Page 44 of Redeeming the Dragon

Adjusting the stump of candle carefully in my palm, I leaned over him again, this time daring to go further. Daring to do the unthinkable.

I leaned over him, breathed out a shaky, shallow, anxious breath, and then very gently pressed my lips to his.

A charge shot through my system at the compelling juxtaposition of the softness of his mouth against the gentle scratchiness of his beard. I felt it internally, akin to the power of a lightning bolt slicing a stormy sky. My skin tingled. My chest ached with an emotion as deep as the vast canyons of the sea. A wave of primal longing and desire washed over me.

All of these things happened in the course of mere seconds. I hardly knew how to separate or untangle any of it, or if it could be unraveled. Before I could even begin to figure out the mystery, disaster struck.

The candle stump from my mother, forgotten while I kissed the slumbering Dragonkind, wobbled in my hand. Wax dripped on my palm. I gasped and drew back, breaking the kiss. This time, the wax wasn’t contained by my palm. This time, it dripped onto the man’s thin shirt and seeped through, onto his skin.

Awakening him.

He cried out—a choked sound of surprise—and sat up, unintentionally pushing me backward. I gasped as his strong hands shot out, catching me by the waist and pulling me upright. For a moment, we stared at one another in the frail light. I’m sure my shock was evidenton my face. My eyes were probably huge. His were filled with wonder, but not an admiring wonder. Rather, surprise and sorrow.

“Lorna,” he said, his voice rough and shot through with dread, “what have you done?”

Chapter 27

“What have you done, Lorna?” he insisted.

“I—I…” I was speechless. I wanted to defend myself. To protest, “I’ve done nothing! I had a right to see who held me captive.” I could not bribe my tongue to move or my mouth to utter speech.

The man’s focus shifted from my shocked, horrified face to the candle in my hand. He kept one hand on my waist—a subtle reminder that I was not free to leave—and with the other he plucked the glowing candle stump from my palm. He examined it briefly before his gaze flitted back to my face.

“This was your mother’s doing, was it not?”

I could not deny it. He had warned me. I’d simply chosen not to listen.

“Yes,” I whispered, feeling ashamed. Ashamed that I had allowed my mother to pressure me into this choice. “The idea was hers,” I explained. “However, the decision to do it was mine.”

I would not let Mama take the full brunt of the blame. Not when I’d made my own choices. Mama had put the candle in my hand, but Lorna had struck the flame. Lorna had kissed her sleeping captor. Lorna had wakened the beast. If he were to be angry, if he were to wreak havoc on someone, let his wrath fall upon me, not my mother.

“I feared so,” the man said. His fingers squeezed into a fist, crushing the flame, extinguishing the light. At once, we were cast into darkness. Through the thin fabric of my nightdress, I still felt the warmth, the weight of his fingers on my hip. Soberly, he said, “I had a premonition your mother’s counsel would be the ruin of us. I warned you not to be alone with her.”

“You did,” I agreed. “But…”

My mouth was dry. I wasn’t going to argue with my captor, which could be a foolhardy endeavor. And yet…memories of his face and the care lines on his brow, as well as his kindness toward me, prompted me to speak.

“But you had no right to take me from my home, to keep me here, or to forbid me being alone with my own mother. You’d no right to do any of this, Dragon. How can you be angry with me that I disobeyed your rules?”

Silence. I wished it was not dark. I wished I could read his expression. All I could make out was the gleam of his golden eyes as they studied me. Finally, sadly, he replied,

“You are not wrong, Lorna. I had no right to do any of it. I’d simply hoped…”

His voice trailed off. He did not verbalize what he’d hoped. Instead, he sighed, allowing his hand to fall from my waist onto the bed beside my thigh.

“It was foolish to hope. Foolish to hope you could save me when you have no obligation to do so. What is done is done. It’s over.”

His words may have been a death knell, they were so final. So sad.

“I don’t understand. What is over? What were you hoping I’d do?” I snapped, frustrated. “You explained nothing. You took me prisoner and gave orders. That is what you did, Dragon. If you desired my help, why not ask it?”

“I couldn’t,” he replied. Despite the gloom, I could see him shaking his head. “It was forbidden under the terms of the curse.

“Never mind, Lorna. It matters not. You will go home, and I will bear the consequences. The matter is finished.”

So saying, he stood, climbing off the bed, leaving me sitting there in the dark.

“Stop!”

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