Page 54 of The Forbidden Dragon King
I glance at the shrine, painfully reminded of the barrows. “I wish that I had somewhere to honor and pray for my parents.”
Aurelius lifts his head; his eyes glow in the shadows as they meet mine. “I’ll carve you a shrine for them if you like.”
My breath catches.
Why does he keep doing this? Making these kind gestures — giving me my first nest, the gift of the bracelet to cover my broken bond scar, and now, offering to create a shrine for my parents?
He’s making it very hard to abandon him.
My eyes burn. “They’re not… I mean, they were part of the Orm Massacre. But I never had anywhere but a communal barrow to grieve at. I don’t even know their names.”
“A shrine doesn’t need names, if you know who it’s for in your heart.” Aurelius cocks his head. “The Bloods also killed my brother. It was Tarq who raised me like a father.”
For a long moment, we’re caught in the cocoon of our joint grief.
“Do you hate the vampires?” Aurelius asks, quietly. “The monsters who took away your parents?”
I nod.
He leans closer, and dizzy on the wine, I’m even more intoxicated by his scent.
What would it feel like to kiss him?
Right. Now.
“What if,” Aurelius lays his hand lightly over mine, and I shiver as his thumb strokes in light circles, “I could offer you something more than a shrine to the dead? What if I could offer you a way to take revenge on the Bloods for orphaning us both? Against the Shadow Vampire King himself? Would you take it?”
I stare at him with wide eyes. Adrenaline shoots through me.
Does he mean it?
“Fuck, yeah,” I reply, fervently. “But what could I do against a monster like that?”
Aurelius studies me with his cold gaze for a long moment.
Then he shakes his head. “Sleep.”
He pushes me onto my back, wrapping the velvet bedding around me.
Nobody has treated me this gently before, as if I’m as precious as emeralds and deserve to be treasured.
I lie, dazed and unsure.
Aurelius appears just as unsure about what he’s doing, patting too hard and making a show of building up the sides of the nest, before appearing to catch what he’s doing.
“I want to go outside now that you’re back,” I demand. “That’s okay, right?”
Aurelius gestures at the ceiling of the tent and the drumbeat of rain.
“I’ve been trapped inside this one fucking tent for days,” I complain.
“Sorry that I’m not Kit; I can’t control the weather. Or is that it, Spark? You want to sneak out and visit the other pet who can?”
I turn my head pointedly away.
How does Aurelius do that? It’s like he can read my every forbidden thought.
“You told me that he could keep me company,” I point out.
