Page 66 of Claim the Dragon
They’d seemed hollow to him at the time, but tonight they were breathing new life into him, and hopefully into Ravyn, as well.
She let her head fall back on her shoulders and sighed heavily.“I don’t know.I just...what you just did.”Her words halted as she lifted her head and stared in his direction once more.“Is that how you got into Safeside the other night?You just appeared there, didn’t you?That’s why you weren’t on any of the security cameras.But Cree knew.He said he could sense that somebody had been there.”
“It’s called fading.All Drakon can imagine themselves in a space and then appear there.”
“Nobody else can do it but Drakon?”
He stood up straight and slid his hands out of his pockets before taking a step toward her.“Upper level vampires do what they call dematerialize.It’s when their molecules disintegrate and reform in another location.”
“Could Temptra have done it?Is that how she got Cree?Or did I lead this evil to my best friend?”
“I don’t know specifically what power Temptra has.But the vampires who can dematerialize can’t do it for long distances.Drakon can fade from one realm to the other.”
“Realms?They’re like different worlds?”
“Yes.”He was close enough now that he could simply extend his arm and his fingers would touch her skin, but he didn’t.“The Far Realm where the Drakon and other shifter beings are from.The Fae Realm, home of the fairies’ court and fae folk.The Spirit Realm, or what humans call hell, for all the bad guys we call demonics.And the Human Realm.”
“Where do I fit in?”The words were spoken in a hushed and vulnerable tone.A tone that had his chest constricting and body weakening as he knelt down in front of her.
Taking her hands in his and bringing them up to his lips to kiss the backs, he looked her in the eye and said, “You fit in wherever you are.There’s no one like you, Ravyn.No one as tough and at the same time as compassionate as you.No one as loyal or as intelligent.No one else I’d rather walk into this battle with.”
She didn’t speak at first, but her fingers tightened over his.
“I don’t know how to do this.I don’t know what I’m expected to do.”
“I don’t know either.What I do know is that when the time comes, you’ll step up and do what’s necessary.”
“What makes you so sure of that?”
“Because that’s what I do,” he admitted.“Theo can make all the plans he wants and we can go out and execute those plans to perfection, but when it really comes down to it, we all act on instinct.What the mind inside us says we should do to save people, to save ourselves.”
She let loose a nervous giggle.
“I’m going to need you to print all of this on some cue cards for me until I get used to it.”
Steele chuckled with her, relief washing over him the moment he saw her smile.
“You won’t need them,” he said.“But you will need this.”
Releasing her hands he reached under the bed and pulled out the locked box.Using his fingerprint to unlock it, he picked up the bundle of green material and handed it to her.
“Back at the Towers you said you needed something.”
She pressed her palms to her cheeks and then her forehead, taking a deep breath and then releasing it.“I felt like I did, like I was missing something and my body craved it.”
“You still feel like that now?”
She narrowed her eyes and said, “Not as intense, but yeah, I do.”
He unwrapped the dagger and held it out to her.
“Pick it up,” he said.“Hold the hilt in the palm of your hand.”
For a moment he wasn’t sure she was going to do it, probably because he’d told her to and Ravyn could be as stubborn as she was smart.But she did finally lower her right hand, flexing her fingers before placing them over the hilt of the dagger.She closed her eyes for a few seconds, her lips moving as if she were saying something to herself, before she opened her eyes and grabbed the hilt as he’d instructed.
Bright golden light glowed instantly.Her left hand shook but she brought it over to pull the sheath away from the dagger, dropping it onto the bed.Now the blade gleamed too.The light was so bright it cast Ravyn’s face in a brilliant shadow.She held the blade with both hands down, bringing it up over her head and then down as if she was going to stab it into something or someone.
“This is your power, Ravyn.It’s yours to wield and yours to grow.”
