Chapter 37
Kier eyed the witch with a sneering nose crinkle, unsure as to why Carwyn would entertain even listening to her.
He wanted to cup the little female’s face to check on her, but he was forced to keep his hands away – as was her wish, and because he couldn’t imagine what she’d felt when she’d touched him.
It still simmered beneath the surface like a swarm of bloodthirsty fish, just waiting for him to dip his toe back in.
A cold pang twisted itself behind his sternum.
Now that she’s felt it... it’s doubtful I’ll ever be able to convince her to stay with me without removing her powers. She’d be even more afraid of touching him. Afraid that’s what he’d become like in the future.
Even now she appeared wary of his nearness, and he doubtfully would be able to convince her it was a rare occurrence. Something that only ever happened when he was locked in battle. When his blood was pumping wildly with the thrill of it all.
In his own defence, whatever the seer made him breathe in hadn’t aided his self-control, letting the madness overtake him with little effort. She’d disorientated him before he’d started casting his dragoncraft.
“I had good intentions,” Harietta stated, clasping her hands in front of herself.
Carwyn gestured to the darkened clearing. “How so? You lured me, us, here. Why? Just to kill these witches?”
“Exactly.” She narrowed her pale eyes in their direction. “Just as they’ve forced me to lure other witches here, those that don’t get the chance to defend themselves. I sought to use him to rid myself of a problem when I saw the opportunity it presented.”
“You have magic that prevents you from coming to harm in your home,” he stated with a scoff. “You have the ability to evade such evil through foresight. You can run, escape, before allowing yourself to be of use.”
“No I cannot!” she yelled while stamping a foot. “I am bound to this forsaken cottage by one of your kind! It was either death by them lying in wait for me to be outside, or I assist in their wretched plans.”
Kier couldn’t believe his ears as he wiped his face of the trickle of liquid tickling him. Filthy blood full of corrupt magic. Then he noticed his utter nudity and cast a minor glamour illusion on himself.
Carwyn gave him an unsure glance, but he knew he could handle such a spell now that his heart wasn’t pumping erratically with excitement.
“And you would rather lure others to their demise than suffer.” Kier tsked, flicking his hand of blood. “You witches always think so selfishly. No dragon would be so cowardly.”
“Because there is much left for me to do! There are paths that certain people must take, and sometimes prophecies don’t come naturally.
Sometimes they need a little nudge. It’s why self-fulfilling prophecies exist!
” She placed her hands on her hips, her cheeks puffing with annoyance.
“I used the best trick available to me, and it so happened to be you.”
“So that’s why you truly called me here.” Carwyn’s shoulders fell. “You knew I would meet him.”
“Well yes, that was the entire point. Except when I first sowed that seed in your mind, I never thought I would need to use it for myself or the many others you both have undoubtedly saved. I knew they would be interested in your empathic abilities. They remained patient in waiting for you, rather than capturing even more innocent people.”
Carwyn groaned as she stabbed her fingers into her closed eyes, rubbing them with frustration. “So you never had the answer I sought. It was all a facade.” She dragged her hand away to stare at him with stark, agonised eyes. “How cruel.”
Excellent. This may end up working in his favour then. Only if I can convince her otherwise about her fears of me. Once more, his crazed behaviour wouldn’t have aided him. But surely I can dissuade her. In this, I can be patiently persistent.
Because he was utterly certain of this witch.
Even in his crazed, disillusioned state, not a single part of his disorientated mind had wanted anything but to keep her safe. To keep her near and protected. To take her and hide her within the bowels of his cave, where nothing could dare harm her again.
She was his.
His mind and heart had deemed this so.
However, what he didn’t like was that this other witch had been the cause of all this. How much of Carwyn and me has she seen?
The seer’s lips pressed tightly. “I didn’t say that,” she answered. “I’ve always been sincere in giving you what you seek.”
“Truly?” Carwyn asked, climbing to her feet and leaving him on the ground by himself. He quickly followed to shadow her when she approached the other female, refusing to allow them to get close. “You can rid me of my powers of empathy?”
Harietta gave her a beseeching, apologetic smile. “No. There is no such thing.”
All the glowing hope that had filled her lovely face vanished so swiftly that she grew ashen. “What do you mean? I came all this way,” she whispered shakily.
“There is nothing you can do to rid yourself of this blessing without totally removing your witchcraft. Deep in your heart, you always knew that.”
Tears quickly flooded Carwyn’s eyes, and his chest stung at how crestfallen she became. Her hands trembled as her bottom lip quivered, then a track of salty liquid spilled down her cheek, and he scented it in the air.
Kier grabbed her forearm in what was meant to be a comforting hold, yet even with her sleeve covering her, she ripped herself from his grasp as if he’d burned her. She cupped her wrist as she backed away from him, her tears falling faster, and she turned to the seer.
“B-but you said you had the answer. Why would you bring me here if it was only to tell me such a thing?”
“It was always meant to be this way.”
“You could have told me in a letter!” she shouted, shrinking from both of them when he tried to approach her. “S-stay away from me.”
He halted when he realised his presence was only upsetting her further. Her breaths shuddered in and out of her, growing panicked and terrified as she looked between them.
“Carwyn,” he called. “There is nothing to fear. We will–”
“No!” she yelled, before looking back in Harietta’s direction. “Locking my witchcraft behind a hex is not what I wanted.”
“He is your answer,” Harietta stated, gesturing at Kier.
His brow cocked. Me? He looked down at himself, wondering what was so special about him. Nothing. He didn’t have a single ability that would give Carwyn what she sought.
“I cannot fucking touch him!” Her grip on her wrist tightened. “H-his human form...”
