Chapter 37
THERON
I watch over my curvy little priestess as she sleeps.
The fire has burned down to glowing embers, casting a soft, flickering light over the small hollow where we’ve made camp. Shadows move over her face, catching in the strands of her hair where they spill across my thigh, turning the red-gold of it into something deeper—like banked coals.
She looks so peaceful…so beautiful.
I lift my hand and run my fingers slowly through her curls, careful not to wake her. They’re still slightly damp, softer now that they’ve dried a little by the fire, slipping through my fingers like silk.
She sighs in her sleep and the sound goes straight through me.
My chest tightens and my heart fists so hard it almost hurts.
“Ours,” my Drake rumbles immediately, rising up at the contact. “She is ours. Bond her.”
My jaw tightens.
“No,” I whisper under my breath. “I can’t do that.”
He pushes harder, a low, insistent pressure at the back of my mind.
“She needs us. She belongs with us. Take her—make her ours.”
“She doesn’t understand about bonding with a Drake,” I murmur, my voice rough as I keep stroking her hair. “She would be frightened.”
The Drake snarls softly, dissatisfied with my answer.
“Make her understand,” he suggests.
I shake my head.
“She’d be horrified,” I say quietly. “You know she would.”
The words taste bitter on my tongue, but I know I’m right.
Elowen is sweet…gentle. Devoted to her Goddess, to her temple, to the life she’s built—even if she feels like she doesn’t quite belong.
She wouldn’t understand what it means to Bond a Drake. To take not just me—but him as well.
To accept both of us.
My grip tightens slightly in her hair before I force myself to ease it.
“And even if she wasn’t horrified,” I go on, softer now, “it wouldn’t matter.”
The Drake stills, suspicious.
“Why?” he asks.
“Because she’s leaving.”
The words hit me when I say them out loud, but I force myself to continue.
“Once she gets the last two elements and works her spell… that’s it.”
I stare down at her face, at the soft curve of her cheek, the faint parting of her lips as she breathes.
“She goes back,” I say.
Back to before she ever came looking for me…back to a life where, for her, I don’t even exist.
My chest tightens again, sharper this time.
“We’ll go back too,” I tell my Drake. “We won’t even know she was here—won’t remember any of this.”
The Drake goes quiet—for once, he has nothing to say.
I swallow hard, my throat suddenly tight. Because the truth is…I don’t want that.
I don’t want to forget her, and I don’t want her to forget me.
The thought of it—of all of the time we’ve spent together just…vanishing, like it never happened—makes something deep in my chest twist painfully.
It feels like losing something precious when I’m just barely realizing how precious it really is.
I don’t want to let her go.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do?” I whisper, stroking her hair. “How can I keep her with me?”
But there’s no answer because there isn’t anything I can do. This isn’t my choice—it never was.
Elowen wants her life back…her place in the temple…her Goddess. And who the hell am I to stand in the way of that?
I huff out a breath, dragging a hand down my face.
“She gave her whole life to the Goddess of Nature,” I mutter, both to myself and my Drake. “I’m not about to try and take that from her.”
Even if I wanted to. Even if it feels like it’s tearing something out of me to let her go.
My gaze drops back to the little priestess. She shifts slightly in her sleep, her cheek pressing more firmly against my thigh, her hand curling loosely in the fabric of my trousers like she’s holding on even now.
My chest aches with the sweet sight of her. Though I’ve tried to explain, I get the feeling my Drake still doesn’t quite comprehend that when this is all over, she’ll be leaving us.
“Well, we’ve still got time,” I say quietly.
And it’s true—we have a few days…a few more nights like this. A few more chances to be near her—to know her. To commit her sweet face to memory before it’s wiped clean by the Time Weaving spell.
I lean down slowly, careful not to wake her, and press a soft kiss to her temple. Her skin is warm and soft and silky against my lips.
She stirs at the touch, her lashes fluttering faintly, and then she murmurs something under her breath.
I freeze. It’s soft—barely there—but I hear it—my name.
“Theron…” she says softly in her sleep.
My heart stutters in my chest.
“It’s all right, little one,” I whisper, even though she can’t hear me. “I’m here.”
For now, anyway.
Carefully, I ease her head off my thigh and onto the moss beside me. She shifts again, frowning faintly in her sleep like she doesn’t like the loss of contact.
I don’t like it either.
Before I can second-guess myself, I lie down behind her, fitting my body along the curve of hers. I hesitate for just a second, then wrap an arm around her and pull her gently back against me.
She makes a small, contented sound and snuggles closer without waking, her back fitting against my chest like she was made to be there.
The Drake hums low in approval.
“Ours,” he says with unshakeable certainty.
I close my eyes.
“Just for now,” I murmur. “Just for a little while.”
I hold my little priestess tighter, breathing in the soft, sweet scent of her hair, the warmth of her body seeping into mine as the last of the day’s tension slowly drains away.
And as sleep finally starts to pull me under, one thought lingers, stubborn and aching…
I wish I never had to let her go.