Page 11 of The Dragon King's Awakening

My cheeks heat."I'm more surprised than you, I guess.But I was wondering if there's any visiting artist housing available?I don't think the dorm is the right place to take these two tonight.Zahraxis is going to need to rest and, um, replenish before they leave for …" I trail off, glancing at Finn."Where is it you have to take him?"

"The queen's offices are in New York City."He eyes me as if there's more he wants to say, but refrains.

I cock my head toward him and look at April."It's a long trip.Can you help?"

"Give me just a moment," she says, rising and leaving the office.She heads down the hall, where I can hear her knock at the door to one of the other offices.There are a handful of administrative staff who help manage the school, including April's mother, Cassandra, who is the head of security for the entire island, and the school's assistant director and facilities coordinator, whose offices are on this floor.

A moment later, she returns with a smile."Eagle's Rest is empty for the next week.It's a little out of the way, but that might be preferred.It's cleaned and ready for guests, and the cupboards should be well stocked with non-perishables.If you need to stock up with more supplies for cooking, just fill out a form with the kitchen staff and they can get you what you need."

"We won't be staying more than a day," Finn says."I don't like keeping the Court waiting.And if Rachel agrees, I'd like her to come with us."

My heart leaps into my throat."Y-you do?"

"We can come back for you after, but I don't know how long it will take.They may have another task for me.They may want to keep Zahraxis longer.We just found you, Rachel."His gaze is imploring, uncertain.

Zahraxis reaches out and clasps my hand in his much larger one, his golden eyes fixed on Finn as he brings my knuckles to his lips.The gesture is deliberate, challenging."Come," he says simply, his gaze shifting to me with an intensity that makes my breath catch."We belong together."

When I woke up this morning, the last thing I expected was for the day to take me here.I planned to hone my skills in the hot shop.Work on the set of Venetian-style goblets I've been making to send home to my mom.Maybe sketch some new designs for a show the school is putting together at a gallery on the mainland.Not wind up being nailed on a bluff by two dragons who areprobablymy fated mates.

Twodragons.

I glance between both men, then up at April and Stuart, who seem to be waiting for my answer too.April offers a comforting smile."It's both the easiest and most difficult decision you'll ever make.Trust me, I get it.It doesn't mean you have to give up who you are, Rachel."

Taking a shaky breath, I sit up straighter."I want this.It's just that it's been so long since I got here, and I was starting to get comfortable.It was starting to feel like home."

"You can come back and teach, if that's something that interests you," Stuart says."You've already outpaced the other students.Your skills are as strong as some of the best glassblowers I've met."

"Either way, we're not going anywhere," April says.

I swallow a lump in my throat, touched by their support.Turning to Finn, I say, "Let me have the night to think, okay?”

Before he can answer, Zahraxis says, "We will wait."

Finn's eyes narrow at the other man.Then he chuckles."I guess we're waiting."

Chapter8

Zahraxis

The last rays of the setting sun filter through unfamiliar trees, casting strange shadows across this new world.I breathe deep, tasting salt air and pine, so alien compared to the lush river valleys of home.No sweet lotus blooms here, no rich soil carried on the wind from the flooding Nile.Even the moisture in the air feels wrong—heavy and cool, rather than the sultry warmth I knew in my kingdom.Ahead, Finn strides with the easy confidence of one who belongs in this time.Beside me, Rachel's presence anchors me, her aura a steady flame that keeps the feral edge of my nature at bay.

The weight of stares from the evening meal still prickles against my empathic senses, curiosity, envy, and desire all mixing together from the gathered students.Such open fraternization between races would have been unthinkable in my time.Yet here they all dwell together, sharing meals and mates as if the ancient boundaries between the higher races never existed.

My skin ripples with scales I cannot fully control, the borrowed power from our earlier coupling already beginning to fade.Rachel's nearness helps, but the chaos of this new world threatens to overwhelm me.Strange buildings line the narrow path, filled with humans whose auras pulse with mixed bloodlines.Behind us, shouts and laughter echo from some manner of game with a ball and net being played in the dying light.

"I never imagined humans could so openly bond with our kind," I say, the modern tongue still clumsy on my lips."And not just dragons...but other races too.Even nymphs."The word tastes bitter."It's like a mosaic of connections."

Rachel's aura brightens with pride as she explains, "It's about what's in your blood here, not who you are.The Bloodline means humans like me carry the legacy of your world in our veins."

Finn glances over his shoulder, his crimson aura steady in the twilight."The Council ended those old laws, Zahraxis.They don't persecute dragons who share a human mate anymore."

I rub my chin, considering this.The very concept challenges everything I was taught, yet I cannot deny the rightness I feel my growing bond with them both."You let nymphs in your midst without care, even tolerating their mating your friends.These are such drastic, sometimes troubling changes...I need to see more to believe it."

"There were laws preventing you from sharing?Your possessiveness makes so much more sense now."Rachel nudges me playfully, her aura sparking with mischief.

"I'm not being possessive.We are fated, Rachel."The words come out harsher than intended, but as I watch Finn's confident movements ahead of us, something shifts in my understanding.I crossed the barrier first, drawn by Rachel's presence like a lodestone to true north.Yet Finn followed, something that should have been impossible, unless...

Was it Rachel who allowed his passage?Or perhaps our combined fates?The island's magic would have barred him otherwise, just as it bars all who aren't called by their destined mates.

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