Page 69 of Earth Dragon
“Yes,” she said, turning to face him. “Yes, I will let you.”
There was relief at last. He was not rejecting her anymore, and he was not turning away from her either. He was not saying this was her mess and she was responsible for setting things right. He was going to stand with her.
“Why are you facing him?” he asked.
It was a simple enough question, but she felt her hearts clench.
Why was she facing her father? Why was she not running?
“Because… it’s what’s right,” she said. “The elemental magics belong with their vessels, with their Keepers. I cannot stand the thought that he should have them. That he should keep them locked up.”
“He used a light crystal,” Ewan said. “I thought they were a myth.”
“Same with this for me,” Shannon said, opening her palm again, scattering rainbows all around.
“I’m sorry I kissed you,” he said.
She couldn’t stop her eyes from rounding as she turned to look at him. “You are?”
“I should have asked your permission.”
“You did before you—”
“Yes, I remember,” he interrupted, but a grin appeared, and she nudged him with one elbow. “Shannon,” he said. “You are not your father.”
Her hearts clenched again, but for wholly different reasons and she bit back against the tears.
“You know,” she said slowly. “I think I always feared not fitting in the most. I learned how to dress and walk and talk in a way that was pleasing to everyone, except to me. I think it’s time I stop hiding.”
He smiled then. “I agree,” he said. “Why did you choose green? I remember Malcolm telling me you always wore it, even when you ought to have worn blue in Fawha.”
“It was my mother’s favorite color,” she said.
It was the first time she had remembered that in a very long time. She had told herself it was because it was her own favorite color, but ever since her mother died… All she had wanted to wear was green. As though she hoped that it would be a beacon if her mother ever needed to find her way back to her daughter, however impossible that thought was.
“It suits you,” Ewan said. “Shannon,” he added, reaching for her hand. His fingertips grazed hers lightly.
“Yes?” she asked, her stomach icing softly at the touch, at his closeness.
“May I—?”
She interrupted him by joining their lips, balancing on her toes to do so. He was so very tall. Had she properly noticed it before. His dark locks needed a wash, and his stubble needed a shave, but he tasted the same. Like sun-warm pine and shadowed depths between trunks. He tasted like him.
She felt as though sand was pouring itself across her palm.
The crystal…
Then there was a soft current that rolled against them from the castle grounds, reverberating its way through the air.
The bell.
It was tolling.
“I think he wants us to come watch him gloat,” Ewan murmured.
“Please, promise me you’ll be careful,” she said. “He only left the room after stealing your magic because he wanted to get the refractor from me. He must know how powerful Lady Marigold is, otherwise, he would have stayed. Ewan, he would have killed you.”
“It will be okay,” Ewan promised gently.
