Page 42 of Born of Blood and Thorns

Each time he pulled me close, I forgot a little more that we were enemies or that the man beneath the dragon hated me for things I had no control over. I could forget that I was a captive in a cursed castle.

Soon, all I could think about was that I was having more fun than I'd ever had in my life. We laughed and locked gazes as heat traveled between us until the music stopped, and the dragon inside of Lore pulled me close and captured my lips. He kissed me as if he were starving, as if one kiss from me would save him from death. He kissed me as if his very existence depended on it. He kissed me with such passion that I melted into him and lost all sense of who I was.

I felt him backing me up, taking me in his arms again. My legs wrapped around his waist, and I found myself once again up against a wall. His lips claimed me again until he stole the very breath in my lungs. Until part of him seemed to burrow deep inside of me, similar to how he had the other day. This time, I felt a spark I couldn't explain that seemed to pulse, grow, and spread within me. I had to deny one that shouldn't exist, one that should be between enemies.

I pulled my lips away to do just that, but the vulnerability in Lore's dragon's eyes and desperation stilled my lips. "Look at me and see all the darkest parts of me. See the darkness in my soul and do not turn away in fear. Learn to love all those parts of me. The jagged edges of my soul fit with the edges of yours like a puzzle. I know what you are. Who you are to me. I have waited so long for you." He said the words with such fevered ferocity and tenderness as he traced the corners of my jawline and then his thumb across my bottom lip. He claimed my lips again and pulled away one last time as if he hated the thought of us separating. He tilted his forehead to mine and lowered his voice. "I will burn the world for you. I will do anything for you. You are mine now and forever. Let me be yours."

I opened my mouth to speak, to deny him. This was too much, too soon. I was not meant to be his anything. Before I could say anything, crashing glass stopped my words. Lore and his dragon turned, leaving me cold and longing for his heat.

What I saw when he turned dropped me nearly to the floor. The dead. The dead were crawling through the window. Their sightless eyes were white, and their skin, what they had left of it, was gray and unsightly. Some had missing limbs or parts of their body muscles barely covered as the evidence of decay and vermin had eaten parts of their body. They moved with an unnatural speed that, in life, they could never have maintained.

Lore turned to me as he drew a sword, panic in his red gaze. "Run!"

My feet carried me several yards down the shadowy corridor before I skidded to a halt. What was I doing, running like a coward while Lore battled the dead alone? If he was my destiny, as the dragon had claimed, then I needed to stand with him.

I stopped, realizing I couldn't just run away and leave Lore in there to fight by himself. What if they got Alysha or hurt Billy? This wasn't just about me. I needed to fight, too. I couldn't cower and pretend it wasn't happening.

I spun on my heel, sprinting back the way I'd come. The sounds of the ongoing struggle grew louder as I approached—the zombie's ghastly moans, the dragon's enraged roars, the crash of toppling furniture. My heart hammered against my ribs, but I refused to give into fear.

I looked out the window to see the last rays of light descending into the distance as more crashing glass and the sounds of the dead invading the castle increased. The roar of a dragon as he transitioned into his form rocked the foundations of the castle itself.

Bursting back into the ballroom, I assessed the chaos instantly. The floor was strewn with broken zombie bodies, but more kept crawling through the shattered windows. In the center of the room, the dragon lashed his spiked tail, sending the undead flying. They just kept coming.

I scanned the ground, grabbing a heavy silver candlestick. Testing its weight, I nodded firmly and threw myself into the fray. I smashed the candlestick into the nearest zombie's skull, carving into the decaying bone. It collapsed in a heap, but two more lurched toward me, hands outstretched hungrily.

The battle raged on as I crushed and battered the relentless horde. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dragon's fiery breath incinerate a cluster of zombies to ash. We were holding our own—we might survive this night after all.

I didn't notice the zombie looming at my back in my distraction until its fetid claws sank into my shoulders. I screamed as its jaws snapped for my throat, the candlestick clattering to the floor. With a roar of fury, the dragon barreled into my attacker, sending it flying off me in pieces.

The damage was done. Blood poured from the gashes in my shoulder, the stench attracting the other zombies. I tried to scramble away, but my torn muscles gave out. The dragon shielded me with his body, flames keeping the horde at bay. We were surrounded, our strength rapidly fading.

We fought until we could no longer stand, the dragon biting heads off and burning half of the horde as we finally made it outdoors and under the moonlight. We found Alastair, and he joined us as we spent the hours in battle holding them off. I prayed Billy and Alysha were safe. Soon, tiredness made my legs stumble and my arms too sore to hold the sword in my good hand, as blood loss began to truly become a problem for me, even though Alastair had made a makeshift bandage at one point in the night.

It felt like an endless battle, an endless night of carnage.

As the night wore on, it seemed our fate was sealed. A piercing ray of dawn split the darkness, bathing us in glorious sunshine. The remaining zombies shuddered and collapsed, ashes in the wind. We had survived to see the light of a new day.

The castle was in shambles, and so much of the room, the furniture that Alysha and Lore had treated with such reverence, was in pieces. Lore fell to his knees as he looked out across the wreckage.

I moved slowly toward him, placing my hand softly on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I offered, my voice weak and tired from the long night. I grunted as my shoulder shifted, and an intense pain shot through it.

Lore turned his haunted gaze to me, his eyes taking in my injury. "I told you to run, to hide. If you…" He shook his head and pressed his lips together. He checked my bandage, and his lips pressed firmly together. He shuddered, looking away, and when his eyes turned back to mine, they were hard once again. "Go. Get out. Leave me. Alysha will come tend your wound."

I snatched my hand back. His words were not unusual. He occasionally turned to cruelty, but how he looked at me now made it seem as if all of this, the destruction and even the curse, were my fault.

"Leaving me in the dark, not telling me anything!" I yelled as my anger cut me like a seared knife. I let all that rage out on him. "Refusing to give me the truth, it has not served you. Now tell me what I'm stuck in. What is this fucked up fairytale nightmare I've been forced to be a part of?"

The only answer was the dark chuckle from Lore as he shook his head.

Anger formed within me as I saw his sword not far away. I snatched it up and held it up to his throat. I'd planned all along to kill him, to take his life, and this was my chance.

"Tell me," I snarled, my hand steady as I held the sword. The blade cut a shallow line on his throat, a trail of blood running down Lore's neck as he lifted his chin, almost as if he were begging me to do it. Our eyes collided, and I realized that was precisely what he wanted. He was begging me to kill him, to end the ceaseless torment of his cursed existence. The resolve in his face told me he would welcome death.

His eyes flashed crimson as if hearing my thoughts, and the dragon stared out at me with resignation. "Do it," the dragon rumbled, "for there is no life without you." He closed his eyes, sighing as he released all tension from his body, finally at peace with his fate.

I dropped the sword as if scalded, staring down at my hands in horror. I had planned to kill him, I realized with a jolt. I was no better than the monsters I despised, willing to kill for my own ends.

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