Chapter Twenty
Avari
Iate breakfast alone. With both Michael and River working, I grabbed a quick bite before reaching out to my beast. With everything that had changed lately, I hadn’t spent nearly enough time with my bonded, and it was time to fix that.
Soul-bound or not, we were friends first and foremost, and I couldn’t help but feel guilty about how little time I’d given Anya. The training and the effort it took to form relationships with the few people I knew in Fogoya had kept me away from her, and that needed to change.
Taking her for a swift flight over the nearby towns, we passed over thick forests, fields of blooming flowers so bright I could see them from the sky, and waterfalls so clear my mouth watered. No wonder Anya stopped to drink.
We both enjoyed the serenity of the place. It was untouched by civilisation, wild and fertile, the air clean and alive. I sat by the translucent pool, breathing in the surrounding purity.
After pulling off my heavy boots, I dipped my feet in the lagoon. Though icy cold, the water felt refreshing and clarifying. The ripples hummed with tranquillity, and for a rare moment, I felt mended.
‘You wouldn’t find a view like this in Ortensia,’ I said full of wonder.
‘We would if we flew to the tropical forests,’ Anya groaned, though she looked just as taken by the view.
‘Exactly. It would take hours. We have this at our fingertips.’
‘So you like it here?’ she asked, lowering her head to drink.
I looked away. ‘I do. Do you?’
‘More than the sand,’ she quipped. ‘It was getting under my scales.’
That was the end of the conversation. The temptation of the deep waters was too much for her, and she plunged in headfirst, sending waves splashing across the shore.
She swam with joy, hunting trout and flicking her tail like a mischievous child.
The sight made me smile. ‘Leave some for the rest of us.’
‘Have you enough sense to turn pescatarian yet?’
‘Not a chance.’
The afternoon passed in bliss. Watching her play and hunt in the crystalline water, I felt the world tilt back into place. That was the life I wanted for her. Free. Untamed. Endlessly exploring.
By the time the sun began to dip, I felt lighter than I had in weeks, but peace never lasted long in Fogoya. The sky burned in shades of orange and red. High above the clouds, the light reminded me of kindred flames locked in an eternal chase.
We landed near the courtyard gate, our usual route. I said goodbye before heading into the castle.
That was when River arrived. But not as I began to know him.
Blood coated his black armour as he marched in, radiating danger. His sword lay at his back, slick with gore and life essences of those it had ended. Head high, eyes hard, he looked like death incarnate.
Then he saw me. The viciousness in his gaze flickered, replaced by something uncertain.
‘Did you come back from battle?’ I asked, fidgeting where I stood.
‘Yes.’ His voice was low and heavy, rough as though it had been scraped raw by shouting.
I didn't want him angry. I'd begun to cherish his light-hearted side, but I still feared the viciousness he kept buried deep within.
His darkened eyes lingered on me for too long, travelling from my gaze down the length of my body as though assessing my reaction. The weight of his scrutiny made me fold my arms across my chest, as if to shield myself. ‘Do you join them often?’
‘Not as often as I used to,’ he said, absently resting his thumb on the belt that held his blades. ‘I once commanded my own battalion.’
I nodded. ‘What changed?’
A drop of grime slipped from his sword onto the floor, and he watched it with sick fascination that broke me out in shivers. ‘I’d rather focus on training now. But I’ll join again soon.’
My eyes drifted to the rest of the blood spattered across his chest. Not his. He caught me looking and, with an unnerving calm, asked, ‘How does it make you feel?’
This was a side of him I hadn’t seen before—the soldier, the commander. ‘The fact that you kill, or that you kill Ortensians?’
‘Either,’ he said, a wicked chuckle rumbling low in his chest.
‘I knew who you were when I agreed to train you.’
My choice of words curved his mouth into something sharp. ‘The Elders forced you to train me. Would you have agreed without the treaty?’
There was no point in lying. ‘No.’
‘My point exactly.’ Inching closer to close the distance between us, I could smell the coppery tang of blood and steel that clung to him. ‘You and I… We’re alike, though it doesn’t look that way.’
