Page 38 of Earth Dragon
“What if I already have everything I want?” he asked, eyes resting on her.
She laughed and was aggravated to realize how nervous it sounded, moving away from him to walk the paths taking them between the plants to the center of the structure, where the bell hung. She tilted her head back to look up at it.
“There was always something missing,” he said.
“Hmm?”
“I told myself I was happy with what I had, that I could make it work,” he said.
“Don’t,” she stopped him.
He raised his eyebrows, and she took a step away from him, her hand held out as though he had been getting ready to strike her.
She could not listen to this.
“Let’s leave this how it is,” she said. “Please, let’s not… even think that it can be more. You only feel how you’re feeling because you took me to bed.”
“That’s not true,” he shook his head.
“Okay,” she said. “Then wait to make any declarations until the night of the mating ceremony.”
“We could make that be tonight,” he remarked hopefully. She couldn’t kill off the smile that rose to her lips, but she shook her head at him. “All right,” he said. “If I feel the same way I do now…” She gave him a warning look and he smirked, finishing, “Then I will tell you on that night. Whenever it may be.”
What if all he wanted was heirs? What if he wanted them sooner than she had been willing to promise he would have them? What if he was playing some game with her because that was how little he respected her?
But then his veins began to glow a deep green, his dragon fire lighting him up from inside, and it dispelled the pouncing queries.
She frowned at him. Why did he look as though he was getting ready to shift when he had made certain she was forever aware of how they couldn’t shift on castle grounds? He undressed quickly and this time she couldn’t force herself to look away from him. The servants had left a few candles burning for them and the light worked to outline him in the dark, his skin looking smooth as silk.
The following moment he shifted into dragon shape, growing twenty times the size of his human form. His scales were dark green tipped with silver and his wings, once he spread them, were expansive.
She stared at him, entranced and quizzical. Then she realized that he had said he knew a place where they could shift. There must have been a lifting of the enchantment done within the Pavilion for the night of the ball. There could be a myriad of reasons for it, but most likely it had to do with some sort of performance or friendly jousting. It was not unheard of at large gatherings.
Her inner dragon growled gently for her to follow suit and she did, with tremendous relief. She hadn’t shifted in a little over a year and her skin had felt taut and strange for half of it. Her scales were dark blue, tipped bronze, and she stretched her wings as her dragon roared with soft triumph at being set free.
Ewan beat his wings until he was airborne and then she felt it too. There were winds moving through the Pavilion. They were so subtle she hadn’t picked up on them at first, but the second she beat her own wings they lifted her gently.
He had almost told her that he… felt things for her.
She kept the jubilation in her chest at bay, stubbornly pushing it down with the lid of betrayal she was going to have to lift if she was ever to be with him. And the second she did, she would never be able to be with him because how could he share a bed with a woman who would go behind his back the way she had? The way she continuously did?
Perhaps, she thought,if I told him…
But the memory of her mother pressing a hand against the place where her father’s hand had connected with her cheek, the way he had towered over her on the ground next to where her mother was laying.
She didn’t want to tell him that. She didn’t want to tell anyone that.
Her eyes trailed Ewan. He was flying close to the ceiling, then dipped down to approach her. He was a masterful flier, smooth and easy, like water in the air. He was also powerful in ways she hadn’t expected, for some reason. He hid this side to him behind calm and cordial control, but his dragon shape exuded the energy of a warrior. A fighter. The side to him that never gave up, no matter what obstacle he was facing.
He circled her and when he flew off again, she followed.
They approached the bell, circling it together until the whirlwind they created began to make it toll softly.
The first one was low and mournful.
The second was low, but had a different sound, as though it was bidding her to come closer.
The third reverberated through her as though she was the bell itself.
