Page 229 of A Dance of Water

Let me keep her safe. And you keep her safe, as well.A lump formed in Vale’s throat, but he persevered.Together, she will be the most protected being in all the realms. But it has to be together.

The dragon was silent, until finally:Ours.

Vale knew the dragon was imagining more than just the two of them as her protectors. His lip curled.

"Ours," Vale spat aloud, the word filling the cavern with a low hiss.

And the dragon pulled back, talons leaving the bars of his cage as he grew content. For now.

Vale released a shuddering breath.

He walked toward Luella. The heat on his skin sizzled away the coarse ropes with merely a touch. It fell to ash on the stone floors. Without the rope keeping her upright, she immediately crumpled to the ground. But he caught her before she could. Heattempered by her nearness, the dragon was soothed, careful not to burn her.

With this, at least, they had a common goal.

His dragon had been a problem since his youth. Vale used to give in to him, angry and juvenile. It was only as he matured that he started to rebel, too godsdamned tired of feeling like a puppet, led by the whims and instincts of his inner beast.

It took only a small, fragile female to wrest control.

He bundled her against his naked chest, cradling her like a babe, with her head falling in the crook of his neck. She sighed against him, as if even in sleep, she knew her Vincire was near. Her soft breaths made him shudder. His dragon mimicked her cadence with smoky exhales.

Fuck. This was worse than he thought. He should’ve known, from the moment his dragon spoke inside her mind. He had imprinted on her, leaving Vale with no choice but to keep her safe.

He tightened his arms around her. She was light, like a feather.

Luella did not stir on their walk back to the stone room that the Temple Mothers granted her.

When he finally arrived in the dimly lit, grey-hued room, he released a deep breath.

It was not warm here, but it was small and dark and safe.

Warm her,hissed the dragon.

Vale was assaulted with flashes of desire—ways he could keep her warm… His body burned with heat; his cock ached as he held her, hard and desperate, as he imagined throwing her down on the bed and fitting his body atop her soft, pliable flesh. Moving over her and inside her amid the amber glow, watching the way the candlelight cast playful shadows on her pale, moon-touched skin.

He groaned, the sound filled with a hiss.

Yes, yes, the dragon chanted.

Mine.

Vale shook the thoughts away, moving to the bed and carefully laying her down. White hair fanned around her, and the simple shift barely brushed her upper thighs, revealing her beautiful, unmarked legs. Tharen’s amulet was askew on her chest, the delicate chain tangled around itself. Gritting his jaw, he cast a glance at the scantcandles in the room, wishing for the safety of darkness but knowing he could not blow them out—the flames were not allowed to be extinguished in the Temples.

He lowered himself to the bed, draping the thin sheet over his lower half. Her face was pinched, even in sleep, with a small furrow between her brows. She looked uncomfortable, and his dragon hated it—or was it Vale who detested her in any form of discomfort?

"Don’t do it," Vale warned himself, voice low. "Let her sleep. Keep your distance."

But he lost.

Careful not to wake her, he lifted her gently, just enough to free the sheets from where she had been lying on them, and settled her back down, closer to him, with the sheets tucked around her to keep her warm. Her chilled body pressed against him, like holding a crystal glass in his arms.

Warm. Help her.The dragon flicked his tail, actions growing bolder the longer Vale did not move.

He shook from the effort of containing the beast, smoke filling his lungs and escaping him.

Take her. Keep her safe.

Ours.

---