Page 79 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
“What about this?” I asked, tapping my scale as I finally caught up to him. My scale?Hisscale onmybody. “This link isn’t going away.”
“I know,” he said. “But you are.”
“What the hell happened in the last thirty minutes?” I asked him. “What changed?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying to me.”
“I’m just trying to do the right thing, okay? Help me out here,” he growled, not meeting my eyes.
To my shock, that rang true with an emphatic clarity. Rhyse genuinely believed that by sending me back, he was doing right by me.
So, what did that mean? Did I want to go home but didn’t know it? Would I be happy to never see him again?
I ran a finger over the scale, touching the firm but flexible surface, so unlike skin yet moving in the same manner. Everything had changed the second Rhyse put it on me though I hadn’t known it. Even now, I doubted I truly understood the fullness of the impact it would have over time.
“Come on,” Rhyse said. “It’s time for you to go.”
I followed but not without a hint of reluctance. It would be a lie to say I had any idea of what I wanted to do. There were too many unanswered questions, things I just didn’t know.
Rhyse, however, was apparently making up my mind for me.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Rhyse
Iwatched from the window of Darius’ shop, staring at the seas until long after the dot that was Emma’s ship had faded off the horizon.
Letting her gosucked. It was a horrible feeling.
“It’s for the best, right?” I asked the old shopkeeper, desperate for any source of confirmation I’d made the correct decision.
“You won’t tell me what’s going on,” Darius said from where he puttered around at a table, rearranging his trinkets. “You came in here an hour ago and stood at the window, watching the docks. Is being a creepy watcher for the best?”
Darius was feigning ignorance, but he was no fool.
“It’s for the best,” I said quietly, willing myself away from the window.
“The best for whom?” Darius echoed.
The best for Emma. This keeps her safe. Out of harm’s way. I was damn lucky nothing happened to her while I was gone.
In my haste to get back to her after Calan had informed me Killian was paying my house a visit, I hadn’t connected the dots of logic far enough. Things were happening too fast. It was only after giving Emma some space I realized things were not calming down.
They were about to ramp the fuck up. When Calan got back and told Killian I was onto them, that I knew they were the ones sinking the human ships, there would be no other option but for Killian to silence me.
And the easiest way to do that would be to get a hold of Emma.
That was why I’d sent her away. To put her out of his reach.
My dragon was sad and lonely. The plaintive honks echoing in the corner of my mind were more than enough to indicate that. The only thing that made it happy was when Emma and I had been together.
That was in the past, though, and I needed to move on. My focus now had to be stopping Killian from hurting anyone else. Including myself. I’d sent word to the palace to let them know, but that would be slow. Until then, I would be on my own.
“Darius,” I said, clapping the shopkeeper on the shoulder. “Thank you for your time. I’ll be back soon, I’m sure.”
The older dragon smiled up at me. “Of course, you will, Rhyse. Why wouldn’t you be?”
