Page 17 of Caress of Fire
This was it. She was going to die—and Devan too, soon after.
Boots hit the ground and a familiar, masculine shape dressed in black leather came inside her field of vision. Her eyes locked on to a silver gaze as the Draekon Lord bent and looked at her. Then all her blood froze at the fury twisting his features. Like a cornered animal, Marielle hissed and showed her pathetic, blunt teeth, grabbing a large rock with trembling fingers. It was so heavy she had to lift it with both hands—or maybe she was just so weak she couldn’t throw it with a single arm.
She didn’t know. She didn’t know anything anymore.
“Step away from those boulders,” Lord Fedryc Haal gritted out. “And drop that rock.”
Marielle straightened but the rock didn’t leave her grip. Some common sense about her own small, defenseless stature came to her mind but she pushed it down. She wasn’t going to let him and the dragon murder her without a fight.
“I won’t.” Marielle’s voice was hoarse and shaky, betraying her intense fear. “Just leave me alone!”
“I can’t.” Lord Fedryc moved, his eyes darting from her to the dragon who came to position itself behind him.
Marielle’s eyes locked onto the terrible beast. It was at least fifty feet high, with a comparable wingspan, and its scales were of a flaming red. Its eyes were intensely blue, like the entire power of the sky had been concentrated in its supernatural irises.
And they burned with fury.
Marielle’s eyes darted to the side and her body angled unconsciously before she even took a step. A sharp growl made her freeze, and she stared in terror as two large columns of black smoke rose from the beast’s nostrils.
A whimper escaped her lips as she understood the dragon was going to roast her alive.
“Nyra!” Lord Fedryc stepped in front of the dragon, turning his back to Marielle, his arms wide open to shield her from the beast. “Stop!”
The dragon shook her mighty head and her two jewel-colored eyes settled on him as a shrill sound filled the air with fury. The dragon, all scaly wrath and bright red power, backed down on its rear legs, all fifty feet of the creature radiating a power so all-consuming, Marielle felt its vibration in the fabric of the desert, in between the atoms in the air she breathed. Every fiber inside her screamed in panic but her feet felt like they were set in concrete.
“I don’t want her to be scared of you.” Lord Fedryc turned his cold, cold silver eyes to her. “She can be scared ofme.”
His muscular, black-clad body turned to Marielle, and the slight feeling of safety she had begun to feel vanished. There was anger in those silver, mysterious eyes—anger and some kind of hurt that made her chest tighten with regret.
She had betrayed him, she knew, and now she would pay the price.
“You ran away.” This was not a question, and so Marielle kept silent as she stared at the pulsing vein on Lord Fedryc’s temple. He looked like he was about to rip her to shreds. He was right. She shouldn’t fear the dragon, she should fear him instead. “I gave you protection, and you ran.”
“I’m sorry.” This time, her broken voice shook with true remorse. “I didn’t want to upset you, but I had to go home. I need to get home.”
“Your home is Aalstad Castle now!” Lord Fedryc’s pupils flashed slender and vertical before returning to their normal roundness. “You can never leave!”
“I have to!” She was shouting now, unaware of how she had come to stand so close to him. The dragon’s shadow was over her, engulfing her in its powerful proximity, and Lord Fedryc stared at her with eyes sharp enough to slice through her body and into her heart. “I have a brother. He needs my help.”
“Your brother should be protecting you, not the other way around.” Lord Fedryc’s voice was sharp and unyielding. “Now you will come back to the castle, where I can keep you safe.”
He turned away from her and flattened his palm against the dragon’s wide neck. Marielle watched him, all arrogance and power, not even considering the possibility of her refusing to obey him. It ignited something in her, something that had been buried under the fear and the weariness of the long walk. Something that had broken during those days in the dungeon. An iron bar stiffened in her spine and she lifted her chin.
“No.” Marielle put all she was able into the single-syllable word. Lord Fedryc snapped his head back to her, his eyes reduced to slits as his hand left the dragon’s skin. “I’m not coming with you.”
She met the deadly stare of the Draekon Lord dead on. Fear coursed through her veins like some agitated animal, but she had too much to lose. She swallowed hard, her arms stiff at her sides, holding her head high, her gaze defiantly on his.
“You will.” His voice was deceptively soft but it carried more threat than if he had yelled. “Even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming. Don’t think I won’t.”
Lord Fedryc paused, his eyes on her like two metallic beams, the never softening presence of the dragoness behind him. His resolve showed on his face, as clear as the way he took a step to stand close enough to touch. Her fingers twitched at her sides and she refrained from cowering when he glared at her. She knew he was waiting for her to bow and accept his dominion over her, his absolute domination over her mind and body.
Maybe this was why she couldn’t submit. Because she had every reason to.
“I can’t let you take me back.” Marielle moved those fingers that twitched, glancing at the hard chest they itched to touch, but not doing it. Instead, she hugged herself, shaking her head stubbornly. Lord Fedryc growled, a low sound of impending danger, but she didn’t look away from his molten silver eyes. “He will die. He’s all I have left, and he will die if you take me back.”
Lord Fedryc’s expression changed, losing some of its harshness. He frowned deeply, and his all-seeing eyes stared with an intensity that made her squirm. “What do you mean?”
“I mean if I don’t go back, he’ll die,” Marielle insisted, her voice getting higher pitched. She was losing control over her barely contained panic. “And it will be my fault.”
