Page 52 of Betrayed By Dragons

"I'm not." One side of Jianyu's mouth curls upward into a sad, wry smile. "I can't think about it too much more deeply than that. Not tonight."

"Okay." I can take a hint to stop pressing. I lean into him, and he pulls me close.

With two fingers under my chin, he tilts my face upward. When our lips meet, it's soft and sweet. Life-affirming, really. After fighting side by side the way we did, I want nothing more than to sink into him and run my hands over every part of him. Make sure he's all right and kiss the bitterness from his lips.

Too bad this plane doesn't have a bed.

On my other side, Rafe stiffens. Regretfully, I pull away from Jianyu.

It's probably for the best. As we separate, Li comes over and clears his throat. "Your Highness? A word, if I may?"

Jianyu exhales roughly before unbuckling his seatbelt and rising. "Of course."

With a glance of apology that holds just a hint of banked heat, Jianyu follows Li to the other end of the plane. I turn.

We're not alone alone, what with the half dozen other people strewn around the plane, but for the first time all night, Rafe and I at least have a minute to ourselves. He glances over at me, seeming to notice our proximity at the same time I do.

Our gazes meet, and for a long moment, they hold.

I could sink into his golden eyes. Deep within me, something goes molten with the warmth of our connection.

And then he looks away.

"Rafe," I say, reaching for him before I can stop myself--and that's good. I can't hold back when he's pulling away.

He's my mate. My bonded, true, fated other half of my soul, and I don't care that he's not the only one. My relationship with Jianyu doesn't make my tie to Rafe any less vibrant--any less necessary. Every time he refuses to look at me, it tears at my heart.

My hurt bleeds into my voice, but he keeps his gaze trained on the opposite wall. For a heart-breaking moment, I think he's going to get up and leave. Or almost worse, just ignore me.

The point of his jaw flexes. And then quietly, almost under his breath, he says, "I didn't know you two could do that."

I blink rapidly, caught off guard. "What--"

"You raised a wall out of the fucking ground with him, Ember." At long last, he stares right at me, and I feel pinned.

Oh.

Oh.

"Right," he says, an edge of bitterness leaking in.

"I didn't mean to not tell you. It only happened the once before, and things were so crazy..."

"Seems like a pretty big oversight, not mentioning that you and your other mate can do"--he waves a hand vaguely in the air--"magic, or something."

He's right. Of course he's right.

But when I came back from making love to Jianyu by the river, Rafe was angry and jealous enough. He took out his frustrations with his fists against the wall, and then he took them out on my ass--in the best possible way.

"I'm sorry." I cast about, desperate for a way to make this right. Impulsively, I hold out my hand. "Do you want to see if we...?"

He catches my meaning and lets out a low laugh, glancing around at our surroundings. "I don't think a pressurized tin can at 30,000 feet is the time or the place to see if we can do fire magic together."

Sheepish, I drop my hand. "Right, good call."

And there's that sour twist to his mouth again. "That's if it would even work at all."

I pull in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "I don't pretend to know how any of this works, Rafe. You, me, him." I gesture between the two of us and then over toward where Jianyu is still conferring with Li. Unconsciously, I touch my bracer, cool and dormant for the moment on my arm. "I definitely don't know how the magic stuff works."

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