Chapter Thirty-Five
Vanessa
“You’re sure he’s going to be okay?” I asked nervously, fidgeting with my hands as Cruce drove me across town.
“Yes. He’s going to be weak for several days, and today, he probably won’t be able to leave the bed, but he’s going to live,” Cruce said.
The white knuckles on his hands as they gripped the steering wheel told me it wasn’t quite as stable a situation as he was making it out to be.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. I had to keep reminding myself that there was nothing I could do just yet. Not until we arrived wherever Cruce had stashed Vil while he came to get me.
It wasn’t the knock at the door I’d hoped to get at nine in the evening, but one look on Cruce’s face had told me that I shouldn’t be protesting at all. I’d immediately hopped in the car, and he’d taken off.
“Why didn’t you just bring him to Liv’s house?” I asked, not bothering to ask how he knew where to find me. Vil had managed it as well, and it hadn’t been until later that I’d bothered to wonder how he knew where my sister lived.
“In case the Nine come after us,” Cruce said. “I don’t want to put your sister in danger.”
I didn’t bother to point out that by bringing me to Vil, Cruce was putting me in danger. But that was my choice. I knew what I was getting into.
“So he didn’t succeed, then,” I said. “Shit.”
Cruce snarled. “I’m sure he would have, but the Nine decided they were too cowardly to handle this themselves.”
“What do you mean?”
I listened while Cruce told me about the mercenary dragons who’d followed Vil home. It was they who’d hurt him badly, as far as Cruce could tell. Not the Nine themselves.
“Bastards,” I said bitterly, then sat up straighter as I realized I knew where we were. “Cruce … just where did you take Vil?”
The dragon shifter grunted.
“Cruce, this is my neighborhood,” I said slowly. “Please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”
“Okay.”
I looked at him. “Okay, what?”
“Okay, I won’t tell you that I did what you think I did.” One corner of his mouth smirked. “Isn’t that what you just asked me to do? Or not do, I guess?”
I moaned. “Cruce, my house is a crime scene.”
“Not anymore,” he said. “The tape is gone.”
“It will be if Vil dies there,” I said. “Not to mention, I’m pretty sure the police probably still have it under some sort of surveillance. This is not good.”
There was no point protesting any further, though. We’d arrived. Cruce pulled the SUV into the driveway. I was out the door and halfway up the path before he killed the engine. The front door was locked, but I punched my code into the modern lock and waited for it to slide open.
“Vil!” I shouted, hurrying inside. “Vil, I’m here.”
A groan from my spare bedroom had me hurrying to the side. There, I found Vil wrapped up in my blankets.
“Oh my god,” I gasped, stumbling to a halt, hand over my mouth.
He looked horrible. Truthfully, he looked like absolute shit.
He was covered in bruises and gashes. Not cuts but literal gashes that split the skin apart.
One shoulder was dedicated entirely to a burn that extended below the sheet for who knew how far.
One eye was, well, calling it swollen shut would be a nicety.
“Yeah,” he said weakly as I hurried to his side. “But you should see the other guy.”
Part of me wanted to feel relieved, thinking there was no way someone on their deathbed could be making jokes. But then perhaps he’d accepted he wasn’t going to make it and was trying to make the best of it.
“Vil,” I said worriedly, fear clutching at my chest. “Oh my god.”
“I know. I don’t exactly look like a model,” he said, then frowned as his body was racked by wet coughs that sounded horrible.
“I don’t know how you’re alive.”
“Me dragon. Me tough,” he said.
That conversation seemed to use up the last of his energy because he drifted off within seconds. I kept a careful eye on his chest as it rose and fell.
Cruce entered the room in the silence that followed and leaned against the wall.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked nervously.
“I don’t know,” the other man said. “He probably shouldn’t have survived this long.
I didn’t realize just how badly he was hurt, or I would have kept him at the house instead of moving him.
It wasn’t until I laid him out here I got a true scope.
But since he’s still alive now, I think there’s a good chance he wakes up again. ”
“Oh, Vil,” I whispered, wanting to reach out and touch him but not knowing where. Everywhere seemed to be covered in some sort of cut, wound, burn, or bruise.
Instead, I went to the kitchen and dragged a chair in, so I could sit at his side without disturbing the bed itself. Cruce grabbed me some blankets and pillows, doing his best to help.
“Thank you,” I said, settling in for a long watch.
“You’re welcome,” the dragon shifter said, sounding abruptly uncomfortable as if he was intruding. Like a third wheel.
Which implied Vil and I were a couple.
“Cruce,” I said quietly, not looking away from Vil’s face as he rested. Was the swelling on his eye going down, or was that my imagination?
“Yes?”
“What do you know about the Test?”
Cruce shrugged. “Not much. Why?”
“Because Vil seems to think that we have to take it for him to become the prince.”
“You do,” Cruce agreed. “It’s in the laws set out by the God-King ages ago.”
“But … if you fail, you die?” I asked, still not able to believe that.
“Yes,” Cruce said. “Not all dragons are required to take the Test. We often settle with mates and split as humans do. Much more infrequently, as we are destined to be mated, and that bond is stronger than simple feelings. But the God-King requires proof that the right pair has been put together if they’re to sit on the throne and rule one of the clans. ”
“How … how do I know that Vil and I are the right ones?” I asked.
“You just do?” he said with a helpless shrug. “I haven’t taken the Test. Only a handful have. I will say this, however. Of those who’ve taken it and passed, the two most recent found their mates the same way Vil found you.”
“Through a mirror?” I scoffed.
“Yes,” he said tightly. “The Watching Mirror. A powerful artifact given by the God-King. It helps the princes watch over their realms to ensure the safety of their people. It shows them what they need to see. In this case, it was their mates. Mates among humans. A first.”
That was news to me. “You mean, most of the time, the princes have mated with other dragons?”
Cruce nodded. “Until Ember, the Prince of Fire, found his mate, to the best of our knowledge, no human had sat upon the throne of any clan. Now we have two. Three, if we count you.”
“You think Vil and I are …?”
He snorted. “Look at you. You rushed to his side, worried sick about him. Now you’ve set up camp in a chair and won’t leave his side, even though there’s nothing you can do.
I saw how you looked at him when he was awake.
The worry in your voice, the desire for him to live.
I’m not in your head, Vanessa, but it’s obvious you care deeply for him.
Anyone can see that. Except you, I guess. ”
“Caring deeply isn’t the same as thinking he’s my mate. That I’ll be with him the rest of my life,” I countered. “I … do have feelings for him. I’ll admit that.”
It was the first time I’d said as much out loud, and even hearing myself be that open was disconcerting. Was I lying by not saying how much I cared? Cruce was spot-on in his observations. Did that translate into being in love?
“Regardless of what you’re willing to admit to yourself,” Cruce said softly, “it always takes longer to get to that point than to actually develop the feelings. We’re often blind to our own emotions. Those around us, however, can see it differently.”
He stared at me, clearly stating he meant himself in our case.
“Cruce,” I said softly, staring at Vil’s face, wishing he would heal faster.
“Yes?”
“Can you give us some time alone?”
“Of course,” he said, pushing himself up off the wall. “Shout if something goes wrong.”
“I will,” I promised.
Then he was gone, leaving me alone with the sleeping Vil and my thoughts. My very confused thoughts.
It was time to analyze everything, in this rare moment of calm, and figure out just how I really felt.
Was I ready to take the Test with Vil?
Or should I end it all for good?