Page 30 of Drakhana's Treasure
Slowly, I let my hand drop even further up to my wrist. Now it feels hot. Just like a hot bath it seems to get hotter and hotter by the second, as if my skin is cooking. I pull my hand out quickly, taking a few steps back and shaking my hand.
It doesn’t hurt now and it’s not even red. Still, I’m not encouraged by my little experiment.
I haven’t been on good terms with my dragon side for a very long time now. Recently it’s been waking up, but I really don’t know how much fire we can take. That’s the dragon arrogance rearing its head again. Plenty of dragons who thought they were fireproof were blown apart in explosions or disappeared into intense fire.
Being human for so long and depending on my dragon always working in the background, I never gave much thought to my own mortality. Why would I? I’ve spent years in a comfortable and safe human role.
That human side is shocked and scared to be standing over the lava. According to human logic, just standing here is far too dangerous. Contemplating going into the lava is like breaking my brain in two.
My dragon growls and scales flow across my skin. I start to pace again, knowing that too much time has gone by. If the lava is dangerous to her in any way then her bones would have melted by now.
“Kirralee!” I yell, voice echoing through the chamber. It’s a pointless exercise. She can’t hear me.
I brush at the ruined rags of my clothes and square up on the bank. I’m going in. I have no idea what I’m going to do when I get in there. I know that fire connects us so if she is alive in there then I should be drawn to her. I’m going to find her or die trying.
Melting in lava with my love is not so bad of a way to go and if she is gone, there is nothing for me in this world. I didn’t know it but I was empty before Kirra came along. Daily throwing myself into lines of numbers and profit projections, filling my head with promotion tactics and the fluctuations of the stock market. I did it all so I wouldn’t have to think about the reality of never finding love, never having children.
Now that love is in my life I can’t go back. I was living even less than a half life and murdering my dragon slowly, day by day. I seriously wonder if I could have pushed it down so far that it went dormant or even died. Some of the shifters in the city need to be cared for because their dragons have gone to sleep or disappeared.
I hadn’t thought about it, but I was killing my dragon. Maybe I wanted to do it without admitting I was doing it.
Living without love is a fate so terrible I can’t contemplate it, especially now that I know what it feels like.
I tilt towards the lava flow, hands out to dive. I’m going in. Fuck it.
A patch of lava right in the center of the river starts to bubble. It looks like a frothy head on a cappuccino as it rises. The magma bulges then splashes outwards.
Kirralee rises from the firey flow. Her eyes are closed, her arms crossed against her body, hands over her heart. She keeps rising until she’s levitating above the river, almost touching it with her toes.
She opens her eyes and they are gold and blazing. She smiles as she lowers her hands, putting her palms out. She starts to move towards me, propelled by some greater force. The moment has weight as if the air has become hard to breathe and moving a limb feels like lifting a ton of steel girders.
I wait on the edge of the rocks, watching her in rapture. She’s glowing from within, bright red and orange drops flowing over her perfect body. I watch one drop run from her shoulder, turning dark as it slides down her body, over her breast, down her belly and chasing down her leg to plunge back into the main flow.
As she gets closer, I put my hands out. I don’t know if I’m trying to stop her or if I’m welcoming her into me.
She reaches out for me with glowing hands, but I’m still unsure. I can feel the heat radiating off her already and the glow within her rivals that of the river itself.
Her power is greater than any shifter I’ve ever known. This knowledge is difficult for me to accept but faced with her raw power there is no choice but to admit she possesses a strength I don’t have.
She reaches for my hands, smiling. Her gold eyes are still gold and perfect, shimmering depths with wide dark pupils. I trust her. I know I do. It’s time to stop holding back, stop pretending to be human.
It’s time to commit to this feeling inside me. I want her and she wants me. I have to give it all or none at all.
Her fingers touch mine. There is a searing heat across my palms that shocks me to the core but I stay still. Her fingers tighten on my hands and she leans forward, pressing her lips to mine.
It hurts so much I want to scream, but I can’t with our mouths locked together. It’s like my face is being burned off. Our lips stick together and Kirralee grabs my cheeks, bringing our bodies together as she deepens the kiss. With the touch of her tongue on mine, something happens.
The pain goes away all at once. Heat charges down my throat as if she has poured the lava down my throat. As soon as she lets me go, I stumble, looking down at my hands as I try to pick myself up. What I see then shocks me so hard I can’t get up.
I can see through my skin. My veins are bright red, pulsing with fire. My head spins with the power and the heat.
My blood is lava.
Twenty-One
Kirralee
From the second my body hit the gentle flow I was healed. Somehow that ice dragon poisoned me, left cold inside me. The desert heat kept me alive, but it wasn’t enough to heal me. Even after we returned, I still had the white mark on my forearm.
