Chapter 40
With tiny claws digging into white material, Kier clung to Carwyn’s shoulder as a pressure pushed against his chest. Crisp, lush forest surrounded them, yet he choked on his next breath under its stifling onslaught, the witchcraft telling him to release his mate and leave.
His clutch on her tightened as his tail twisted in apprehension when a disorientating haze fell over his eyes.
With her head held high, she walked through it, unfazed.
“Such strong magic,” he croaked, shaking his head to clear it to no avail. He hated the way it crawled over his senses and his scales like a tickling itch, pressing dizzying coldness into his mind.
“I told you the forest surrounding our home would be uncomfortable,” Carwyn answered.
“Yes, well...” He trailed off as he looked to the side, fighting his agitation.
If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought she was luring him to a coven of witches for slaughter. The energies were different – some new, some ancient. Their scents were unique, as if multiple witches had cast them over the generations her family had lived there.
Which they had, Carwyn informing him that they all gave over a small amount of their magic during each new moon to add to the collection of witchcraft to ensure its longevity and strength.
I doubt even a dragon would be able to navigate this.
She narrowed her large eyes at him. “You thought you’d be able to handle it. That I was exaggerating.”
He wiggled his head nonchalantly. “I’m handling it.”
“Because I’m carrying you! You lazy, arrogant dragon!”
A chuckle worked its way up his throat as he shoved his head forward, nuzzling her jaw with his crown spikes and the side of his scaled neck.
Carwyn lifted a hand to brush the underside of his jaw soothingly and return his affectionate touch, part of her mate marking stark against her light-brown skin.
It always brought him great joy seeing it.
Coiling around her wrists before climbing over the backs of her hands lay half a dragon. If she tucked her thumbs down and put her hands together, the opposing markings formed a full dragon in flight – except for around her wrists where it’d been severed in half.
He’d chosen the placement due to the pains that lay within regarding her hands. He wanted her to look at them as fondly as he did. To associate them with their bond and the deep level of intimacy only she, as an empath, could provide.
Things had shifted between them since that day, despite the fact that it’d barely been a fortnight since.
She trusted him to cradle her heart, and she’d begun reaching out to him on her own. Not just to instigate sex, but to share in small, otherwise meaningless moments and make them deeper.
She held my hand of her own accord the day after we bonded.
They’d been seated by the entrance of his lair, watching the sun settling over the cloudy, lilac horizon, when she’d tentatively touched his knuckles.
Whatever emotions she’d felt from him made her flinch, likely the depths of his contentment and utter tranquillity in her presence, before she’d rotated his palm and had slipped her own against it.
Her cheeks had pinkened as she’d looked away shyly. Oddly enough, even his own face had warmed when his heart had taken flight. Especially as the touch had continued to persist until the sun had gone down and the crescent of a waxing moon had risen.
To an outsider, perhaps it would have been underwhelming, but for her, for them, it had been momentous.
He lifted his arm with a yearning gaze to peer at the intricate design that marked him through her handfasting spell. The light grey made it easier to reflect the gleam of his rainbow.
Kissing still comes with its challenges, though.
He was no longer interested in holding back the desire to steal her lips just for her sake. She was his, he hers, and he wanted her to grow comfortable with unprepared passion.
However, even if he merely wanted a taste of her, she’d feel his unyielding desire for her, and he’d incidentally feed it into her through contact. He might not start every kiss with the intent for more, but it was natural for him to get swept up and spiral out of control.
I don’t want her thinking I’m taking advantage of her abilities. She’d laid her trust in him, and he wanted it more than he wanted to mount her – which he still thought about constantly.
Every waking moment.
Alas, I cannot help the way she makes my blood boil.
His pondering ended when the spell around them lifted just as a large stone-and-wood cottage peeked through the overflowing brush.
A spacious clearing, with a noticeable garden to the side, opened up.
A chimney produced faint swirling grey-and-white smoke, and the scent of cooking herbs and meat tingled in his gut.
