Page 21 of The Lost Princess

His name. Hisname.

My dragon man’s name was Nasi.

ChapterEight

NASI

The moment her blood touched my lips, the darkness in my mind cleared, like a beacon scattering the shadows. The more I drank, the more I remembered.

And for a moment, it was so overwhelming I’d wished that I hadn’t.

Nasi. My name was Nasi. Or at least, that’s what my mother had called me. I remembered her now, and how her white scales gleamed in the candlelight, patches of gold here and there that matched her golden wings, a perfect match to my father’s. I didn’t remember much of him other than a proud face and stern jaw.

They had wings like me, claws and scales like me, unlike my Kaida.

She was human, but not. She smelled like promises and memories.

As I drank from her, other images came to me. Images of my father shifting, and changing; his wings disappearing into his back, along with his spine spikes and most of his scales.

Draken.

He was a draken.Iwas a draken.

He could look like a human when needed. The only way to tell us apart in that form was our eye coloring and the shine of our skin.

The shine ofherskin.

Kaida was a draken. She had to be! But why did she insist on staying in her human form? Was she stuck?

I dropped Kaida’s wrist at the same moment she went limp. More memories assaulted me: others screaming and running. There was heat; so much heat. I remember being thrown into the water, and the sounds of wounded and the dying muffled as I sank underneath the waves. Horror; it was an uncompromising sense of loss and shame.

The darkness crept forward again.

I pushed it away and focused on Kaida, laying her down gently on the furs. She acted like a human—like she had no idea she was a draken, and yet figured out that her blood could heal me. And shehadhealed me—not only my wings, but my mind felt clearer than it had in a long time. I knew something dark still lurked in its recesses, but it felt smaller; less significant. I could examine it when I had more time.

What mattered was the knowledge.

I was a draken. A proud warrior species of the island of Lyoness. And something terrible had happened. Something bad enough that my mind had gone dark, and I couldn’t remember more than flashes.

Was such a thing normal?

Kaida was saying something and softly pulling on my arm. I blinked, and focused on her. The gods must have felt mercy for me, sending a young draken female to my side to nurse me back to health. And unmated! It was a wonder I hadn’t gone completely mad, cut off from the rest of my people with no way to heal.

My people. I’d have to get back to them eventually. However, my Kaida came first. I didn’t want to risk going anywhere until she consented to being my mate. I wouldn’t risk losing her to another male.

She was mine.

My earlier instincts made sense now—my inner draken wanted to claim her as a mate, and badly. And why wouldn’t I? She was perfect; fierce, intelligent, and not afraid of me. Or mostly not afraid of me.

I imagined my gold coloring dotting her scales and coloring her wings like my father’s had on my mother. The mental image of Kaida covered in my colors and scent had me hard immediately. Shifting slightly, I glanced down at my female.

She leaned back against me, her mouth open slightly and her hair across her eyes. I gently tucked a strand behind her ears, her hair so pale it was almost white. It curled slightly at the edges, wrapping around my finger as if caressing it.

I leaned down, taking advantage of our closeness to sniff her properly. A wave of different scents invaded my senses; sadness, and loneliness. There was a desperate, yearning need to be loved.

That desperation pulled on my heartstrings. Why should my beautiful Kaida need so badly to be loved? Was she not adored by those around her? If not, then they didn’t deserve her company.

I tentatively put my arm around her shoulders, wanting to be closer without scaring her. I’d already been embarrassingly forward earlier, lost in my draken instincts. I was just thankful I hadn’t tried to force a mate bond or myself on her. I would have died of shame had I hurt her in any way.

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