Page 191 of Whispers of Wisteria
Why now?
‘Jin blames himself for our end,’ Mu said. ‘He was wounded that day and hasn’t allowed himself to fly since.’
There it was. That word.
Allowed.
My thoughts turned sharp in realization. Had he seriously been feeling sorry for himself this whole time?
That idiot.
I refused to die for such a stupid reason.
I glared at the unconscious dragon. He said I was hismate—he wouldn’t stop obsessing over it. What, then, was this unacceptable behavior?
We were supposed to have dragon-fae babies and do mate things. I had no idea what that entailed, but unless he woke up and got over himself, the only future we’d have was as splattered remains on the ground.
But…
It was my fault too. He’d been trying to be with me, and I’d been running away.
There was no reason to be scared.
“I’m sorry.” The words flowed effortlessly from me now. I watched his jaw, trying not to look at the looming horizon. “I really did want to be your mate.”
And this time, the thought didn’t fill me with dread. For the first time, I actually wanted it.
A pulse rolled through the air and Titus’s crimson eyes popped open. “Let go.”
His features were already sharpening from the early stages of a transformation. So even though I had no idea what might happen, I loosened my death grip on his arm.
He was pulled from my fingertips, and the wind dragged as his form elongated and grew. He changed from man to dragon in an instant, but by the time his giant wings uncurled into the air, he was already out of my reach.
We were still falling, almost to the point of no return. And he still wasn’t flying.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I didn’t want to die.
What kind of fairy fell to their demise? Out of all the injustices I’d suffered, I’d never felt more cheated than this moment. Folklore had promised me the ability to fly.
And I hadn’t taken my vengeance yet.
I crashed into something hard and did not splatter into pieces. It was solid under my hands, and I instantly held onto the warmth.
I opened my eyes, and I tightened my grip around the dragon’s long neck. We were still in the air, but it was now controlled. Titus’s wings arched toward the sky above us.
He was flying.
My vision wavered as my dark thoughts began to lighten.
He’d done it. It’d worked.
Lucky him. At least one of us had wings. I’d been lied to by myself. That was a different kind of betrayal.
Titus looked back at me and met my eyes.
‘Look behind you,’ his voice echoed in my head.
