Page 32 of Drakhana's Treasure
“That’s awful.” I squeeze myself even tighter to him. “Their dragons will die! They’ll be… Just human.”
“I’ve been almost entirely human for a long time now.” He chuckles. “I’ve survived.”
I sit up and lean back so I can look into his eyes.
“I saw you shift that first night we flew. It hurt you. How long had it been since you shifted?”
“Years.” He looks away so he doesn’t have to face me.
“Now you see what you have denied in yourself. Are you really content to be a man, if you fear your dragon so much?”
“I’m not scared.”
“Yes, you are. You’re afraid that the fire will completely dissolve you. Don’t you understand that is our pact with fire? You have to be prepared to die.”
“But I’m not! I want to live for you, to be with you.”
My lip trembles as I shake my head again. “I am fire and I always will be. To join with me, you have to be fire too.”
“Didn’t you just give my fire back to me?”
“I gave you a gift. It will warm you for many days to come. But until you brave the flames yourself, you and your dragon cannot be one. If you are separated, my love then so are we.”
“What are you saying?”
I smile, leaning over to kiss him.
“It means until then, we are just playing. Kissing like teenagers. Once we are bound through dragon flesh, blood of fire and human soul, we are truly joined. That is what the sacred bonds represent.”
“Kirralee.” She shakes his head as he takes my hand. “How is it that you are teaching me? You came here so I could teach you.”
I let myself laugh, glad to have something to laugh about.
“I’m not sure if you’re a bad teacher or if I’m just a really poor student.”
He laughs too and we share another kiss. The future feels like its creeping up on us, stalking a bit closer every second. Soon we will have to leave here and decide what to do next. No matter how it goes, I know it will involve leaving Rastus.
“You will have to return to the mountain now.” He says softly. “You need to tell the elders about this. You need to share the gift. Young and old will want to be trained by you, touched by you. Dragons will flock home to be with you, to learn from you.”
“I never thought of that.”
“You don’t understand how we mourned the loss of this power. You will be seen as a shamaness for sure now, one who is in tune with the land and the fire itself.”
“But I always have been.”
“And we were fools to overlook it.” He snaps. “You are our salvation and we treated you like a disabled child.”
I start laughing again. “I didn’t mind. I felt like I was disabled a lot of the time.”
He wraps his arms around me again and I sink into him, stroking him gently as I lean into his hard chest. I really can’t go back to the city now, it would be too painful. I have to return to the mountain.
But how can I leave Rastus? Can I convince the elders to let us be together?
I push the future away again and wrap myself in my lover. Let there only be now, at least for a bit longer. History is dead and the future can wait.
Twenty-Two
Rastus
