Page 71 of Stolen
Even that worries me.
My desire to just be with him. I’ve never felt anything like it before.
“Yes, I have read some volumes in order to better understand you,” she says and blushes.
“I hope that’s not the only reason. I don’t need you to be my servant,” I begin, going for it. “I’d rather you be my friend.”
“Friend?” her eyebrows go sky high. Then she narrows her gaze and nods solemnly. “I would like that very much, Lady Jules.”
“Just Jules,” I reply and grin, bumping her playfully with my shoulder.
She doesn’t know how to react, but when I smile, she does the same and we start walking again.
“Tell me about your people,” I say, pausing to admire some pottery for sale at another stand.
“Okay. Well, some among us are born with gifts. Magic. Power. But that is mostly seen in the Highborn, like Lord Alaric. Others—like me—have limitations to what magic we can use. We simply serve Nightfall, work to survive, and try to stay out of the wars of greater things.”
“Alaric is Highborn?” I whisper, the name slipping from my lips like a secret.
“Indeed, he is more than just Demon,” she confirms. “He is also Dragon. An ancient kind. And powerful beyond measure.”
“I’ve seen his Dragon. Can everyone do that here?”
“You’ve seen Lord Alaric’s Dragon?” she says, stopping in her tracks head tilted.
“Yeah, we went out the other day. I rode on his back, or neck, I suppose,” I mumble.
“He let you ride him?”
She seems stunned and I don’t know if I’ve said something wrong or told a secret I shouldn’t have spilled.
“Um, it’s no big deal, Shade. He just took me for a ride,” I murmur and shrug.
“It is a very big deal, Lady Jules,” she whispers and drops her gaze and her head. Almost like she is bowing to me.
“What are you doing?”
“You really are his fated mate, aren’t you? The trueviyellato our Lord,” she says, bowing again, and this time when she raises her head, her cheeks are wet with tears.
“W-what do you mean?”
“I apologize, my lady. It is for Lord Alaric to tell you. Come, let us continue to stroll,” she says.
I swallow hard, that little thrill of fear and wonder tangling in my chest again.
It’s overwhelming. This place. These people. Him.
And me? I’m just a girl from Earth.
But as I trail my fingers over a lace shawl that shimmers like frost and listen to Shade hum a lullaby in a language older than anything I know, I feel it again.
That whisper of belonging.
Frightening. Strange. And somehow impossible not to want.
There are so many people out, and after the whole bowing thing, many of them are staring.
And I don’t know why, but today feels important.
