Page 14 of Eternally Rare
Burning him would be a sweet victory, almost poetic, but I can’t kill him. I close my mouth and run to him, his beautiful silver skin is marred, and his veins crackle as the ice that empowers him turns to liquid on the floor.
“Do not… stop. It… will… take… more….” he rasps, his lips the color of soot that lives in my blood.
“I can’t. I fucking can’t.” I lift him into my arms as gently as I can. He cries out from the agony. Guilt eats away at my insides. My dragon panics.
We did this to our firebond.
“I’m so sorry, Cailian. Fuck. I’m sorry.” I step into a puddle that’s from his body disintegrating as I make my way to the door.
“I am not,” he whispers. “I will gladly sacrifice the tundra in my heart to experience the fury in yours.”
I hate how reasonable he is. I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to live with myself now that I’ve done this to him.
We’re locked in and I can’t slide the bar free without jostling Cailian.
“If only you knew,” he trails off. “If only you knew what your father asked of me,” he croaks before falling unconscious.
“Cailian.” I gently shake him. “Cailian! What did he say? What are you talking about?”
His eyes remain closed, his body lifeless in my arms.
“Fuck!” I roar loudly, the grumble reverberating off the walls. I lean down and press my ear against his chest. His heart pounds, slowly, but at least it beats. “Thank Fate,” I whisper before, squatting down, holding my firebond to my chest, and leaping into the air.
I spread my wings, holding in a painful cry as pain almost paralyzes me. My left wing struggles to flap, but I force it, flying through the sky to take Cailian back to his land.
“You’ll be okay,” I tell him. “I’m going to get you home and then we will figure this out.” I’m not sure what I mean by that,but I want to be better than the bitterness that has made itself at home in my bones.
I don’t want to be a mindless killer, but I truly don’t know if I can mate with him. There’s too much history.
A loud high-pitched ring fills the air and the wards surrounding his castle vibrate and wave from us slamming into it. How could I forget about the stupid wards?
Cailian falls from my arms, unaware of how much his life is in danger. I try to grab him, but I can’t get my wings to cooperate because of the impact with the wards. I shift, calling upon my dragon, and burst through my human form.
I dive, my eyes locking on my firebond. His arms reach out to me, but his eyes are still shut. The heat of my land, the blaze from my fire, is still killing him.
The high points of his cheeks begin to turn onyx, then peel away into dust. He’s still burning. He’s still dying. I can feel his death creeping in like a dark shadow looming.
I manage to get under him, and he lands on my back before I crash against the ground. We slide a few hundred feet, firegrass and soot shoot up in chunks. A large crater is left from the destructive path.
Getting to all fours, I limp to the wards, getting as close as possible. I angle my wing down and tilt the side of my body, allowing Cailian to slide free. He crosses the heartsnow, landing in a pile of snow.
And I watch as magic repairs the damage I’ve caused.
His body soaks up the cold. His cheeks mend, his skin heals, and his hair lengthens to its previous state.
He gasps awake, his eyes snapping open. Cailian turns his head, his eyes brimming with questions.
“You did not kill me,” he states to himself, watching the burns on his arms vanish.
I begin to back away, huffing as pain shoots up my leg and then my wing falls limp. That’s embarrassing. For a dragon, not being able to get his wing up is equivalent to being emasculated.
He eyes my wounds and pushes himself from the ground into a seated position. “I can help you,” he offers. “Let me before your wing is too far gone.”
I want to. I do, but like most dragons, my pride is a powerful entity all on its own.
So I turn around and limp away, hoping that Fate is kind enough to put me out of my misery.
“I order you to go,” Alexander says from across the counter. He splays his arms out, gripping the edge, and with every exhale, I hear the growl growing in his chest.