Page 19 of Heavy is the Crown
When I open my eyes, I’m met with the face of the second most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. Two crystal-blue eyes peek out from under a dark hood, blond hair hanging in front of them in whisps. My heart hammers in my chest as the memories of my attack come rushing back, my mind trying to piece together how I ended up here. And where exactly here is. I attempt to push up but wince as my stomach pulls.
“You shouldn’t move. Ciaran gave you as much blood as he could, but you are still healing.” The voice of the stranger shoots to my chest in a strange way before dropping to my core. His stare is intense and seems to shift from loathing to longing in quick succession.
“Who are you?” My voice is hoarse and scratchy. “Where am I?”
He scowls before stalking off, and I look around, confused at his reaction to simple questions. “What the fuck is going on?” I mutter as I attempt to push up again.
“Here.” A glass of water is thrust in front of my face, causing me to fall back into my pillow on the couch. “You’re at my house. Ciaran and my stepbrother brought you here last night after you were presumably attacked.”
He pauses, indicating for me to drink the water. I roll my eyes but take a sip of the cool liquid anyway, and I can’t help moaning at the taste and feel. The stranger’s eyes flash with hunger so rapidly that I second-guess having seen it. “My name is Drago.”
“I’m Ava.”
His eyes trace over me, making me self-conscious of how dirty I am. “Ava,” he repeats back to me, and my name rollingoff his tongue sounds like a promise of things to come. “You probably want to shower. It’s through the hallway on the left.” It’s all he says before turning his back to me and heading to the kitchen. A dismissal, if I’ve ever seen one.
Letting out a long sigh, I manage to stand, but when I hit my feet and attempt to take a step, blinding pain shoots through me, causing me to cry out and collapse back against the couch, arms around my stomach.
Cool, strong hands covered in tattoos suddenly grip me. “Fuck,” Drago curses. “You are going to hurt yourself. You have to be fucking careful.”
His anger sparks my own. “You are an asshole. I didn’t ask to be left here. As soon as I’m healed, I’ll be out.”
“You aren’t going anymore,” he growls before lifting me into his arms, earning a squeak from me.
“What do you mean?” I yell, ready for an argument, but it’s cut short as he sets me on the countertop of his bathroom and rips off his shirt, exposing his beautiful body. My mouth waters as I take him in, my anger dissolving into a puddle of arousal. Words fail me when he pulls those flannel pajama pants off, exposing the outline of his thick length under black boxer briefs.
He turns his back to me, apparently oblivious of the effect he is having on my body, and turns on the giant walk-in shower. “Can you undress, or do you need help?” he asks, still facing away.
I clear my throat. “Uh, you want me to get undressed with you? A complete stranger?”
His soft chuckle sends a fresh wave of arousal through me, and I squirm, cursing my body for betraying me in this moment. “I can promise you, I have no interest in you that way.”
The words are a bucket of cold water on my body, causing my face to flush.Of course, he doesn’t. I’m covered in filth, and Shadow probably told him how we hooked up.I begin wrestlingwith my clothing, but each time I go to pull my thin tank top up, I cringe.
“Jesus, let me help.” In quick movements, his hands skate over my sides as he gently pulls the material over me. I bless the fabric when it covers my face because I know I am blushing deeply by the way it burns. When the top is finally over me, my eyes refocus on him as he gently lifts me up, then sets my bare feet on the warm marble floors. Slowly, with the grace of someone much smaller than he is, he kneels in front of me. His hands trace up my thighs in a movement that has the arousal back in full force. He pauses, nostrils flaring and eyes shooting up to me. His glowing, golden eyes.
“What are you?” I whisper. But even as I say it, I know in my gut what he is. I know what golden eyes mean—anyone from Hell does.
His lips kick up into a small smirk before he rips my pants down and stands up quickly. “Come on, let’s get you clean.”
When he leads me into the shower, my body begins to move automatically, and when the hot water hits me, the moan that comes from me is pornographic. Closing my eyes, I allow it to cascade down my body, and run it through my long hair with my hands.
“Oh, fuck, this feels good,” I say, pleasure drawing out the words. When I finally open my eyes, I see Drago is pushed against the counter, his hands gripping the countertop so tightly that I worry he’ll crack it. His gaze, still golden, is burning me alive. His cock is no longer soft but rigid and straining against those cotton briefs. For a moment, I think he is going to do something crazy like fuck me against this wall, but the heat dissolves to sadness, followed by anger, and instead of pushing to join me, he storms from the room.
TEN
We learned that Hell killed off the most powerful dragon lines. Death dragons were thought to be extinct. Until we discovered one still alive.
– Carmine Family Grimoire
Ava
The book in my hands falls into my lap just as my head bobs down, waking me, and I jerk back up. “Fuck.”
I swipe my eyes in a desperate attempt to push the tiredness away. I have no reason to be tired; I don’tdoanything. I’ve done nothing for the past few weeks as I’ve healed since my rescue. I sit here, day after day, frozen and unsure what my next move is. Sure, I’m still healing a bit, but the biggest thing is trying to figure out what my life will look like now. Before Alexi snatched me, I’d had a small apartment and a part-time job as a bartender and dancer at a local shifter club. I had been dating one of the waitresses. Well, we had been fucking. Dating is a loose term. My life hadn’t been grand, I suppose, but it had been mine. It hadbeen a time of self-discovery, and I had loved it. But it doesn’t feel like I can go back to that life now.
Drago tolerates me here. He isn’t outright hostile, but he also isn’t warm and welcoming, either. He generally avoids me now that I’m healed, but every so often, I catch him giving me that same heated stare he had in the bathroom that day. It’s been confusing, honestly. One minute, I think he might kill me, and the next, he looks like he wants to fuck me. Despite all that, the idea of leaving this place has my entire being rallying against the thought.
I know a huge part of me is hesitant to leave Drago’s because it’s my only tie to Shadow. If I leave, that’ll be the end of it. Despite knowing Shadow has no interest in me, despite the claiming mark on my neck, I still have hope he will change his mind. It’s pathetic, really.
