Page 137 of Happily Ever Witch
She didn’t sound happy. Shit. He didn’t like making the witch unhappy. Telling her the unvarnished truth would no doubt make her evenmoreunhappy, so Trevelyan instinctively hedged. “Dragons are only married when we decide to be married. Everyone knows that.”
“So,that’swhat the ‘deciding’ thing means?”
Dammit. He should have phrased that differently. Trevelyan was quiet, weighing how much trouble he was in.
She didn’t appreciate his hesitation. (He was clearly ina lotof trouble.) “Answer me!”
“When a dragon formally accepts his mate and she decides to accept him in return, magic seals the bond.” He said very carefully. “They belong to each other, after that.”
“How is that different than being married?”
It wasn’t.
“Um…” Trevelyan hunted for hairs to split. “Well, we don’t need rings…”
Esmeralda sat up, anger on her face. “So you decided to do this dragon-y mating ritual and now we’re magically bonded forever. Am I getting that right?”
“Essentially.”
“Son of a bitch.” Esmeralda got to her feet, glamouring new clothes for herself. The green jumpsuit covered too much of her skin, but at least the color was right and it looked warm. “No way am I going along with this.Ididn’t decide to get married and witches are only married when wedecide. Just like dragons. I just decided that.”
He shook his head. “You can’t decide that.”
“Why not? Seems likeyoucan decide all sorts of shit.”
“Because this is the way dragons havealwaysdone things. You can’t just arbitrarily change the rules.”
“I hate rules! Besides, you change rules, all the time. Look at the separate lives thing. I was followingthoserules and you undid the whole idea, right as I was getting the hang of…”
He cut her off, sitting up and scowling. “No! That wasyoufinding loopholes to exploit.” It still infuriated Trevelyan to recall how she’d vanished on him. The panic and the desolation had been worse than losing his magic. “So now I’m doing the same thing: liberally interpreting our agreement.”
“I didn’t exploit any loopholes! We were playing every dragon and witch for themselves.”
Trevelyan’s own temper sparked. “Not anymore we’re not! I opened my eyes and you weregone. That changes the whole game.” He pointed to his temple. “I heard you in my fucking head, calling my name, and I hadno ideahow to get to you.”
“You said it was impossible to hear each other like that. That magic didn’t work that way.”
“Except,I heard you in my head.” He repeated emphatically. “So, I’m thinking what’sreallyimpossible is predicting how level six magic works. I think you were afraid and you reached for me, just like you said happened when you were in that orphanage.”
Crimson eyes met his and held. …And he knew he was right.
To every other being in the world, Trevelyan was a creature of darkness. But his mate instinctively turned to him for safety.
His chest tightened with emotion and his voice softened. “I can’t promise that nothing will ever frighten you, again. But I promise you, one thousandpercent, I will kill anything that does.” It was a vow. “Do you believe me?”
She gave a jerky nod.
“You belong to me.” He knew she liked hearing that. Liked the reassurance of their bond. So did he. “There will be moments when you wish you didn’t. But, nothing will ever change it. You can’t get rid of me. I need you.” The words were bare. “I don’t like needing anyone, but I needyou, Esmeralda. You’re my family.”
“I wasn’t trying to get rid of you.” She shook her head, her anger lessening. “I would never do that. I need you back.”
Happiness flooded him. “Yeah?”
“Yes! You belong to me, just as much as I belong to you. And you know I’ll kill anything that frightens you, too. I wiped out a couple thousand knights, because you asked.”
He smiled at that treasured memory.
“I was coming back to you, Trevelyan. There is nowhere else I would rather be. I explained it all in the note.”