I ignored the bait and asked the question that had haunted me for days. One I was afraid to ask. ‘Would you have killed me when we met if I weren’t bonded to a dragon?’
He reeled back slightly. ‘Do you really want to know?’
I nodded.
His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, as if on instinct. ‘I planned to kill you anyway. I only wanted to learn to conjure first.’
My shoulders slumped beneath the weight of his honesty. Deep down, I’d always known he hated me, hated what I was. But when I nearly died, he promised I was safe. Now I needed to know if that promise still stood.
‘Do you still?’ I needed to know. ‘Do you still want me dead?’
He used his gloved fingers to rub his temple. ‘My feelings toward you are too complex for a yes or no answer.’
‘I never cared about dying,’ I said quietly, searching for a trace of understanding in his eyes.
‘My life was just existing. My mother made sure of that. But I’m starting to hope things could change.
So if you ever feel the urge to kill me, just let me go.
I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again.
I wouldn’t go back to Ortensia anyway; they hate me there too. ’
River sighed, something in him shifting. ‘I couldn’t kill you any more than I can let you go, witch. You’re not going anywhere anytime soon.’
The King
The armour weighed on me like it never had before. I rushed upstairs to my wardrobe, tore it off and hurled the breastplate at the wall. Droplets scattered, witch blood splattering across my clothes and most of the room.
Fucking witches.
And fucking Ava.
Why the hell did she have to be there?
Why did her seeing me like that twist something inside my chest? Maybe she wasn’t evil, but that meant nothing. That girl was still a witch and my enemy’s daughter.
Even as I scrubbed the gore from my hands, my fire kept pulling me towards her. It was insane. I was losing myself. She was all I could think about: her smile, so damned addictive; her scent, peach with a trace of rose, invading my senses whenever she sat near me.
She spoke to me like no one else ever had. Everything about her pulled me in.
The little witch was dangerous.
And today the fates had tested me, making her see me straight after battle. The way her face fell when I told her I planned to kill her…
What was I thinking?
I should have lied. I could never have gone through with it, not after she almost died on me. Of course, I’d planned to kill her in the past, but that was before I lost my mind.
I shoved my sore body into the shower and let the scalding water wash it all away—every life I had taken. I didn’t regret it. They deserved what they got.
Still, her face betrayed her. Ava was a princess; she wasn’t built for blood and soldiers. Too delicate for ichor and carnage. Seeing me like that would haunt her.
There was a time I wanted to invade her dreams, to make sure she never felt safe. Not anymore. We could never take it further, but I didn’t have to hurt her. Despite coming from that dishonourable kingdom, she was nothing like their queen.
Avari wasn’t evil. The thought sat heavy in my chest when I remembered how close I had come to killing her. Ava’s limp form still haunted my dreams every night. In them, she never woke. In my nightmares, I stomped her into the ground. I hadn’t slept through the night since the attack.
The girl would drive me insane.
I stepped from the shower, steam curling off my skin—and froze. A waft of arousal hit me from the other side of the door. My bedroom.
Fuck’s sake.
Frustrated beyond measure, I sighed at the sight of Emmy sprawled across my bed. Naked. Waiting.
Fucking her had always been mechanical, a way to unwind after battle. She liked it rough and let me do whatever I wanted. Quick release for pent-up aggression. Nothing else.
But lately, she’d grown clingy. I didn’t know what in my behaviour suggested I was interested, but I wasn’t. In fact, I was clear she wasn't allowed here. Yet, she persisted, as if rejection were beyond her comprehension.
I’d give her this: she had a phenomenal body. Just looking at her used to get me hard. Our arrangement was simple. Friends with benefits. Without the friendship. But with excellent benefits.
‘What are you doing here? Put some clothes on and leave,’ I barked, not even looking at her.
Her face soured as she sat up. Persistent to the last.
‘I thought you liked me naked.’ She kneaded her breast. ‘Come. You need this.’
I scoffed. Not at her proposition, but because my own subconscious mocked me and refused her. I knew why.
A fleeting release wasn't what my body craved any more. It wanted the unattainable.
The witch had invaded my life.
She had claimed my fire.
She had taken my sanity.
Now she’d left me with permanent blue balls.