Page 17 of Dragon's Flame
They drove for an hour, during which she’d spent most of the time praying, before he pulled to the side of the road and turned toward her.
“Seris—it’s me. Tarian,” he said, touching his chest—and she could see a dark spot on his dress shirt inside the dim van. Then he waved his hand at her. “You may speak again.”
“Tarian?” she wondered with incredulity—and watched his expression soften. “I—I don’t care who the fuck you are. Take me home.”
“Seris,” he said, reaching out for her, and she full body flinched, trying to wedge herself between the seat and the door.
“I don’t want to die,” she whispered—not really even to him, but to any god or angel that might be listening.
That made him recoil. “I would never hurt you.”
“I don’t believe you.”
His jaw dropped in apparent disbelief. “I have dreamed of nothing but you for eight hundred years.”
She had no idea how to begin to respond. “You’re scaring me—and I want to go home.”
The dark spot on his chest was slowly growing. “You can’t go home. It’s not safe for you there.”
“But—I don’t feel safe here.” She licked her lips. If he could be crazy, so could she. “Somehow you—you—hypnotized me into believing I couldn’t speak until you told me to. And then you kidnapped me, and now I don’t know where we’re going.”
“I don’t know either,” he protested, running a hand through his hair—like his admission was supposed to make her feel better. “I promise I won’t do that to you again.”
“I’m still being kidnapped, so I’m not sure if I believe you.” Maybe...if she was nice to him. And got him on her side. Hewas huge, yes, and frightening—but he didn’t seem intrinsically murdery? Not that she’d met that many murderers before...
“If you don’t know where you’re going, why not just turn around?” she asked, aiming for harmless and helpless. She flashed an innocent-girl smile, adding a small shrug for effect.
His hands wrung the steering wheel. “You’re not hearing me. It’s not safe there!” he shouted—and the dog in her wheel well whined.
“Okay, well, then—maybe to a hospital?” She tried a different tactic. “Because I think you’re—you’re bleeding.”
She didn’t remember Cliff shooting him—but she also had no clue why Cliff might’ve even had a gun.
“I know,” he said, sounding deflated.
Kenna bit her lip. “Did I . . . hurt you?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, sounding mournful.
It took all of her remaining sanity and strength to bite back the word she wanted to respond with:Good.
15
TARIAN
The flash of headlights in the rearview reminded him—they were on the run. He didn’t know from whom yet, but if they’d faked her death in his Realm nearly a millennium ago, they wouldn’t stop now. He should have interrogated those men at the hotel—starting with the one she’d been with, the man who had betrayed her. But he’d been too obsessed with making herseehim, and now, because of that failure, they were running blind, and he didn’t know how far he’d have to go to keep her safe.
All he knew was that somehow, he would manage it.
Even if she didn’t know who she was.
Even if she didn’t love him.
Even if this felt like losing her, all over again.
Her scent—orange blossoms, faint but familiar—lingered in the car, a cruel echo of everything he’d held onto for eight hundred years.
I did this to her.
