Page 20 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
I might have fallen back a bit at the contact, but Azrael’s hand is on my arm. And he is holding me steady. And close.
Very close.
Close enough that I’m not sure I’m breathing. I don’t even know how to characterize the reactions going on inside of my body.They’re soforeign. They can’t possibly beme. And yet, there’s also that same strangebelongingfeeling from last night, centered in the very heart of me where I’ve always known my magic resides.
Confirming that no, I didn’t make this up.
He feels likehome. We feel likeus. He gave me crystals to cheer me up. For years.
I don’t know what to say or what to do—but that’s enough to have me trying to pull away. For a moment, Azrael’s grip tightens.He holds me even closer, and I swear to Hecate he just... sniffed my hair?
I should be appalled, but that is not how I would categorize the sensation that dances through me then, a bit of fuel to thatdeep, scalding fire.
Before I can comment on any part of that, his hand drops. And he’s merrily off down the stairs, calling back to me as he goes.“Something smells delicious. Do you know how long I’ve been dreaming of these breakfasts you lot cook up?”
I can’t seem to do anything but stand there in the hallway, completely and utterly at a loss. The past twelve hours have beennothing but new strange thing after new strange thing. The whole past year has been like this, so really, I should be usedto it.
I’m a member of the ruling coven now. I’ve got to get myself together.
This is happening.
Which means I need to get to work. And trust Emerson and Jacob to entertain a dragon for the morning.
Besides, I’m too hopped up on crystals and flight to eat.
I could fly to Frost’s, but I walk out into the morning instead because I clearly need some grounding. I take deep breathsin the cold air and amuse myself with exhalations that make clouds and look like dragon smoke.
This walk is good for me. I can feel my body respond to the movement, the cold. The fresh air on my face. I walk down MainStreet toward Frost’s eyesore on the hill and take these few minutes to find my inner self. The Historian in me. The researcher.Everything I’ve been up until now. Everything I am.
The river murmurs along in my peripheral vision the way it always does. The river that makes this a river town. The river that joins two others and tangles into a knot of power.
The water calls to me, and while it always does, even this winter version of it seems to have more pull than usual.
I tell myself that this is just another reaction to thedragonof it all.
That the reality of dragons and magical creatures and curses doesn’t change anything for me, even if it feels like Azraelis trying to make it seem like it might, what withdragon ridesand this...reactionto him.
I can still feel that heat inside me, prickling just beneath my skin.
I climb the stairs in the hill up to Frost’s house. When I make it to his glamoured door, feeling windswept and cold but hopefullyclear of mind, I don’t have to knock. The door opens for me. No one’s waiting there, but I know how to find the way.
Even though the hallways shift about at their leisure, if I keep my destination in mind, they deliver me where I need to go.
When I make it to the library, Rebekah is already there, slouched down in a chair at one of the intricately wrought, polishedwooden tables. No sign of Frost, though I look around like he might be hanging from the chandelier or something. She smileswhen she sees me and waves for me to come closer.
“We’ve been pulling books,” Rebekah tells me. “Anything we think might apply. Nicholas will let you take some of them. Othersare charmed to remain here—but you know the drill. He came across something about a book somewhere in Germany he thinks willhelp, so he went to get it. He’ll be back soon.” She tips her head toward the books stacked up on the long table before her.“For now, you can look through these to your heart’s content.”
I glance at the stack of books with some relief.Thisis normal.Thisis where I shine. No dreamy smiles required—I canjust read and let what I have always believed is the best part of my magic lead me where I need to go.
I take the first book off the top of the stack, open it, and begin to read through a compendium of the magical creatures thatwere said to have existed within witchdom, if only once upon a time.
Most I’ve heard of, if only in fairy tales. A few are entirely new to me. But when I make it tounicorn, I can’t sink into the information the way I did with the rest. I look up at Rebekah, who’s drawing on her tablet. MaybeI shouldn’t ask, but...
“Do you think he really killed a unicorn?”
Rebekah looks up at me, setting down her pen. She’s considering. Thoughtful. Not mad the way I half thought she might be—butthen, she knows who her man is. “He doesn’t remember anything, but I knowhethinks he did.” Rebekah sighs. “And, hey, it makes sense, right? Immortality requires terrible acts and, if the dragon istelling the truth, specificallythatterrible act.”
“We won’t hold it against him. I hope he knows that. He’s proven himself redeemed.”
