Page 17 of The Sapphire Dragon Prince
“But I’m so insignificant,” he insisted. “It doesn’t seem right to think that you would have to wait hundreds of years to fall in love, and that once you finally met me I should be so….” He turned away, letting the sentence drop.
“Hey.” I twisted so that I could cup the side of his face and turn him to look at me again. “I don’t feel as though I have missed out on anything,” I said. “I don’t mind that I had to wait for you at all.” I had no intention of mentioning the various lovers I’d had over the years, mostly because none of them had mattered compared to Misha. “You are worth waiting for.”
Misha’s cheek was hot in my hand, and even though I didn’t let him turn away again, he lowered his eyes. “Still,” he said, “it seems a shame that you should spend so long just…waiting.”
“I haven’t just been waiting,” I said with a shrug. When he glanced questioningly up at me, I went on with, “I’ve been working for Mother, as we all have. The magical world seems peaceful and glorious, but even this place is not without its conflicts and trials.”
“Really?” Misha blinked. “It seems so perfect to me.”
“It only seems that way because my dragon brothers and I have put in a great deal of work to make it so,” I said. “That’s the way of everything. You have to constantly work at the things you love in order to keep them alive.”
“Like a garden,” Misha said, brightening a little. “My Papa loved his garden and gave so much of himself to keep it alive and growing, even in the darkest times.”
“Precisely,” I said. “You cannot plant a garden once and expect it to look beautiful and colorful forever. Everything has its season, and work needs to be done during each of those seasons to keep the garden healthy.”
Misha smiled and sighed. “That’s a beautiful way to look at it,” he said. His smile faltered and he went on with, “Right now, it feels like my garden is covered in brambles and thorns.”
“Maybe it is,” I said, which surprised Misha. I wondered if he expected me to disagree and say everything was beautiful and growing with him. I stroked the side of his face again and said, “You weren’t the one who planted those brambles and thorns. Itfeels unfair for you to have to be the one to clean it all up, but at least I’m here to help.”
Misha smiled again. “I’m so grateful,” he said. “I…I was worried that I would be alone my entire life.”
“So was I,” I admitted.
That surprised my love. “I cannot imagine you ever being alone.”
“Hundreds of years can seem like a long time when you haven’t met your fated mate yet,” I confessed. “I’ve been wondering when you would come along for a while now.”
“I hope I’m not a disappointment,” he whispered.
“Never,” I said, cupping his face with both hands.
I couldn’t resist kissing him then. The sunlight was too warm, the scents of grass and dirt and cherry blossoms, not to mention my sweet omega, swirled around us, and birdsong and the sound of farmworkers singing as they harvested cherries filled the air. The moment was too blissful not to lean in and kiss Misha softly.
Whether it was the closeness that the two of us had found through working together, the beauty of the afternoon, or something magical in the air, that kiss felt more important than anything we’d shared so far. Misha’s mouth was warm and ready, and he opened to me without hesitation. I could practically feel his heartbeat, even though we were barely touching.
I could feel more from him as well. As I explored him with my tongue, gossamer tendrils of what I knew would become our bond seemed to swirl around us, catching us in a net. The slow drain of my magic seemed to stop for a moment. More than that, it felt as though every part of me tingled with renewed magic and wonder. I could feel Misha’s earnest hopes for a better future and his fear that he would never be truly healed, but above all I could feel a latent desire deep within him.
Misha wanted me. My sweet, fearful mate was alive with desire that was just waiting to burst free and encompass both of us. Whatever worry I might have had that he didn’t want me that way or was frightened of how ferocious a dragon might be in bed was dismissed as I felt the longing pull at him.
And yet, he still wasn’t going into heat, and I still felt somehow…faded.
I ended our kiss, not wanting to pressure him too much. If Misha wasn’t ready, then all the desire I felt and all the need to breed my mate that pulsed within me wasn’t going to make things suddenly right with him.
“No,” he whimpered as I let my hand drop from his face.
“No?” I asked, worried he was telling me he didn’t want me after all.
Misha shook his head and swallowed, then looked up into my eyes. “I don’t want to feel this wall between us anymore. I want to be normal, to go into heat like a normal, ordinary omega who’s met his mate.”
My heart broke for my sweet omega. “I know,” I said, stroking my fingers through his hair, then pulling him into my embrace. “But these things cannot be rushed. We’ll get there in time, and when we look back, this delay will feel like nothing at all.”
“I hope so,” Misha said quietly.
“I know so,” I echoed him.
I did more than that. As I had in the garden of the castle, I closed my hand and summoned enough magic to create a sapphire bloom.
Only, when I opened my hand, the faded, flickering bloom was only there for a moment before it vanished.
