Page 104 of The Forbidden Dragon King
I kiss Aurelius’ jaw in apology. “I’m not the enemy.”
Anymore, at least.
Aurelius hesitates, before giving me a searching look. “But you’re bonded to one.”
I hold my wrist with the snowflake bond mark protectively against my side.
“Aurelius,” I say, quietly, “Daire isn’t your enemy now. He’s your pet.”
A long, dangerous silence.
Shit, have I just saved Aurelius only to screw Daire? Are dragons too possessive to be able to share in a pack?
“When I was a child, as a prince, I had few friends.” Aurelius’ gaze is anguished. Startled, I’m shocked at his glassy expression, as if he’s sinking into a bad place that he should never return to. “Yet I had a best friend who I thought understood what it was like to be me: orphan,beast, and royal but an outcast. In the same way that maybe I hoped Kit would. When I was still in the Shadow Military Academy, however, I discovered myfriendtearing out my brother’s throat. I cradled Tarq’s body, and my hands were coated crimson in his blood.”
My eyes gleam with tears.
I don’t remember the murder of my own parents. Yet it’s been the specter that has haunted my life.
Shadow Vampires are the reason that the entire Moon Court was wiped out and the new one lived in the sight of the barrows, where every portrait and statue of the old royals was buried with them.
It's forbidden to talk openly about the old court. No one who could remember remains or has survived. Yet everyone mourns the murdered shifters’ ghosts at the barrows.
I lean up, meeting Aurelius’ gaze fiercely. “Is this why you fight the vampires?”
Aurelius shakes his head. “The war with the Bloods is complicated. They’ve been raiding the borderlands, however, murdering our citizens. They’re also the only realm close to us that remains a threat. You talk about peace deals. I have offered them to the Shadow Vampires. All they have to do is bend the knee, as you wolves have done, and the war will at long last be over. The fuckers have refused.”
“Some people would rather die than be tamed.”
“Then they can die,” Aurelius replies, coldly. “You wonder why I can’t forgive Kit and allow him close to me. I let almost no one close. Lanlin slaughtered my ownbrother in front of me. He was mybest friendand he betrayed me.”
“Perhaps, only those close to us can truly hurt us.”
“Then I will find a way to get close to Lanlin again. And Iwillhurt him in every way imaginable.”
I shiver.
I believe him.
“But you’ve let me into your nest,” I venture. “Aren’t you afraid of trusting me?”
Aurelius scrutinizes me, before twisting me, so that we’re lying side by side. This close, it’s as if we’re caught inside the universes of each other’s eyes.
“When I’m with you is the only time that I don’t feel afraid,” Aurelius murmurs.
“Funny, I’m always afraid when I’m with you. But I like it.”
Aurelius gives one of those genuine smiles that I love, throwing an arm over my waist. “I could lose my soul to you. I think that I already have.”
I suck in a shocked breath at the sincerity of his words.
“You shouldn’t say shit like that,” I splutter. “I’m not a safe pair of hands. I constantly lose and break things. I smashed the pottery statue on your windowsill only last week and hid the pieces.”
“I know,” he replies, indulgently. “Did you think that a dragon wouldn’t notice one of his treasures was missing?”
I give a forced laugh. “So, don’t trust me with your soul, heart, or…”
Aurelius’ wings are trembling now in distress. I can’t stop myself from reaching out and stroking them. I’mshocked by his gasp and the way that his eyelashes flutter.
