Page 73 of Scalebound

“My Queen,” he said, his voice shy of a whisper. “You’re all that I need.” His hand cupped my cheek like he always did. Tears streamed down my face that I hadn’t known arose in the first place. “You may have been the bane of my existence, but now you are everything to me. I wouldn’t give you up for the world. I would die before losing you.” He tilted my head up so that I could look him in the eyes. “I could never hurt you.” There was a soft smile on his face. His dimple shone and made my heart flutter. I cared about him, and I trusted his words. I knew that he meant them. I knew that he would put his life before mine. His actions had shown this. “Do you forgive me? For actions and decisions I made before you came in and turned my world into a better place?”

“Damian, how do I know this isn’t just another empty promise?” I asked, a tear trickling down my cheek, thinking of the times he promised to protect me. His actions were there, but I wasn’t so sure about his true intentions.

“You don’t,” he paused, “but I will show you until the day that I die that this is more than an empty promise, but a timeless oath etched into the stars of the gates ofEzu1 itself.” He moved closer to me, and I could feel the comforting warmth of his body.

I thought for a moment, absolutely not wanting to accept his apology. He tried to have me killed. Images flashed through my head of what could’ve happened. What may still happen?

My body trembled with thoughts.

“You need me, Damian?” I thought of the first night we were together when he told me to beg for him to stay. “Beg, and I’ll stay.”

He halted, surprised by my request. A smirk crossed his face, realizing what I pulled on him, mocking him from what he told me on one of the first days of us being together, only a few days ago. “I’ll beg every day for the rest of my life just to have a second to see your beautiful face.” I knew that his words were true.

“On your knees,” I reminded him.

“I won’t beg on my knees, but I will plead for you to forgive me.” He came up closer and squeezed my hands with his own. “And to keep our deal with teaching meSatas Lerma,” he said with his dimple peaking through his grown facial hair, and I couldn’t help but stifle a giggle from his continuing desire to learnSatas Lerma.

After thinking of all the times he thought of harming me, I thought of the times he didn’t hurt me when he could have. He saved my life countless times. At the Scaleborne trade bar, when I almost drowned, when I got shot. He did what the Scalekeeper said to save me. He used his wish to accomplish my desires when he could’ve easily brought Sebastia back to life.

I still wouldn’t be able to trust him for a while. It was going to take time. But I wanted to try.

Tears filled my eyes. “It’s going to take time, Damian. But I am willing to take it.” He squeezed my hands, affirming his feelings were still there for me. Sometimes true forgiveness was more than a mere answer of words.

1.Ezu (Eh-ooh): Heaven

Chapter forty-nine

AURELIA

There was a mountain near where they held their camp. It towered up near the other side of the waters. The island was nowhere in sight, thankfully. I wanted everything in the world to forget about it.

Angie said they wanted to come with us, but Luella just barely connected with her dragon, and with the recent connection with Belle, they said that we both needed to learn how to use theirmaxz1. I didn’t realize it, but the different breeds of the dragons were based on the elements. This was also their ability–theirmaxz.

“Are we there yet?” Luella complained. We were hiking up the side of the mountain, attempting to reach the top. Our dragons were already perched at the peak, waiting for our lungs to collapse. It was apparently seen as a sign of weakness when training to not walk up the mountain ourselves.

We had already been up for a couple of hours, and my legs were ready to give out. The sun was blazing down fromabove, halfway through the sky. Abner and Angie were ahead of me, with Damian right behind me. Loker, Luella, and Clemmy climbed behind Damian.

I turned to peer at everyone else. Loker was drenched with sweat, beaten from the sun on his skin. Clemmy’s creamy light brown skin flushed red like the sunset sky, and Luella’s midnight-toned complexion was also turning a rosy hue.

The mountain was steep and thin, making any false movement life-threatening. The moss and greenery clung to its sides as it would never see the light again. The way it spiraled up was almost dizzying, yet exhilarating to make my way up to learn more about my connection with Belle and hermaxz.

“What are all the elements, then? I thought there was just fire, water, earth, and air?” I asked, wondering what the other breeds of dragons were.

“Hah!” Angie laughed, which I found rude. “No, silly Lia,” she said, emphasizing the nickname all the Scalebornes quickly gave me after they learned my name. “There are supposedly thirteen different breeds. However, only twelve have been discovered.”

“They are fire, water, air, earth, thunder, ice, force, time, shadow, light, connection, and the moon,” Abner said, taking the place of Angie.

For some reason, I wanted to know the thirteenth one so badly.

After a while, we reached the top. By then, everyone was panting. Our dragons looked down, making fun of us, their chests heaving.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Loker said, acknowledging the dragon’s snickers. “We can’t fly, boohoo.” Loker’s comment hung in the air, the rest of us giggling from his snarkiness.

Loker, Abner, and Clementine reached their large dragons, stroking their snouts in greeting. Loker’s dragon,Meiinaraux2, was a fierce green, her scales blending in with her surroundingsas she shook her wings from his touch. He snickered as he rubbed under her snout, which must have been a sensitive area, making her spiked-ball tail whip from side to side, each spike gleaming with a dangerous sheen.Meiinarauxpounded the earth beneath her claws, getting Loker’s attention where he then backed up, his hands raised up in defense. “Zemoumai3,” he said, his dragon smirking back at him.

He climbed up her hind-legs, reaching the middle of her spiked back, gripping the sides of her emerald scales, and then lifted effortlessly into the sky.

Amazed, I watched as Abner and Clemmy also mounted their dragons,Waimanimet4 andTeiimanam5. The powerful muscles beneath their scales rippled as they pushed from their hindlegs, propelling themselves upward, stretching in different directions and meeting the horizon.

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