Page 28 of Stolen By Dragons

I nodded, relief washing over me. "Thank you. I appreciate the warning. May I ask your name?"

She raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised by my politeness. "Valeria," she said after a moment. "Good luck, human. You'll need it." With that, she closed her door, leaving me alone in the hallway once more.

Taking a deep breath, I moved to Ossian's door. Before I could knock, it swung open, revealing the vampire himself. Hisdark eyes widened slightly at the sight of me, surprise evident on his usually composed face.

"Aria," he said, his voice a mix of shock and concern. "What are you doing here?"

I squared my shoulders, meeting his gaze. "I've been thinking about what you said earlier. About needing help and the risk of bloodlust. I... I'm here to offer that help. We can't risk you losing control, not with everything that's going on."

Ossian stared at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, he stepped aside. "Come in," he said softly. "But Aria... are you sure about this?"

As I stepped into his room, my heart pounding wildly, I couldn't help but wonder if I was making a huge mistake. But there was no turning back now. Whatever happened next, I was committed to seeing it through. The potential consequences of not helping seemed far worse than any risk I was taking now.

I hoped.

Zephyr had said vampires had learned control over the years, and I trusted his word.

Ossian's room was dimly lit, but I could make out a large bed with dark sheets and a desk near the window. The space was sparsely furnished but neat, with a few old-looking books stacked on the nightstand. From the communal area, perhaps? I’d inspected some, but they were in a language unfamiliar to me.

As Ossian closed the door behind me, I caught a whiff of his scent – something old and earthy, like aged wood and leather.

"Aria," Ossian said, his voice soft. "I didn't think you'd actually consider my request.”

I took a deep breath, steadying myself. "We're all in this together, right? I want to help if I can. Besides, you only came to me because you really needed help, right?”

Ossian nodded, gratitude crossing his face. "Thank you. Please, make yourself comfortable," he gestured towards the bed. "I want you to relax. You'll be fine, I promise I won't hurt you."

As I sat on the edge of the bed, questions bubbled up in my mind. "Ossian, when you came to the communal room, did you try to compel me?” I didn’t beat around the bush, I was already in his room, I just wanted to know.

“Truthfully, Aria, yes. It seems this Keep is warded against most magic though, so my compulsion didn’t work on you,” he said sincerely.

I swallowed and gritted my teeth, hating the churn in my stomach. So our kiss… it had stemmed from a lie?

At least he was telling me the truth, not lying about it. I had to appreciate that. Still, it did little to alleviate the odd emotions coursing through me now. How was I supposed to feel about that?

“Would you have just fed from me and then made me forget?” I whispered.

“Yes. It would be to protect myself from going into a frenzy, and keep you in the dark. It’s not exactly a nice way of doing it, a willing person would be preferred, but with the way the world is back home, it’s not an option. It’s not one I’ve ever had the luxury of having,” he said slowly. “But here, with everything going on, I figured asking was the only option I had left.”

“I’m not sure how to feel about knowing you were planning to feed on me and erase my memory of it,” I said as fisted my hands in my lap.

“You need to understand, it’s been the way of my people for centuries. My way of survival for so long. Had I known you’d actually have considered helping me, I wouldn’t have gone that route, Aria.”

“But you did,” I said with a sigh.

“I know, and for that, I apologize. But being able to chat with you because my compulsion failed, I wouldn’t change that. It was… nice,” he said, the corner of his mouth quirking up, before his expression sobered. “Do you still wish to help me?”

“Would you try to stop me if I said no and wanted to leave?” I dared to ask.

“Despite what the other supes would have you believe, we’re not all monsters. Some of us clung to our humanity, cherishing what we once were,” he said carefully. “We started out human, remember.”

“So is that a no?”

“No. You can leave if this has changed you mind.”

I stared hard at him, contemplating my next move. Was I upset? Yes. Did I want to question him about our brief kiss? Also yes. But I also didn’t want to seem like I felt anything towards him, not after this little revelation. I didn’t want to admit it stung, but it did. At least he’d said he’d enjoyed chatting with me.

Damn, I really was naive. Dana would be laughing at how crazy this was, my inability to think straight when in the presence of all these fine as hell supes.

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