Page 68 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
“I think I have to go, Mom,” I said, standing up. “Thank you for the food.”
She smiled, beckoning me in for a hug. “Go get her, my son. Tell her how you feel. All of it. Don’t hold back. Share it all.”
Tell her how you feel.
HowdidI feel?
My mother must have sensed something in me, a tensing of muscles perhaps, I didn’t know. But she grabbed me by the chin and locked eyes with me.
“Just tell her. You don’t need the perfect words. You just needwords. Speak from here, and she will know.” She tapped my heart.
“You’re the best,” I said, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek and hug her goodbye.
“See.Words.”
We laughed, and then I was gone, out the door, down the stairs from the porch and into the grassy field. My body began to morph, to expand as I went. With every step, I grew in size and power. Wings sprouted from my back, snapping wide in the waning sunlight.
I had no idea what I was going to say to Maddie.
But I did know silence wouldn’t cut it.
She deserved better. And somehow, despite everything, I would find a way to give it to her because she needed to know how I felt.
I could only hope it wasn’t too late to fix things.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Callum
“Maddie?” I called when there was no reply to my knock. “It’s me. Cal. Can you open up? I need to talk to you.”
I looked up and down the hallway while I waited, fighting back the urge to tap my foot, rub my fingers, or just fidget in general.
Play it cool. Stay calm.
That was far easier said than done, and as the wait stretched on, the desire grew ever stronger. What was taking her so long?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I rapped my knuckles on the wooden door in quick succession, making sure there was no possible way she couldn’t hear me.
“Maddie, come on,” I called, pressing my head to the crack between the door and the frame so my words would carrythrough better. “Please. Just … let me say what I have to say. Then, if you want, I’ll leave you alone. I promise.”
I backed away from the door, running my fingers through my hair, trying to make sure it was all in place and didn’t look a mess. In my rush to get there, I hadn’t taken the time to ensure I was fully put together. My focus wasn’t on that. It was on Madison.
Tracking down which room she was in had taken long enough. Cleye had told me Maddie was in the guest section of the palace, but he’d neglected to mention which one. Finding him would have taken longer than finding the quartermaster, the dragon who oversaw this area.
Even that had taken longer than I’d wanted. I needed to see Maddie and tell her. The knowledge was burning a hole in me now I possessed it. I had to tell her. Show her she wasn’t a second choice. That she mattered more than that.
However, I couldn’t tell her if she wouldn’t answer the door.
“Maddie,” I called, pressing my ear to the door and listening. “Come on. Please.”
If she were on the other side of the wall, I would hear it. Breathing, moving around. Cursing me under her breath. Anything.
But all I got was silence.
Maybe she wasn’t there? Or maybe she was ignoring me.
