Page 50 of Castor
Only one way to find out.
“You remember when I told you about my father waging war against the other dragons? Tatsuya has been gradually making progress with bringing our clan back into the fold. One of his sons married a daughter of the earth clan, and my sister wed a prince from the fire clan years ago. But the ice dragons have held on to their distrust of us. Peace with them has been rocky at best.”
“Didn’t their king kill your father?” Castor asked.
I nodded. “My father tried to kill him first over a territory dispute. Dragons aren’t that forgiving. When we’re wronged… betrayed… we never forget it. Which is why Tatsuya has struggled so much with making peace with them. But he’s found a solution.” The center of my chest constricted as I met Castor’s gaze. “I have to marry the youngest prince of the ice clan. Our marriage will finally unite our people.”
“What?” Castor said, the word coming out in a sharp exhale. “You’re getting married? When?”
“December twenty-first. The winter solstice is sacred to the ice dragons. A marriage on that day is supposed to bring us good fortune or some shit. I don’t know.”
Castor stepped away from me and paced back and forth across the doorway, both of his hands balling into fists. “Fuck!” He punched the wall.
I flinched.
“When did you find out about this?” he growled.
“The day before we left.” I followed his movements as he started to pace again. I’d never seen him so angry. “Tatsuya told me about it before I met you at the club.”
“When were you going to tell me?” Castor stopped in front of me and slammed both hands on each side of my head.
“I’m telling you now.”
He gritted his teeth. “You’re so goddamn cruel, Kyo. What was the plan? To use me for sex for as long as possible and then toss me aside the day before your fucking wedding? Am I that insignificant to you? I might be thousands of years old, but I still have a fucking heart.” A shudder passed through him, and his voice cracked again. “And you’re breaking it, little dragon.”
“I’m sorry.” My vision blurred. “I didn’t want to hurt you, Castor. I know I should’ve told you the night I found out.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I didn’t want to lose you!” I shoved away from him and walked over to stand in front of the bed. “I told myself it was just sex between us. I think a part of me even believed it for a while. But now the thought of not being around you, of never feeling your arms around me again, it scares the hell out of me, okay? I wanted to believe in the lie for a while. Pretend that the stars never die. Pretend that you and I could actually be together.”
Castor grabbed my bicep and spun me around to face him. Beneath the simmering anger was something else. Heartache. “Don’t marry him.”
“You make it sound so simple. Do you think Iwantto marry him?” I pounded his chest with my closed fist. Once. Twice. Without saying a word, Castor tugged me against him. When his arms tightened around me, I pressed my face to his neck. Tears sprang to my eyes as I breathed in his scent of honey and spice. “I don’t want to marry him, Castor, but it’s the only way to put an end to this fighting once and for all. I don’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
“No. I don’t.” I shook my head and took a step back from him. “We’ve been in conflict for hundreds of years. How selfish would I be to throw away a chance for peace?”
“It shouldn’t be your responsibility.”
“Like saving the world from demons isn’t yours?”
A tic started in his jaw. “That’s different.”
“Not really,” I argued. “You sacrifice so much of yourself to save people you don’t even know. If one day you were given the chance to end all the bloodshed by marrying a demon, you would put aside your own feelings and do it without question.”
“Oh, I would question it.”
“But you’d do it. Wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t care much for hypotheticals,” Castor responded. “Why argue over things that will never happen?”
“You’re dodging the question because you know I’m right.”
Castor walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, scrubbing his hands over his face. When he looked at me again, his eyes were glistening. “But why does it have to beyouthat marries him?”
I sat beside him and stared at the open doors of the balcony. The breeze ruffled the floor-length curtains. “Because I’m the last remaining son of Ryujin who isn’t yet married. It has to be me.”
