Page 30 of To Spark a Dragon's Love
My response got stuck in my throat as the ancient dragon priestesses climbed onto the stage. The two of them split ways, one heading to Riley and the other inching closer to us.
Despite her advanced age, she trembled a little as she bowed her head before Malachy.
The chanting began and the words washed over me, tingling like the gusts of magic as it danced along my skin. It called to something deeper. A past I might’ve known if the story had been different.
Harper leaned against my side and I rested my hand on her shoulder as I lifted the other arm at the priestess’s request.
Everything felt surreal.
Maybe it was because I’d done this before. Not this exactly, but the gist of it. Being rushed through a wedding put on for show with a man that didn’t really love me.
I felt the eyes of Morgana in the audience. She’d said history didn’t have to repeat itself and I had no clue how she knew it would, but I was on a crash course to the same direction.
I tried to slow time down.
The first time I’d done this, I didn’t remember anything except the nausea I barely held in check and the clipped words of Sam’s mother when she’d called me a gold-digger behind my back.
This time, I noticed everything like I was memorizing it for a painting—one I’d probably never make.
The fast pace of the priestess’s tongue and her chanting song. The wind shifting through the trees that hummed along with her. The way the light seemed to darken around Riley and Lucan. The realization that he was doing it on purpose, bringing the shadows to shield their union from view.
Cold silk of the red ribbon wrapped around my wrist. My left hand joined with Malachy’s right hand. The rough brush of his thicker skin as his fingers laced through mine. The beating of my heart matched the pulsing thud of his.
It all felt so real. Life vibrated intensely around us. Every sensation was a collection of memories I knew I’d keep locked in my heart as if it meant something.
One thing I’d learned since becoming a mother was that we all had a child inside of us that wanted to believe in fairy tales.
Tears misted my eyes as I looked down at Harper.
And I froze, the color draining from my face.
I’d been paying so much attention to the things around us that I hadn’t realized she’d reached for Malachy’s hand. His large hand dwarfed her tiny one and he stared at it as if not quite believing it were possible. The dragon priestess held upour wrists bound with ribbon toward the sky for everyone in attendance to see.
But I wasn’t looking at that.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away as Malachy raised his pained expression to meet mine. A silent moment of communication passed between us. Aknowingas old as time.
He wanted this, but he didn’t think he could have it.
The breeze shifted direction, cooling the nape of my neck and pushing me toward Malachy as Harper let go of his hand. I don’t think she even realized what she’d done, but my heart was shattering for the both of us.
Malachy palmed my lower back and pulled me close.“I’m sorry.”
Hearing his words in my head was too much. It felt like I was going crazy. Like I was imagining all this.
But I didn’t imagine the way heat surged between us as he pressed his lips to mine. The unspoken urgency in which his lips parted, seeking something, begging for a promise I didn’t know how to give.
“Eeewww.” Harper’s groan of disgust brought peals of laughter from the audience.
I broke away from the kiss, grateful for the distraction and the way it made me smile so that the tears in my eyes looked like tears of joy instead of the pain I was truly feeling.
Malachy seemed to notice at the same time as I did that Riley and Lucan were already gone. Harper started skipping away too as the guests rose, clapping.
“Ready?”His voice in my head didn’t shock me this time. I knew what it was now even if I was uncomfortable with the intimacy of it.
I nodded once, not letting my fears get the best of me. Hand in hand we walked down the aisle after my daughter to thecheers of the crowd hoping this would be the thing to save the world.
∞
