Page 54 of Brutal Dragon King

Althea tugs on her hand, and I don't apply any pressure to keep her in my grasp, releasing her at once. She takes a tentative step back, staring up at me with confusion.

“You're lying…”

“As the King of The Spine, there's nothing I do not know…” I declare as I pinch the skin on my neck honorably. “... And as The Spine's king, I swear that the kingdom was not responsible for the death of your parents.”

Another moment of silence stretches in which Althea digests what I've just told her. The heated fury in her eyes slowly subsides, and they soften and return to the natural shade of hazel.

“It wasn't you…” she whispers, batting her eyelids like soft wings of understanding, acceptance of the truth.

“No,” I shake my head firmly. “Not me, nor my men. Your parents were plotting to flee the village and take refuge in Wyrmwood Forest. They had no idea how dangerous it was, or how conniving the panthers were. They made a deal with the devils and paid with their lives for it. Back then, I didn't care to dig deeper. I didn't know they had a daughter…”

“What about the human you slayed the night I arrived at the palace?” she asks.

“A filthy criminal who not only stole from a local vendor but murdered a fellow human in my brother's village,” I respond bitterly. “I do not go around killing humans for fun. I do not hate your kind, Althea, even if I think poorly of them.”

Althea gulps, her head tilting to one side as she regards me differently this time.

I decided to ride the wave of this moment by stepping forward and voicing all the things I have in my mind. I understand her better, and somehow, she's helped me understand myself better ever since she came around to turn my world upside-down.

“I may have thought poorly of humans, but you've changed my mind, Althea Waters…” I profess as I take her hand in mine and press it to my chest. Somehow, having it there feels like it opens me up to her, exposing me as the little boy who used to fly up to this spot before leaping off the cliff in his carefree nature.

“... You've shown me what it means to be brave, even without powers.”

“You're-you're not upset?” she asks tersely, to which I shake my head slowly.

“Far from it, actually,” I admit with a lighthearted chuckle. “I have to admit that your attempt to slit my throat was rather amusing. You do realize that if I wanted to, I could have shifted and overpowered you?”

Althea giggles nervously, her cheeks flushing cutely. “But you didn’t.”

“I let you have your moment,” I continue chuckling, reaching out to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. “I let you have all your moments because I admire you for who you are, and I—” I pause as a lump forms in my throat, becoming so overwhelmed with emotions I’ve denied myself from feeling before.

While Althea’s eyes glitter from what I’ve just told her, I take one final step forward to close the distance between us, staring deeply into her eyes when I recognize the precise emotion I’m feeling.

“I love you, Althea Waters,” I declare, and it’s a weight that’s lifted off my shoulders, a weight that’s been hanging there since the very first time I saw her.

“I’ve loved you since the very first time I saw you. I just wasn’t sure what I felt,” I continue. “There in the village, whenyou tossed your token into the pot, you crashed into me and turned my entire world around.”

“You…” Althea breathes in surprise, her eyes widening. “The man in the hooded cloak was you?”

Chuckling, I nod. “Yes, that was me.”

Althea gasps, recognition twinkling in her eyes as she remains speechless. She finally breaks her silence when she begins telling me, with teary eyes, how the reaping draw had been fixed to ensure her token was picked by Aerwyna, and how she’d faced so many challenges in the village when she became an orphan.

“ I swear I had no idea what they’d been planning. But when my token was chosen in the draw, I thought I’d get my revenge for what I thought you did to my parents,” she says in a timid whisper, a stray tear escaping her eye as she gulps. “I didn’t anticipate that I, too, would come to love you.”

Despite all the revelations she’d just given me, I was only focused on the last bit of what she said.

“You love me?” I ask, and for the first time in three hundred years, I’m nervous when speaking.

Althea nods eagerly. “I love you, King Haidën Nayara,” she confesses, and I immediately wrap her in my arms, so gleeful that all I can do is hold her close to me while I feel our emotions unifying at that moment.

For the first time in my life, I’d let someone in and share something so profoundly personal and special. I let the tall walls of my coldness drop entirely, letting Althea in on my deepest feelings and thoughts while she has her cheek pressed to my chest.

Projections of my past play in my mind, and Althea’s stillness indicates that she’s seeing through the mind link I just allowed her into, seeing everything, hearing my thoughts, and feeling my emotions.

All those times I denied what I felt, resisted her, and kept away, were only because I was falling in love with her.

She finally gasps after what feels like an eternity, lifting her head to stare deeply into my eyes. Hers twinkle with tears, and she reaches out a hand to cup my cheek, rising on her tiptoes to meet my lips in a gentle, soul-touching kiss.

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