Page 9 of Trial By Fire

“You will heal, Gale. Don’t make a big deal out of it,” I hear Torin say to him, but I don’t look at them. All I can see is Cordelia.

“Thank you,” I say to her as I lean forward and brush my lips against hers. I have no words. It usually takes me hours to calm down after a dream like that. The memories stay with me for most of my day, leaving me angry and distraught at the loss of my family. The scab is ripped off, leaving me to bleed all over again. My heartbeat starts to slow, and I can breathe easier as I gaze into her reassuring eyes.

“You want to tell me about it?” she asks as her thumb rubs my cheek. I want to open my mouth and tell her about all the demons that plague my dreams, but it’s too soon. I open and close my mouth, feeling too raw and vulnerable, especially with my brothers in the room to listen to me speak.

“I promise I will tell you when I’m ready,” I tell her, and she nods in understanding. My heart swells for this woman, my mate. I want to protect her from the world outside. I will never be my father and let someone hurt the woman I love. I will fight for her until my last breath.

“I will be here to listen.” She pecks my lips quickly and climbs off my lap. My hands itch to grab her back, my body mourning the loss of her warmth already. I follow her around the room as she bounces around the area enthusiastically, until my eyes land on Dravyn. A part of me wants to hate him, but like Cordelia said last night, his father’s sins are not his own. Dravyn was a child—and to be fair, he suffered a hell a lot more than I did as a kid, I am in no position to compare childhood trauma—but to be given away by your only living parent, as a gift, for fuck’s sake, seems like a shitty deal. Having your Dragon suppressed, enduring torture, and conditioned to obey, that was even worse. That is why, when he takes his eyes off Cordelia and looks my way, all I can do is incline my head in understanding. I don’t warm to him completely, but for now, I can be amicable. Cordelia had accepted their bond, and her Dragon claims him, and none of us has any right to deny our woman her heart’s choice.

“So, are we flying this morning?” Cordelia asks everyone as we start to move around. The room is gigantic, but with the five of us sharing this room it suddenly feels very small. I think it is definitely time for more space. I slide off the bed and stare open-mouthed as Cordelia slides her underwear on, shimmying them up her legs with her towel wrapped tightly around her. Next, she holds out her bra, drops the towel quickly and clasps the bra around her breasts, giving nothing away. I could have pouted from the disappointment, but I was too transfixed by her actions. She finishes her magic show by sliding her arms through the bra straps, standing before us all in only her bra and panties. Shy, she is not, but her display of modesty is both hot and amusing.

“What?” She asks when she picks up her jeans and starts to put them on. “I can’t show you the goodies every time I’m naked. I don’t want you all getting spoiled by my body. I need to be unwrapped like a Christmas present every time we’re together.” She laughs and winks at us. I can’t help but laugh. My mood has lightened, and my nightmare is long gone.

“If I saw you naked a million times, gorgeous, I would never tire,” Gail said as he comes out of the bathroom smelling of Cordelia’s lavender soap. “You just let me know when you’re ready for me to unwrap you.” He winks back at her.

“You’re not too tired, are you?” Torin asks as he stuffs his feet in his boots, and I guess that is my cue to start moving. Cordelia looks his way, and she blushes, her cheeks turn red as she pulls her t-shirt on over her head.

“Don’t worry, gorgeous, we heard it all,” Gale teases. I guess I was so lost in my dream that I didn’t feel her pleasure through our bond.

“I felt it too,” Dravyn groans and looks away. Torin laughs at the exchange, but his expression sobers quickly.

“Seriously, Torin, I am fine. In fact, if you four don’t meet me outside in the next thirty minutes I will shift and fly without you,” she says to all of us. She immediately falls silent as she looks toward Dravyn, but he doesn’t give her a chance to speak.

“Don’t worry about me, Dragon or not, I can still move around as fast as you can.” He winks then jumps off the swinging hammock. Cordelia smiles. There’s a mischievous glint in her eyes as she makes her way to the door.

“I don’t want you to use magic,” she says to Dravyn as she stands in front of him. He looks at her like she is the most precious thing in the world. He hesitates, but she grabs his hands in hers.

