to be retrieved, or worse, sent to the pound.
I crossed the next corridor, feeling better about my choice. It was definitely this way.
“What are you doing?”
My feet came to a stop as Ember appeared in the intersection of hallways behind me, his eyebrows knitted together.
“Going to my quarters,” I said, answering his look with words.
“Your quarters are that way.” He pointed back the way I’d come.
“Would it kill you to give me a map, then?” I said snippily, turning on my heel and marching past him.
I should have held my breath. Leather and sandstone swept through my nostrils as I nearly brushed against him in passing, and my knee wobbled. I stumbled. If it weren’t for Ember, I probably would have gone down, but the dragon was suddenly there, grabbing me from behind and hauling me to my feet.
“There,” he said as I stood up.
Glancing down, I reached up with two fingers and carefully removed his hand from where it had cupped my breast when he’d reached for me.
“Thank you,” I said, noting his reluctance to let go.
Typical male. Guys always wanted to cop a feel.
I just wished he hadn’t stopped there. Grab my breasts, squeeze my hips.
Pull me against him, tease between my legs.
I wouldn’t fight him. Even then, my body longed to feel his fingers on it again.
I almost regretted taking his hand off me.
What might have happened if I’d let it linger?
“You’re welcome,” he said, his voice a serious rumble that caused a vibration to run from my nipples to my clit, lighting me on fire with his smoky tone and heated presence.
I sucked in a deep breath. It was a big mistake.
Oxygen only fed the fire, and I was abruptly lightheaded.
Once again, Ember steadied me, his arm around my waist in a much more appropriate manner.
Except it wasn’t. Somehow, he’d turned it into a sexual thing.
No, not quite—it was a possessive thing.
The way he grabbed and held me was how a boyfriend, or a husband, grabbed his woman.
Low along the hip, casual, and only inches away from my ass.
A friend would have gone closer to the rib cage. Ember hadn’t.
My mouth parted slightly, and I refused to look up as the pressure of his fingers triggered responses in my body that I apparently no longer controlled.
“You’re trembling,” he whispered, lowering his head to speak in my ear.
Shivers ran down my neck and into my spine at his closeness.
“M-maybe,” I said.
“Are you okay?”
I wanted to nod, to tell him I was fine, and to please back off with his overwhelming machismo and sex, a casual combo I was drowning in.
“Do you want me to show you to your quarters?” he asked. His hand still hadn’t moved.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing myself to get more of a grip. I had to. Otherwise, I would do something I really, really shouldn’t.
“What I want,” I said, “is for you to explain what’s going on. I have so many questions.”
Ember looked me straight in the eye. Was that weakness I saw? A desire to … to what? For me?
“Ask,” he said at last, the coals burning deep in his eyes but not flaring up. He was under control again. “I will answer if I can.”
I struggled to maintain that same level of control. It was hard with his hand on me. So I moved away, resolutely not looking at him as I did. I wasn’t ready to see that.
“You said there are other princedoms?” I asked, voicing what I hoped was one of my easier questions.
Ember nodded, and the heat in the hallway substantially dropped as he moved into teaching mode with a speed that surprised me.
“Four, yes,” he said. “Fire, where you are now. There is also the realm of Iron, and of Storms, and the realm of Tides.”
“Interesting,” I said. “And to clarify, this place, where we are, it’s not on Earth, is it?”
Ember shook his head. “No. We are in the realm of dragons.”
That brought up another question. “Are there … other realms?”
“Yes.” He answered, but it was a blunt, sharp answer, making it clear he wasn’t going to expand on the topic.
“Okay.” I considered my next question. “And who’s in charge here in the Fire Realm?”
Ember’s eyes flashed. Was that discomfort I saw? It was gone too swiftly for me to be sure.
“Right now,” he said slowly, “nobody.”
“But it should be you?” I asked, slightly confused about how nobody could be in charge.
“It should be Blaze,” he growled, clearly distracted.
“Right,” I said, drawing myself up. “Well, if you don’t mind, could I speak to him, then? I’m sure he’s better at this than you and can help me out.”
