Page 39 of Burned

“I don’t regret saving his life, but there are… complications.” I stare down at my cup, watching the water slowly change color as the tea leaves saturate and stain the water. “He can’t be my mate. I have to break the bond.”

She leans back in her chair, studying me silently for several of the longest minutes of my life. Her expression is impossible to read. Does she know how to break a bond? Is this magic that even exists?

The silence feels like it stretches between us for an eternity until I can’t take it anymore.

“He’s a dragon slayer,” I blurt out.

Both of her eyebrows jump up this time, but that’s all the reaction she gives me.

“He hasn’t actually killed a dragon, but he will. He has to.” I push my chair back from the table and stand up. “He comes from a long line of dragon hunters, and I suspect his brothers killed a dear friend of mine, which is how he came to be wounded that night.” I pace like a caged tiger, back and forth on my side of the table. “He’s a good man with a good heart, I can feel it, but being together is a betrayal to both our families. It’s a betrayal to our entire species.” I stop pacing and spare another look at Xanthis.

Her lips twitch with a suppressed smile before a soft laugh bursts from her mouth.

“Is this funny?” I growl. I feel like I’m begging her to tear my heart out of my very chest and she’s managing to find amusement in it. I brace my hands on the back of the chair, the wood groaning under my grip, and I bare my teeth at her. “I’m in agony and you’re laughing?”

“I’m sorry.” She schools her features. “You have to appreciate the fates’ sense of humor though.”

“What?” I bark. “What does fate have to do with any of this?”

She gives me a flat, almost pitying look, but doesn’t answer the question.

“The process of breaking a mating bond is actually surprisingly simple,” she says. My heart leaps and twists at the same time.

“Tell me.” I choke the words out.

She snaps her fingers, and a pen and piece of paper appear on the table in front of her. She picks up the pen and starts to write down what looks like a recipe. Is it as easy as a potion? Another wave of relief floods me. If it’s a potion, I can do it when I’m ready and I won’t have to tell Alrick anything more about our bond. He can go on believing it’s nothing more than a side effect of the healing potion.

She finishes and I reach across the table for the paper, but she pulls it back before I can get a claw on it.

“A warning,” she hedges. “If you both drink this potion, the bond will be severed. Your fire in his veins will burn itself out and he’ll be mortal once again. But dragons can only mate once.”

“What?” I think I know what she’s getting at, but it feels like a punch to the gut, so I need to be sure.

“Fated mate, chosen mate, it doesn’t matter. Your dragon chose this human, and that choice is irreversible.Ifyou have afated mate somewhere out there, their destiny will be changed as well.”

I swallow hard, looking at the paper like it’s a rattlesnake poised to strike.

“That can’t be true. I’ve met dragons with two bonded mates.”

“Fated polyamorous mates have different rules.” She shrugs. “You could try to appeal to fate themselves, but honestly they’re rather smug and cunty and they don’t appreciate being questioned.” She pushes the paper towards me and stands up. “So, if I were you, I would think hard before doing anything drastic. Good luck though.”

With that, she takes her tea and strides into an adjoining room, closing the door behind her.

ALRICK

Something’s off.I peel my eyes open and realize I’m alone. Sitting up, I listen for a moment, quickly becoming aware that it’s too quiet. Panic grips my chest, and I’m on my feet in second, pushing out of the cave to find nothing.

Lord is gone.

Why? I don’t think he’d leave me out here where I have no clue how to get back to civilization. Something else feels off too. I tilt my head back to gaze up at the sky. It’s still gray as night becomes day, but other than a few clouds, I see nothing out of the ordinary.

The hair on the back of my neck stands up and my skin breaks out in goose bumps with the disconcerting feeling of being watched. I peer through the semi-darkness at the treetops, then the ground. Maybe there’s a predator stalking me, but again, I hear nothing. No rustling of leaves or snapping twigs.

Nausea swirls in the pit of my stomach, pushing me todo something,but before I can sprint into the woods with no direction, a flutter of a breeze passes over me and Lord steps out from the shadows, gloriously naked.

His face is marred with worry. “Are you okay?”

“Where were you?”

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