“Why? Do you want me to stay behind? I understand—”

“Ride me?” She says to him. Dravyn steps back, his eyes go wide as he looks at all three of us in shock. We all stop what we are doing, frozen in place until it registers to us all at the same time what she is suggesting.

“You want me to ride you?” Dravyn asks slowly, slightly in awe. Yet another thing she needs to learn about our kind.

“Cordelia, you're our queen. No one rides on the Red Dragon, sweetheart. Also, Arcadian law forbids Dragon riding,” Torin tells her, and Dravyn nods his head in agreement. I don’t miss the disappointment on his face, though.

“Well, we aren’t in Arcadia. We are in Celestia. Last time I checked, I am the damn Queen. You want me to own it, so I am. He’s my mate. I would offer the same to any one of you. He’s never had the opportunity to fly, so I am giving it to him. Until we figure out how to help his Dragon’s Emergence, then I will carry him,” she states, her word is final. Stepping away from Dravyn and opening the door to our room, none of us say anything as she leaves. We all stare at where she had been standing in disbelief.

I can’t help but feel proud. She is everything, and it makes me fall in love with her even more than I already had.

“Chop, chop boys,”she says telepathically, and we all start scrambling.

CHAPTERSEVEN

DRAVYN

We all walk in silence as we make our way out of the palace. I don’t know how I feel, my emotions are too scattered to pinpoint an exact one. Primarily I feel relief to finally have been able to talk about what I went through. It was cathartic in more ways than one. I feel lighter knowing that they don’t look at me like I’m a villain. I also feel fear and anxiety because I know for a fact that Maurelle will find a way to make me suffer for this. I hope my suffering will have nothing to do with Cordelia. Although I’ve been shadowing her for months, there was nothing like being in her presence physically.

I couldn’t help but watch her as she slowly made her way over to me this morning. Yes, she thought I was Torin to start with, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t shy away from me when I suddenly appeared. She wasn’t afraid to be with me, and it made my heart soar. She had every right to push me away, especially when she found out about our bond being fabricated. She didn’t reject me. It took everything I had to let her walk away from me and go seek out Torin. Our time will come, I know it will, and I will happily take whatever she’s willing to give me. I grew up with nothing but pain. I know when I’ve been given a gift, and I will spend the rest of my life cherishing it.

I’ve been alone for a long time. The Fae Queen kept me on a tight leash, and I shudder at the thought of being called her favorite pet. When I was still a child, I tried to make myself as small as possible so that I was forgotten, but her “plans” for me wouldn’t allow me to go unnoticed. As I got older and my body was infused with Fae magic, folding myself away in the shadows became my solace, and my only escape. I would spend days at a time hiding away with only my thoughts to comfort me. I was a Dragon, I reminded myself every day so that I would never forget. Through every experiment I was subjected to, every torture session, my dragon was pushed further and further away from me. I still believe in my Dragon; it was my belief which helped me fight the queen’s hold on me. It was that belief, along with Cordelia’s help, that set me free.

“Do you really think after thirty-four years he will be able to Emerge?” I hear Gale say, the question snaps me out of my thoughts as I walk behind the others.

“Cordelia is thirty. I don't see why age is a problem, Gale,” Adrian growls out, and I smirk at his reaction. We are more alike than I thought.

“I guess it doesn’t, but Cordelia was taken to the Waters of Elysium as a baby. He wasn’t,” Gale states. I understand he isn’t happy with my sudden appearance, but why has he got such a vehement dislike toward me? If anyone deserved to hate me, it was Cordelia, Adrian, or even Torin for what my father did to their families. I know next to nothing about theKaelumaRegent except that he is an asshole.

“True, but if we can take him to the waters, I don’t see why it can’t reconnect him with his Dragon,” Torin says sounding hopeful. For the first time in a long while, he made me hope. It sounds so easy, hearing them talk it through, I find myself smiling at the possibility. It made me think of all the others who grew up in the Barren Lands without any hope of ever shifting. My father abandoned them exactly the same way he did me.

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