Page 99 of The Heart of the Dragon

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

Magnus

"What the hell just happened?Are you okay?" I lifted Rose into my arms and carried her quickly over to the bed. One minute, we'd been anxiously passing the time, and the next, she'd collapsed onto the floor. "You're scaring the hell out of me."

"Me?!" she cried, pushing up on the bed and shoving at my chest, tears streaming down her face. "I'm not the one who was just dead on the floor. What the fuck is going on?"

I reared back, shocked. "What are you talking about? Did you hit your head?" I touched her fiery hair, looking for signs of trouble.

She scrambled away from me. "How are we here? We were surrounded."

"Don't you remember?" I asked. "We came back here after talking to Corvina. We're waiting for the portal to the castle to open."

She shook her head. "But it did. And they were waiting for us. For you." She pulled her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs, her whole body shaking. "They killed you and I could do nothing to stop it."

Nothing she said made any sense, but I tried to get through. "Rose. Please. We haven't gone anywhere yet."

She sprang forward and grabbed onto my arms with a grip tighter than possible. "We did. We were in the castle. You have to listen to me. I know what I saw. It was real. You died."

I grabbed her arms while shaking my head. "That's not possible. My dragon would protect me."

"That's just it. They did something to you. Made it so you couldn't shift."

I stared into her wild, panicked eyes, looking for some sign of something—anything that would explain what had happened to her. But we'd not been parted for even a moment. One second, she was pacing the floor, and the next, she was huddled on the ground, a teary-eyed, shaky mess. No one could have spelled her without my knowledge.

The one thing I did know for certain was she wasn't crazy. A more level-headed, brilliantly smart woman I'd never met. Unless?—

"Is it the mating heat? Has it come back sooner than we expected?" Fuck. That was going to be a problem. To prove the point, my body tightened, and a rush of blood moved south. I couldn't afford to be balls deep inside her when that portal opened. Not that I'd allow either of us to suffer if she needed me.

"What? No? Are you not listening? A portal opened in that doorway right there." She pointed across the room. "And on the other side was death and destruction and blood for both of us. You have to believe me. We ARE going to die."

Despite the fear in her voice, her words were clear. And maybe because of that fear—I believed her. Something had happened, even if I couldn't explain it, and it was very very wrong.

I sat on the bed and pulled her into my arms. Watching her like this was tearing me up on the inside. Demons and fae I could handle. Those I could slay for her. This fear... This unknown…. I didn't know what to do to take it away from her.

Except own it.

"I do believe you," I said, pressing my lips to her shaky ones. "I just don't understand it. Something happened. But you are the only one who saw it. I wonder if you had a vision. Maybe you do have more power than we thought. Premonition maybe?"

We sat silently for several minutes as we both tried to come to terms with what happened. Whatever it was, it involved my death. I was now sure of it. I don't think anything else could have shaken her to the core like this. It would me.

"I'm alive, Rose. I promise. And I have every intention of staying that way. Can you give me more details?"

"It was horrifying." She gripped me tighter, and I could feel every ounce of tension in her hold. I didn't ever want her to suffer but seeing her like this told me she was falling for me as quickly as I was her...

Just then, magic shimmered behind us, and when I turned to see, it was as I'd expected. The portal had opened right on schedule. Like it or not, we were out of time.

"We've got to go, baby. We only have a short window to get this done."

"What? No!" She grabbed at me when I tried to stand. "You'll die. Going through that portal is the last thing we should do."

"I have to do this. It may be my only chance. Even if he knows I'm coming, I must see this through. You don't have to go with me. You know I'd rather you not anyways."

She was shaking her head and her hands squeezing me tightly. She had no intention of letting go. "That's not happening. You aren't going without me. We just need to do this differently. He's going to disrupt your power, so we need to find a way to disrupt his."

"I'm afraid we're out of time. It's too late to come up with a new plan."

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