Page 152 of Deadwood
She shook her head. “I am forever his, Bowen.” Glossy eyes found mine, and my hands squeezed hers. “Never yours, nor mine.”
She studied me for my reaction, but I had none. It couldn’t be this way. I wouldn’t let it.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” she whispered.
“I know,” I murmured, my thumb coasting over her skin. I wanted to tell her she could stand up to him, fight him on this, somehow find a way to gain her freedom, but we both knew that would never happen. Not so long as he lived.
How would that affect Glacies’s bond with her? To never see her other half? She had no way of even getting into Amosite if she simply wanted to visit.
“Are you up for some company?” I asked.
She blinked, and all the pain seemed to wash away in that act alone. “Ihave company?”
I pressed my lips together. “Of a sort.”
She arched a brow in response.
I stood, helping her off the bed. Her bare legs were no longer uncertain, so I reluctantly dropped her hands. My palms itched with the craving to have her skin back on mine, causing my fists to flex as we walked. She wore only my black shirt, the hem brushing her upper thigh.
Auria took her time descending the stairs, holding on to the railing as she went. I stayed right behind her in case she needed me for balance, but she made it to the bottom successfully on her own. Once we were outside, we rounded the corner of the house to head toward the back. Auria didn’t stop walking when she saw Glacies. Rather, she continued to approach her, craning her neck back to look up at the towering dragon.
I stayed a few feet back as Glacies lowered her head in one fluid motion, sending a small gust of wind to blow a couple strands of hair off Auria’s face. The dragon’s giant, white nostrils flared as she took in Auria’s scent, likely checking her for lingering injuries. Auria didn’t move as Glacies inhaled deeply, and when the spot right above Glacies’s eyes furrowed slightly, Auria reached out a hand.
On instinct, I took a step forward, worried she was overstepping, but a low growl emanated from Vulcan’s throat, silently telling me to leave them be. I obeyed, but kept a sharp eye on the two of them. One wrong move, and I’d be getting Auria the fuck away from her. Just because they were bonded didn’t mean Glacies was giving her a welcome invitation to treat her as a pet, but regardless, Auria had no knowledge of it to know any better.
Auria’s palm rested gently between those glacier eyes, and instantly, Glacies’s eyelids fluttered shut against her reassuring touch.
“I’m okay,” Auria whispered.
Glacies brought her nose closer to Auria’s side, the fabric of her clothing catching slightly on the edges of her scales.
As if Auria could sense Glacies was finished in her inspection, she removed her hand, and Glacies raised her head. The dragon didn’t take a step back as she regarded me with disdain.
“You are lucky you get to live another day,” Glacies said, her voice thick with what had to be emotion. I was sure she could still smell the lingering pain in Auria’s body, sense what she had gone through on that dreaded flight back from the forest.
I dipped my chin, giving her the benefit of the doubt, knowing she wasn’t in the best state of mind to have a bickering competition at the moment. Glacies was a stubborn dragon. I hadn’t crossed paths with her often, but when I did, she was always up for a battle, whether verbal or physical, despite weather or circumstances.
Glacies took a few steps back from Auria, her frozen eyes hinting at concern as she studied her. “I said it before, and I will tell you again. Be careful who you trust, burned one.”
“I would prefer if you call me Auria.”
Her response shocked me to my core, and then I was moving without thought as I stepped beside her, positioning her just behind my shoulder in case Glacies decided to strike. And with the shift in her features, I didn’t doubt she was thinking about it.
But she and Auria were bonded… She would never?—
“As you wish, Auria,” Glacies replied before flaring her wings and darting off into the starry sky.
I shot a look at Vulcan, who read the message loud and clear as he took flight, heading after Glacies. He’d make sure she was okay, though I was certain the dragon would want to be alone. Dragons didn’t handle heavy emotions very well, especially ones they didn’t have the answers to. They wanted solutions, and most of the time, feelings got in the way of that.
Slowly, I turned to find Auria staring up at the sky, the stars reflecting in her pupils like pops of sparks from a fire.
“I think I’d like to sleep right here,” she murmured, not taking her gaze from the galaxies looming above us. She seemed to be in some sort of haze, transfixed by the world and what it could offer. What it could take. “For one night.”
If savoring the midnight sky was what she wished, I’d make it happen. To give her the world and more in just a few short days would be my greatest honor.
“For one night,” I repeated.
After finding Flynt, he made that happen, bringing down blankets, pillows, and water. I worked on setting up the makeshift sleeping arrangement while Auria kept her gaze on the sky, and it took all I had in me not to admire her the way she was the stars. A universe of beauty, and I could only see her.