As someone who was familiar with illusions, he noted the shimmer above that would be invisible to most eyes. See-through leaves swayed with the rest of the forest, working in with their rhythm to hide it from those who would be flying over it.
He blinked to clear his sight as they passed through the disorientating spells, bringing them into the eye of a magical storm.
A witch with long, straight-blonde hair flowing down her back tugged a white sheet from a long string and shook it before folding it neatly. Just as she placed it into a basket of other laundry and went to reach for a simple gown, she caught sight of them.
Her pale features brightened into a wide smile.
“Mother! Kaeylyn! Carwyn is home,” she yelled, sprinting over to her sister and, therefore, him.
Perhaps it was the volume of his mate’s curls and how he blended into their shining strands, or the fact that she was too excited to see Carwyn, but it wasn’t until the woman was barely a metre away that she slowed.
Her eyes widened as she stepped back, her hands coming up defensively against her abdomen.
“Carwyn!” a child, no older than eleven in appearance, screamed as she burst through the doorway. Her hair was a deep, brownish red with freckles dotting across her tanned cheeks.
A woman, much older, followed. Her hair had evidence of orange and red speckling through the dominating white. Like the child, she had freckles dotting her shoulders and cheeks. Her face, although poised and holding a strict edge, still grew a smile as she looked upon her daughter.
“Hi, Kaeylyn,” Carwyn greeted when the girl slammed into her so hard even he was shunted back.
Kaeylyn wrapped her arms around Carwyn’s hips as she crossed her own over her sister’s slim shoulders. She was yanked back by the blonde one who protectively brought the girl to her side.
“Aldora,” Carwyn beseeched, reaching her ungloved hands out, only to bring them back in due to her own misgivings.
“Carwyn, I’m so glad to see you home safely,” her mother stated warmly. “We’ve all been so wor–”
“Mother, her shoulder,” Aldora stated, gesturing with her pointed chin.
Carwyn winced and brought both her palms up so he could jump onto them. His tail flicked behind him as his wings opened slightly to balance himself under the instability of her platform.
“Uhh, meet Kier?” she introduced, voice stilted, and an awkward smile marring her pretty face.
Multiple eyes remained fixed on him, most of them brown except for their mother’s, which were a deep green. A strong gust of wind swept through the area, causing their hair to flutter and their peasant skirts to sway. Even a cricket dared to chirp in the quiet.
“Heavens. Are you all going to stare until your eyes fall out?” He rolled his own as he bounded off Carwyn’s palms to land upon the grass before changing his size so he came to all their head heights; he refused to allow a single one to stand over him.
“Yes, she has brought a dragon into your midst.”
“Kier!” Carwyn exclaimed, curling her hands into adorable little fists of annoyance at his impertinence.
He flicked his hand dismissively, disliking being gazed upon like an odd spectacle. Her mother coughed, then did the strangest fucking thing he’d ever seen.
She knelt and leant forward until her forehead touched the ground with her arms down and outstretched towards him. “I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to offend you.”
What in the heavens is she doing? He sat back on his haunches in confusion and glanced at Carwyn with his head tilted. Why is she bowing like a frog?
He grew even more horrified when the two other females followed her behaviour and got on their knees as well. He blinked at them as he shuffled back further.
Carwyn cringed. “They are greeting you with respect.” Then her eyes slid away as she grumbled quietly, “Although I wouldn’t say you in particular deserve or need such attention.”
“Carwyn,” her mother growled, lifting her head to give her daughter a glare he found all too familiar.
Strong, unwavering. Ah, so that’s where she got it from.
The chuckle that came out of him was devious as he sat, letting them bow like he was some kind of god. How grand a greeting this turned out to be.
He lifted a paw to cup the end of his snout in playfully pensive thought, letting it fill his voice. “Are you saying you were supposed to bow to me, a mighty dragon, upon our first meeting and didn’t? How disrespectful, little witch. Instead you shouted at me and called me foul names.”
