Page 87 of Vows of Sacrifice

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“Ashana? Can you hear me?”

It was Dovah’s voice. His deep, warm voice, tinged with infinite tenderness. I slowly opened my eyes to discover his face leaning over mine. He was smiling at me, but it was an insecure smile that was reflected in his very human eyes now.

“Yes,” I whispered.

It was a shock. An enormous shock. Of course, I wasn’t completely surprised; there was a part of me that had always known and had known since day one. It was hard to explain, to put into words, this stronger intuition—much stronger than a simple hunch of enlightened insight.

“So, I betrayed you.”

This was the most terrible part of the story, far more than the fact that Dovah was, in reality, a dragon, a god who created the world. He cautiously turned away.

“Which explains why my brothers haven’t said a word to me all this time. I have no conscious memory of my state of fury, and they’ve never explained to me what caused me to tip over the edge so violently. I imagine if I’d known, I never would have married you.”

Ah. Yes. It did seem logical, though. Who would want to marry a woman who’d cheated on them? This information created a sort of unease between us. Although neither he nor I remembered the details, it was unlikely that Paivrin had lied about it. Dovah and I had been married before and I had betrayed him with another man.

My saliva tasted like bile in my mouth.

“I suppose apologizing for a fault I’ve forgotten isn’t really effective,” I began, straightening up. “But I’d like to do it anyway: forgive me for betraying you, Dovah.”

When I looked up, I met his gaze, and it was that of the dragon. My heart leapt monstrously in my chest. It was quite something to be observed through the eyes of such a creature . . .

“I forgive you. I believe I forgave you a long time ago. At least, I think so . . .” he added hesitantly.

My eyelids lowered for a moment as I tried to calm my inner turmoil. Too much information. Too much in such a short time. My head was still spinning. I raised my hand to my forehead and Dovah immediately became concerned.

“Ashana? You know, if you’re not feeling well, Paivrin’s experiments can wait until tomorrow. I’ll tell him.”

When he tried to stand up, I stopped him with my fingers on his forearm.

“No. It will be okay. I want to know the end of this story today, Dovah.”

With that, and under his penetrating gaze, I rose from the bed on which he had laid me down.

* * *

Paivrin was waiting for us in a clearing bathed in sunlight. He stood there, his eyes fixed on an invisible point, with a pensive expression on his face. Dovah and I walked slowly to join him.

“And so, Lord Paivrin is the dragon of . . .”

“Jade, as you’ve probably guessed. Kynnen, the opal dragon. The only one you have not met yet is Tylbis, the sapphire dragon.”

“Ah,” I said only, nodding my head.

We felt it. It was now in the air between us. A tension cloaked in inextricable embarrassment. Yet, none of us had any true recollection of this past life, which did not prevent the consequences of those past actions from affecting the present moment. It was frustrating.

Suddenly, Dovah grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him. He gazed deeply into my eyes before kissing me passionately. It was an imperious, ravenous kiss, reaching into my lower abdomen. My desire exploded suddenly in my veins, and he sensed it in the way I pressed my body against his. Now, it only took Dovah’s touch or kiss me to turn me into a primitive, hungry entity. His tongue wrapped feverishly around mine, as if he were trying to possess me completely, starting with my mouth. When Paivrin coughed to call us to order—and to remind us that he was there, waiting for us—Dovah put an end to our sensual exchange with a disgruntled growl.

I noticed his eyes again; he was no longer trying to hide his nature now that I knew the truth.

“You are mine.”

He spoke in a possessive voice with a wild accent, but I also heard a warning, or perhaps a visceral fear, hidden behind those words. Was he afraid that I’d betray him again? Why had I done it the first time? What really happened? I found it hard to believe I’d given in so easily.

As soon as I was close enough to him, Paivrin pointed his staff at me, and a luminous ball burst in front of my face. I was so dazzled that it took me some time to regain my normal vision. He started muttering words that I couldn’t understand, but which sounded like the language Dovah sometimes used, like when he saved me from a creature of the Abyss.

Suddenly, I felt like I was on fire. An intense heat enveloped my body, starting from my feet and moving up to my waist. It wasn’t unpleasant, but if the temperature continued to rise, I wouldn’t be able to tolerate it much longer.

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