“Is not his only one.”
“I won’t do it,” she whispered. “I would rather be without my witchcraft.”
“Sincerely?” he stated, gobsmacked that she would choose such a fate over him. His nose crinkled in offense. “You would rather be without magic than be mated with me simply because of your fears? Even when I have repeatedly tried to gain your affections and trust?”
Did he truly mean so damn little?
She cringed tightly, like that very truth agonised her, then she visibly braced herself and yelled, “I want a child!”
His head reared back. “Then we will have one,” he offered, mildly confused.
Although it did make him ponder the thought. A child with Carwyn? He realised then that his bloodline would pass on to a dragon-and-witch hatchling, and except for the WitchSlayer’s offspring, no other had been born. This may present an issue I did not foresee, nor consider.
Did he mind this?
I don’t think so.
But he didn’t understand why she would think he wouldn’t have one with her. He’d never been against the idea, nor stated so.
“I-I...” Her face pinched with agony, stress, and sadness all in one harrowing expression, and she looked sick with it. “I cannot have a child with my abilities.”
Kier palmed his face. “Can someone explain this to me?”
Perhaps the calmer female in the area?
“Like many others with special gifts, there is always a cost,” Harietta stated matter-of-factly.
“Soothsayers see too much, and it impacts their sight. Shape-shifters are at risk of losing their humanity and remaining in creature form. Those with the ability to transfigure at will may accidentally turn themselves to stone or wood. And empaths, only ever born as women...” She waved her hand in the direction of a trembling Carwyn.
“Are considered infertile because the constant use of their magic makes no pregnancy viable. All those who learn to control it so they can have normal, functioning relationships... must expend untold magic just to do that. Their bodies cannot handle the excessive use of witchcraft.”
“I see,” Kier answered with a hum, cupping his jaw in thought.
I wouldn’t have minded if we didn’t have a hatchling. But, as he looked upon this female, he saw that it mattered to her. That it was important, a must.
Just as her witchcraft and the ability to extend her life was a must for him.
Both were at war with each other.
“But you have the answer, don’t you, Nightmare? Or may I call you Kier? I do like the sound of your name.”
He snarled at her, disliking that she knew his name or wanted to address him so informally. Not even distant dragons would dare utter less than his title. It was how they introduced themselves.
“I don–” he ceased his useless muttering as his eyes widened, and he slid them to the female. He gave her a rather spiteful glare. “You shouldn’t know of such things. That is...”
It was a new discovery by his kind, and something a dark witch like her shouldn’t know.
I should kill her simply for knowing it. As if she could read his thoughts, a smirk curled her lips.
He answered her mischief with a chuckle, only because she, in turn, had offered something he sought as well. “It seems I was right,” he stated warmly, bringing his sight back to a tearful yet very confused Carwyn. “You were always destined for a dragon.”
Her brows drew together as she shook her head.
Placing his arms behind his back, showing he had no intention of touching her, Kier approached.
“Yes, I can give you what you seek. However, the cost will be that you retain your witchcraft and learn to accept my touch with your abilities.” He leaned forward, coming close to her ear, and a smug smile curled his lips when the side of her neck raised with goosebumps just from his mere breath.
“I cannot tell you unless you agree to becoming my mate, witch.”
This wasn’t a secret he could share otherwise, even if he trusted Carwyn with such knowledge. It was dragon law; one he’d lose his wings over if it was discovered he’d told her without that guarantee.
He’d broken enough laws for her, and he’d rather hear her say yes with the trust that he wouldn’t deceive her. To know that she sought a bond with him before he gave it. That she wanted him.
“Unless you’d rather not be bonded to me. Then you may do as you wish.”
Not that he believed his own threat; he just happened to believe he knew her answer.
Her racing pulse fluttered chaotically in his ears, and he wanted to caress her jugular with how beautiful it sounded. So full of life. So easily ceased. So fragile it required protection and care.
Her lithe hand, thickened by her soft glove, slowly came to rest upon the centre of his chest. He backed up just enough to peer into her glittering black eyes, and the moon catching in them highlighted the night sky reflected in their depthless, inky pools.
Tenderness flooded him that she’d reached out to him, even with the accursed barrier, and it softened his features. She slid her palm up his chest to cup the side of his face and brush along the edge of his jaw.
Apparently the decision had been so easy for her to make that his heart caved in with joy.
“You better not be playing a game with me, dragon.”
“Kier,” he corrected firmly, but with mirth.
She shifted her gaze to Harietta, then back to him, and adorable pinkness stained Carwyn’s cheeks that they were having an intimate moment before another.
She caressed his lips. “Of course I want to be with you,” she whispered. “I’ve wanted it from the first moment you gave me the comb. I just... I thought I had to choose.”
“Is that a yes, female?”
“Yes, male,” she answered, rolling her eyes with a playful huff, renewed tears welling, but they spilled over for a different, more tender reason. “I will be your mate.”
He pushed back a few stray curls that had fallen out of her dishevelled braid from the events of the night. He figured his next words would spiral her into a fidgeting, bashful mess, so she would rather he not say them aloud for their witness to overhear.
He also didn’t want the seer to hear it from his own mouth. How she knew was none of his concern, but it was likely due to her abilities.
“Every part of me is filled with dragoncraft,” he whispered so close to her ear that his own breath fanned against his lips after brushing over her skin.
“Including my seed.” Her breath hitched just as the tips of her fingers dug into his chest. “And it appears I will have to provide you with lots of it to give you what you want.”
Kier wanted to chuckle at the turn of events and how this benefitted him very much.
It means we will have to touch often. She would require sex and intimacy. Lucky me.