Page 61 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
All she saw was a dragon. And a broken one at that.
The heavy wooden door slammed shut, shaking the frame as I unleashed some of my anger on the inanimate object.
Just a dragon. Nothing more.
“Why did I ever think this was worth trying?” I growled, kicking off my wet shoes, leaving them by the door.
A flick of my finger sent tiny sparks of fire around the room, where they landed on the waiting wicks of candles and sputteredto life. The soft glow was all the light I needed. I wasn’t feeling bright and cheery.
Tonight, it was about dark and moody.
Flopping into a chair, I replayed the moment over and over again.
Get your hands off me, you freak!
Freak.
It was a hated word. One I’d lived with for so long. The reason why I’d moved to the far coast in the first place. Leaving family and those who pretended to be friends far behind.
I’d been at peace here. I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. There was no fear of embarrassment, no one to bother me. I’d discovered the anonymity I hadn’t known I’d so badly desired.
Then Emma had come and shattered it all. She’d made me think things. Feel things. My dragon was obsessed, unable to focus on anything elsebuther.
And it had all been a lie.
This entire time, she’d been concealing her true feelings toward me. The ones that would never go away, would never change. The ones where she hated me for what I was.
It was never going to work out between you two. You know that. You’re a dragon. She’s a human. There’s a reason dragons don’t live among humans. It’s because we aren’t compatible.
I nodded to myself. The logic was sound. This was not the place for Emma.
Switching my seat on the couch for the chair in my study, I put pen to paper. It was several days past the original cutoff the sovereign had given me, but I had no doubt she would read it still. Nor would she truly argue. My logic was sound, and I told her the truth.
I did not want Emma there. I knew we still had a link, a bond that could not be broken. But it could fade. With distance, I would know little more than whether she was alive or not.
That was something I could live with, and I wrote as much. I explained my disdain for the humans, my distaste for her feeble mind and its inability to understand the magnitude of what I’d done for her. I explained how she was ungrateful and rude and quick to take a stranger’s word over my own.
How could I be expected to mate with someone like this? Someone with such a poor personality?
Pencil scratched across the paper, the only sound besides my slow, deep breathing.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I lifted my head, looking over my shoulder in surprise. Deep into expressing my feelings to the sovereign, I hadn’t been aware of my surroundings. It was Emma. I could feel her closeness. Her remorse.
Putting my back to the door, I went back to finish the letter. Why should I answer the door? She didn’t want anything to do with me. Which meant I wasn’t going to be obligated to give her anything. If she wanted to do it on her own, then she could. I sent that through the link as well, wondering if she’d pick up on it.
She did. A ping of surprise then anger. I could feel all that though it swiftly fell away, once more replaced with remorse. I could feel all that. Along with … her fear?
I laughed. She was afraid now after acting the way she did.
Good!
The pen continued to move across the paper.
“Damn it, Rhyse, I know you’re in there! Come to the door. Please!”
The feeling of fear increased.
