Page 41 of Realm of Flames (Reborn 3)
Sai
This was hell.Absolute goddamn hell.
I was kneeling, face level with Maya, where she was passed out in the large bed of our dorm. I could hear everyone outside in the main room—her fathers, our flight, even Queen Cyra—discussing what was going on and details of Maya’s past. Nothing about the future and what this meant, which I was glad for, because nothing like that should ever be decided without my kitten. I was, however, glad that they were discussing Maya’s past away from her. No one, least of all Maya, needed to be reminded of the horrors of everything that she went through. She had done that enough.
None of that bothered me as much as the fact that Maya, after nearly an hour following the throne room incident, was passed out still. Her breathing was soft but a bit too fast for my liking, the royal physician’s explanation still ringing in my ears.
She needed to mark her mates.
I wasn’t disagreeing with her, but it did bother me that there was an unspoken time limit put on her now. It shouldn’t be a rushed and forced process like that. Maya deserved to take her time. After everything she had been through? The woman deserved all the time in the goddamn world.
My forehead dipped to rest on the bed as I let out a sound of frustration, not knowing how to handle this. Not only the concept of Maya’s health problems and the implication of rushing mating, which my dragon was a massive fan of, but everything that had happened today.
Maya had a family. Not only a family, but an entire realm at her feet if she wanted.
She didn’t need us anymore.
In order to stay with us, she would have to choose us. To go back to Earth with us. The possibility of her not doing that gutted me, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one considering that could occur. I was thrilled Maya had more information about what had happened, but there was a part of me that wished we had never gone to the Dreki realm. A part of me wanted to throw her over my shoulder and jump back into a portal, ensuring they couldn’t keep her here.
What if she wants to stay?
I knew we would stay if she wanted to… if she wanted us, that is. Panic gripped my throat as I felt tension rolling through me. I inhaled sharply, wondering how I would ever fully deal with everything Maya had been through. I knew they were her demons to handle, that they shouldn’t have plagued me, but it was impossible for me to not feel the raw pain associated with everything she’d been through.
I loved Maya. I loved Maya, and the people that you loved were the ones that often caused you the most pain. Even if it was just through experiencing the pain they themselves were going through. It was impossible to not be affected by it. Not that it would ever scare me away or dissuade me from being around Maya, rather the opposite. In some ways, the pain I felt for her situation reassured me that this was real. That my emotions for her were rooted in something outside of just a mating bond. Not that I discounted that element, but I knew it was more than that. I was just praying to the Maker that Maya would continue to want me around so I could experience everything that was her. If she told me to go, that she didn’t want me, I would… well, I wouldn’t. But I would act as if I was leaving her alone.
I don’t think I had it in me to ever fully give Maya up.
I didn’t think she wanted me to either, which was why my doubt in all of this was so frustrating. Maya had never played games. She had never appeared to question us being mates, and her words of constant reassurance that she was staying around should have made me feel moderately better. But insecurity from my past rode me hard, one that told me that now that she had found something better, a family that had been looking for her, she would leave us. It sounded absurd… but at the same time, I had been so easily forgotten time and time again by my own family, so wasn’t it possible that she could forget about us so easily? About me?
We could offer Maya the world, but there were things that we couldn’t offer. One of them was this lost relationship that she had now found.
Letting out a tired groan, I shook my head and then looked up, examining the sunset landscape of the realm through the massive window. The Fire Lands were calm tonight, and despite the voices outside, the castle itself was in almost a lull, as if everything had come to a stop. Which I suppose it had. I didn’t expect that to last, of course… no, I had a feeling that the queen and her mates would be trying to find every way to convince Maya to stay by showing her everything the Dreki realm had to offer.
I couldn’t blame them, either. Wasn’t that exactly what I wanted? For her to stay around forever? The woman was a balm to my temperament, and despite still getting angry, I found myself always considering how it would affect her before reacting.
The part of me that wasn’t tempered? The fact that I wanted to tie Maya to myself to make sure that she never left. It was absurd, and she would probably be scared by that notion, but I very much had considered finding a way to tie us together so that she couldn’t leave. Hell. The thought of handcuffs had even crossed my mind.
Atlas would probably punch me for even thinking that.
“Sai?” Maya’s voice was a whisper, and I immediately snapped my gaze from the window to the beautiful woman looking up at me. A rumble escaped my throat as I stared at her, afraid to talk because I was worried about what would come out. That I would admit to loving her. Obsessing over her. Beg her to never leave me.
My gaze moved down her body as I briefly realized that she had been changed from the dress into a soft oversized shirt, her breasts pressed against the material, one side falling off her shoulder and tempting me to bite it. To leave my mark. I swallowed as she sat up, the material of the blanket falling and revealing her long legs that looked far too fucking amazing. They would have looked even better wrapped around my waist.
I must have been staring too long because a shiver trailed over her skin, and as I looked back up at her, a growl caught in my throat upon realizing her nipples were hard and pressed against the material. Her face flushed and eyes dilated.
“Kitten.” I felt relief hit me like a goddamn lightning strike. “Thank fuck you’re awake.”
“I passed out?” She winced.
“Your magic went into overload, probably a mixture of everything going on and reconnecting with your mom’s magic,” I murmured, panic gripping my chest at the possibility that my words could remind her of the options she had. Not that Maya didn’t have options before… but I had never been one to point those out to her. Rather the opposite, frankly.
“Sai, are you okay?” she asked softly, her voice filled with confusion while sitting up and moving her legs to the side of the bed. I inhaled sharply, keeping my hands on the bedding as I tried to not focus on her legs right in front of me and how easy it would be to push them open and go down on her. To taste her. I wish I could tell you I gave a fuck that her parents were in the other room. Or that the door was unlocked. Neither of those mattered to me.
“No,” I admitted honestly.Ishould have been askingherif she was okay. Instead, I was practically soaking in the attention and concern she was offering me.
“Why?” Maya’s fingers found their way into my hair as my hands moved to her hips, my mouth fucking watering at the scent of desire saturating the space around us. I wanted to lick up her wet heat and let her ride my face until she came. Hard. She probably didn’t even realize where my mind was at. Of course I wasn’t okay. How could I be any version of okay when Maya could leave us? When my mark wasn’t on her? When I wasn’t inside of her?
Her touch had my body reacting on instinct. I pulled her forward, her legs splitting on either side of my chest as her breathing hitched. I wanted nothing more than to crawl up onto the bed and pin her to it, not letting her escape the pleasure I wanted to give her. A small whimper broke from her lips as her skin flushed a delicate pink.
