Page 137 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
Kieran winced as a heavy silence stretched between us. “When I got the mark, I was overwhelmed.”
I rolled my eyes. He had another thing coming if he thought that was enough to make me forgive him.
I heard rather than saw Kieran’s exhale. “I felt angry, to be tied to someone against my will. Followed by denial. There was no way such a thing could exist. But when I researched it, I couldn’t deny what had happened. Fate has decreed us to be mates.”
“We’re not fucking animals!” I shouted looking at him for the first time. “We get to choose.”
“We do,” he agreed softly. “That’s why I didn’t tellyou. At least, that’s what I told myself. I didn’t want you to feel stuck like I had. I don’t feel trapped anymore, and if anything, it’s a relief to know why I’m so fucking obsessed with you. You’re my choice, Selena, you’re who I want to come to. And I—I couldn’t admit it to myself, but I didn’t tell you right away because I knew you’d run.”
He stepped closer, barely an inch forward, and yet it felt too close. A tormented look flicked across his eyes. “I’ll respect your wishes, and I won’t say those words to you but know that they’re there. It wasn’t because of my plans that I kept the secret from you. I’m human, Selena. It wasn’t logic. It wasn’t reason. It’s because even the thought of losing you breaks me. I want you by my side forever. I want your support, your guidance. I want you to challenge my decisions when you feel them unjust. But more than anything, I want to be part of your joy. I want to give you the world on a platter. I’ve had time to come around to the bond and accept just how much you mean to me. It’s terrifying, Selena, absolutely terrifying. I’d die for you in a heartbeat.”
My breath hitched at the sincerity shining through the bond, so bright it was almost blinding. “Don’t say that!” I snapped, closing my eyes and pushing all that brightness back into the dark where it belonged. “Don’t fucking play martyr. You ruined this. You played with my feelings. You kept this from me tocontrolme.”
“No. Never.” Kieran shook his head. He went to take a step forward but stopped himself. Good. I didn’t want him anywhere near me. “I made a mistake. One I willspend my life trying to atone for. Please, Selena. Don’t look for a way out.”
I raised my chin. “Fuck. You.”
I was still fuming by the time we landed in Treave’s dense forest. “Don't let anything distract you,” Kieran said as we surveyed the land. It’d taken us a while to find a spot to land, and the whole time I’d been glaring at his back.
I clenched my jaw. “Don’t patronize me. I know how to be a professional.”
He hummed noncommittedly, but I felt a sliver ofguiltpress against my mind. I scowled and slammed my mental walls back up. Fuck him and his guilt. Pushing him out of my thoughts, I kept my eyes peeled for the carriage. Despite what Kieran feared, I knew how to be a professional. I wasn’t going to fuck this up because I was pissed at him. I wasn’t a child.
“I’m sorry.”
I ignored him.The mission. Focus on the mission. The sooner we get the eggs, the sooner I can get the hell away from him.
When we heard the sound of a carriage, my stomach tightened. “Do you think this is it?”
“It matches the description. Stay here. I’ll get the eggs and hand them to you. If we’re attacked, they’ll think I have them.”
He melted into the shadows. I gripped my knife, hating the feeling of helplessness that rocked throughme. As angry as I was, his calm stream of emotions eased some of the tension in my body. Instead of cutting it off like I’d been doing, I allowed the channel to open up further.Please let this be the right carriage. Please.Our future depended on it.Clara’sfuture depended on it.What’s taking so long?
The trees rustled. But it was too strong for these winds. In fact, it was familiar—
‘SELENA!’Kieran’s voice echoed through my mind, and I didn’t have time to question it. Not when cool shadows enveloped me, but not fast enough to stop me from feeling a millisecond of raging heat.Dragon flames.
I reappeared a good distance away with Kieran by my side. A numb sensation filled me as flames rained down exactly where I once stood.Fuck.If Kieran hadn’t taken me, I would’ve been ash in the wind. I glanced up. Two dragons flew up ahead. One of them was green, and the other a familiar gray. It was the same dragon we’d seen over two weeks ago—Praskovya.
“What the hell?” My stomach flipped. I looked at Kieran, too stunned to process anything. He had a satchel in his hands. The dragon eggs. The royal carriage flew past us, but the green dragonroared.The coachman didn’t even have time to scream. He, along with the carriage, turned to ash.
‘We have to get out of here. Now,’Kieran said in my mind.
Shadows kissed my skin, and a moment later, we were on Hesperos’s back. That’d been anotherstrategic move on Kieran’s part—placing our dragons away from each other in case we needed a quick escape. And because of this, Umara was the closest to the Andovan dragons.
It spoke volumes to how fucked up things were that Hesperos didn’t protest me being on him. Umara roared off in the distance, and the enemy dragons bellowed in response. My gut tightened.
‘Please get out of there, Umara. It’s two against one.’She was one of the strongest and biggest dragons in the continent, but her size had some disadvantages. Praskovya was too fast. If they teamed up against her… Umara’s rage shouted through the bond, so bright I scowled as well. But what was even more concerning was her panic. ‘Please be careful.’
Hesperos launched into the sky, and I wrapped my arms around Kieran.‘We have to get away. Umara will catch up on her own,’Kieran said through our mental link.
‘We can’t leave her here.’I glanced back at the flurry of movement, hidden underneath the trees. Umara wasmine.I couldn’t abandon her.
Another distant roar. The trees shook violently, and flames coated them not a second later.It’s starting. They’re fighting.I spotted golden scales flying upward, and I knew what she planned to do. She’d hold them off for our sake. ‘Don’t do this. Please.’
Umara hissed in my mind. There was no anger, only worry and painful affection. I wanted to cry. Umara couldn’t have been any clearer. She wanted me to go, to leave her. ‘I can’t do that.’
‘The dragons are trying to kill us. This isn’t a game, Selena. Now strap yourself in.’