Her mother’s paling face quickly morphed, reddening with his accusation. Carwyn parted her lips, amusingly gobsmacked by his antics, then she turned to him with her teeth gritted.
“Oh you infuriating, conniving dragon.” She bashed his well-muscled biceps with the side of her fist. “Stop trying to get me in trouble!”
His answering laugh was followed by him curling a paw around her backside and bringing her closer to his chest. “Stand,” he told them with mirth.
“If you meet another dragon, I advise against such a display. We don’t even bow for our king in that manner.
” Instead, once they had risen to their feet warily, he dipped his head.
“This will do, and I would rather the respect be shown from a dragon to his mate’s family. ”
“Mate?” her mother croaked.
“Yes,” Carwyn stated proudly, lifting her wrists to show them his marking.
Aldora gave him a wary glance as she neared Carwyn while managing to put some distance between herself and him. She went to reach out, only to hesitate when Carwyn subtly recoiled before they made contact, and her blonde brows came together.
“I wanna see!” Kaeylyn exclaimed, pushing Aldora out of the way with her hand stretched out and ready to clasp.
His agile witch evaded her.
“I didn’t achieve what I set out to do,” she told them, or rather her mother, as she lifted her gaze towards her confused and uncertain frown. “The fates had other plans.”
Her mother’s gaze softened as a small, approving smile curled her lips. She stepped closer and held her daughter’s sleeve-covered forearm from below while placing her hand above it, much like one would when trying to offer warmth and comfort to another’s hand.
His heart lightened at that. So it was not only me she rejected. Even with her own blood, she preferred the disconnection in filtered embraces.
“It relieves me to hear you have kept your gifts, Carwyn. I’ve always been sorry for how they’ve affected you, and all the unknown pains I, and your sisters, have caused you.
I’m proud of your decision despite those hurts, and I’d love to hear of your adventure.
” Her mother turned to him. “To meet a dragon is not an honour I thought I would ever be granted, so I would enjoy speaking with you, and you are most welcome. However, now that I understand the context of your relationship, don’t think I will be so easily swayed simply by what you are.
As a mother who cares very deeply about her children, I’ll treat you based on how I see you treat my daughter. ”
“Nothing you do or say will change the fact that we are bonded for life.” His lips pulled back into a wide, fanged grin at the challenge. Yes, his mate was very much like her mother. “And you say you care for them deeply. However, you have unfairly punished–”
Carwyn stamped her foot. “Kier!”
A belly-aching laugh exploded from him. “Alright, fine. I will cease my mischief.”
He’d done what he sought: broken the tension and instigated a conversation he knew his mate was wary of having.
“What’s he talking about?” her mother asked, casting her a puzzled frown.
Carwyn’s bottom lip popped forward. “I wanted to tell her later. After all the formalities.”
No, you wanted to avoid the conversation about your sister for as long as possible because it will upset your mother to learn she has made her daughter an outcast when it was entirely unnecessary. Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud.
But... he wanted the anxious race of her heartbeat to ease. For the wound to be pried open so they could get to the infection and bandage it. For his mate to enjoy her time with her family without it lingering as an unspoken plague in her mind, clouding and shadowing it.
He would bring her here as much as she requested, but he also wanted to spend time with his new mate in the comfort of their lair. It took almost three days to fly here, and it’d take just as long to go back. It was a lengthy, arduous journey for them both.
Why waste a single minute of her limited time here with her doubts and anxiety when it was better to brave it first?
Carwyn brought her hands up to wring them as she cringed. “Mother, I know the truth about Valerie. Her whereabouts and who she is with. She hasn’t turned to dark magic as you feared.”
The older woman’s lips parted in surprise and relief, only for her face to crinkle tightly. With the way it darkened her features like a shadow, he clearly saw hurt and betrayal conflicting with regret in her expression.
“She has also bonded with a dragon.”