Page 12 of Logan

Logan grabbed a box of saltines and opened them before sitting at the table and placing them between them. “Your powers are emerging, and you were injured. It’s not surprising you are exhausted.”

She grabbed a cracker and nibbled on it. “What kind of powers?”

Logan leaned back in his chair, and it groaned in protest. “All druids have natural abilities in protections, wards, some alchemy, and various other spells once they are taught them. But every druid also has a unique ability. Your magic matures on your twenty-third birthday, which must be close. Druids tend to let little bursts of power go prior to this, and that is what attracts the dark dragons.”

She thought about the last few months. “I have not displayed any magical ability. I’m not a druid. I’m just me.”

Logan shifted slightly in his chair, and it groaned again. Her furniture had been supplied by her uncle and was designed for looks, not comfort. He and Mito were the only ones who came here, but he liked to imagine himself as the king of his castle and her as the lowly maid. Though Emily often suspected hehad used it for one of his mistresses and gave it to her in the interim. It wasn’t like he didn’t have more of them in the building.

Logan took a sip of his tea. “You have gone quiet.”

“I was just wondering if you were going to crush my chair.”

Logan sighed. “I had to redistribute my weight. Though we are far less dense in our human forms, these toothpicks you call chairs are unsuitable for one of my size.”

“I noticed.”

“You do not wish to discuss furniture.”

God, he was annoying. Having a direct line to her thoughts was embarrassing and concerning. “Tell me about the dragons.”

“We are immortal but can be killed, as you witnessed today. We choose a mate from the druid population, and the binding ceremony bestows immortality on the druid the dragon has bonded with. This bond is unbreakable, and if the druid dies, so does her dragon mate.”

She took her mug from the table and sipped her tea. “I was asking about your species, not your mating rituals.”

“Ah. We originated in Scotland, but we have caves all over the world now. All except Scotland. Those were abandoned when we went in search of the druids.”

“How did you lose them?”

Logan told her about the mage war and the events that led up to the death of the druids and the adult dragons. She couldn’t fathom how a teenager could lead an entire race after such a devastating event and protect his species while waiting for the druids to emerge.

“How did you know Legion was the next leader?”

Logan told her about Legion’s duel and his turning gold. That only the leader holds the dragon spark.

“Tell him not to shift in front of me. I might steal his scales.”

Logan smiled. “While they are gold, they are much sturdierthan the alloy. You would never be able to take a scale unless he gave it to you.”

“You can shed a scale?”

“Yes. Usually, when we are growing. Legion has been of adult size for two thousand years, though.”

Logan was quiet for a moment, and she could tell he was waiting for something.

“What is it?” she asked.

“When is your twenty-third birthday, Emily?”

“It’s in two days.”

“You have told me how you became a thief, but tell me more about your life. Tell me about you.”

CHAPTER 6

Logan sat across from her, his gaze steady and composed, betraying none of the turmoil that burned within him. His dragon was insistent, urging him toward her. Whispering of destiny and belonging. But Logan knew restraint; he knew the importance of keeping his emotions veiled beneath a mask of stoicism, even as his fascination with her threatened to consume him.

She was everything he had ever envisioned in a mate. Graceful, strong, with eyes that held both vulnerability and resilience. Yet, beneath the surface of her beauty lay a darkness, a shadow cast by the circumstances of her life. Her family. He could sense the weight of her past pressing down upon her slender shoulders.

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