Page 11 of The Silent Mountain
That’s not set in stone yet,I mutter.
Whatever you tell yourself to make you feel better,Ros says.But I know how he looks at you.
You won’t have anyone to connect with,I say.No wolf.
That’s not true,she argues.I can always take over in your human form and spend time with him. We are not the first wolf to be mated to someone who isn’t a werewolf.She pauses.Besides, it’s not true that there is no entity I can connect to. I can connect to something in him. To his beast.
Really?I ask curiously.You haven’t told me that.
Sorry,Ros mutters.I wasn’t…She lets her head hang down.
I don’t want her to apologize. She’s suffered enough already.So, you met his dragon?
Yes, Favia sometimes visits me, and then she takes me to meet their dragon spirit.
Wait a moment,I blink.You said you met Favia and the dragon spirit? Both of them!
Ros looks confused for a moment.Oh, I didn’t question it.
Her words have spiked my curiosity, to say the least. To other shifters who are not dragons, Favian normally introduces Favia as his dragon. I know Favia can take over his body and shift into a female form of him. From what I know, she truly is the spirit of a deity residing in him, the very deity who was sent by their god and has blessed him with his peculiar powers.
Now I am curious too.
I bet Favian would show you everything if you asked,Ros says, lying back down and stretching.
I don’t want to bother him when he is so busy.
Then ask him if you can help,she says.
And we are back to that topic. She isn’t wrong. I am here already, and I am starting to really like this place and the people here. It would only show my respect to them if I offered to help their king. Maybe I could contribute something. Sure, politics isn’t my forte, but I am sure there is a way to take some of his workload from him.
I want to help him.
But I feel so guilty.
Ros didn’t interrupt my train of thought, but now she raises her head again.I miss her too, she says quietly.And I feel guilty.
My heart clenches at her words. It’s been… what… six months now that my best friend, Ita, died? Yet it still feels so fresh. I know my fellow shifters won’t understand it because Ita wasn’t my fated mate. But still, the pain is so real.
Why do you feel guilty?
I wanted her as our chosen mate too,she admits.But I also knew we had a fated mate. And now, I feel like I should have protected you better, and I also should have cherished the bond more. Favian knows we were about to take a chosen mate and would have done it if she hadn’t died. And… this means I hurt my dragon as well.
You didn’t do anything wrong, Ros,I mutter.I was the one who pushed you into accepting a chosen mate.
It’s not like I put up a fight,she says.
I don’t know what to do from here on,I admit.I loved Ita so much, more than anything else. You know me, I don’t fall easily for someone. She was the only person I ever loved… and then she died. And then we met Favian. He was hurt and broken, too, from his long imprisonment, and the bond wasn’t his top priority.I pause. If I am being honest, I was relieved that taking a mate wasn’t his top priority. He didn’t reject me, and he invited me to his kingdom but told me he’d prefer to go slowly. Usually, shifters mark and mate within hours after having found their mates, but I just can’t do it… Not before I feel something for him.
I have never minded the gender of my potential mate. I would have accepted any gender as long as I had feelings for them. My friends around me constantly had new crushes, but I never did. I had one crush, a boy in school who I had my first sexual experiences with, and then I fell head over heels for Ita. I never liked fooling around with others; it just didn’t appeal to me.
But now there is Favian, and I feel like I am betraying Ita by finding him appealing. I know it’s not just the mate bond. The mate bond was never interesting enough for me to fully pull me in.
You think it’s too soon, and that confuses you,Ros says.Ita would want you to be happy.
I guess I could at least offer my help,I say,like you suggested.
With that said, I finally settle down to sleep. Favian made sure I got the most beautiful suite they have here. It’s not just a room; it’s several rooms adjacent to each other, which gives me the feeling of having my own place and my privacy.