Ember reared back, his eyes aflame at my tone. Well, too bad, I thought. I want to go home, and if talking to Blaze will help me, then so be it.
“He was better than me,” Ember snarled hotly. “He was better than all of us. The best.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Ember turned and stormed away. It took me several astonished seconds to puzzle out what he’d meant.
“Wait!” I called, rushing after him, grabbing his arm to try to slow him. It was hard because my fingers barely fit halfway around his muscle, the skin stretched taut over it. “Ember, wait. I’m sorry.”
He stopped, although he still stared straight ahead. I could see the pain etched into the lines of his face. Whoever this Blaze had been, he’d meant a lot to Ember, and his death, assuming that’s what he’d meant by using the word “was,” had hurt him. Badly.
“I didn’t mean to cause you pain,” I said.
“You didn’t,” he said gruffly. It was a lie.
My heart ached. I wanted to reach out, to tell him it was okay. That he didn’t have to put that front on with me. He could tell me he missed Blaze. Death was never easy to stomach. It hurt everyone.
“You don’t have to be tough with me,” I said softly, stroking his arm. “I’m not going to judge you.”
Ember looked at me. His eyes betrayed all the emotion he was bottling up. But he didn’t release it. Instead, he took a deep breath and steadied himself.
“Your quarters are down that hallway.” He pointed. “Take the first left and the stairway at the end. Then it’s the third door on the right.”
Without waiting for a response, he walked off.
I watched him go, stunned. “What the hell did I do wrong?” I asked the empty hallway.
“Nothing,” a new voice said from nearby.
Gasping in surprise, I jerked to the side as Pyre appeared behind me without a noise. “Jesus Christ,” I hissed. “Don’t do that!”
The other dragon shifter shrugged me off without an apology. “Ember can’t afford to show weakness right now.” He stared down the hallway after Ember. “Not right now, while everything is in flux.”
“What are you talking about?” I faced Pyre. “What’s going on here? Will you please tell me?”
He sighed. “I really shouldn’t. You’re a human. None of this concerns you. Even if you’re one of the least irritating ones who I’ve met.”
“Thanks, I think,” I said dryly. “But I’m also here in a way nobody seems to understand. We can’t change that.”
“The less you know when you go home, the better,” Pyre said.
“I already know something’s up. People tried to kill us. Kill me. I’d prefer to know why that is. Being a human isn’t a good enough answer.”
“It’s a good enough reason to kill you, though,” he countered. “In the dragon realm, at least. Not on Earth. But humans are forbidden here, and nobody would bat an eye if someone killed you.”
“How welcoming,” I said. “But who tried to kill me? Who’s Albright?”
“A challenger for the throne,” Pyre said, evidently taking pity on me.
“I thought Ember was next in line?”
“He is,” Pyre said. “But to become prince, you must have a mate. Albright was the late prince’s brother. He has a mate. His claim is strong, and he can sit on the throne now. No more delay.”
“I see,” I said thoughtfully. “So, if Ember starts showing signs of weakness, especially to me, a human …”
“Then Albright will have another weapon to use against him in their fight for the throne.”
No wonder Ember hurt so badly. He couldn’t even allow himself to grieve for Blaze.
My heart ached even more for him. For reasons I couldn’t explain, I wanted to go to the giant fire dragon and comfort him.
If what Pyre said was true, though, then I couldn’t.
I would have to mind my distance so as not to help out Albright.
“So, what do I do?” I asked. “I don’t want him to have to not talk to me at all.”
“Give him time,” Pyre said. “He might come around before we leave. Or he might not.”
“Leave?” I almost yelped. “Where are you going?”
“We’re leaving,” he said, emphasizing the word as he looked at me. “To take you home.”
I stared at him. There was a lot more to those words than he was letting on. “So, what, then? You return me to Earth and then make me forget all this. Is that how it happens?”
Pyre shook his head. “We don’t have the ability to wipe your mind. But you had best get ready. It’s likely Albright will try to make it difficult for us to leave.”
Then he was gone, heading off on whatever business he had to do before we left. I frowned after him, a new question coming to my mind. Ember had said it was too dangerous to fly me there. Was bringing Pyre really going to change it that much? Two instead of one?