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Ihad expected the Drake to snatch me up at once in one of his enormous clawed hands but to my surprise, he just looked at me with those burning eyes—each one bigger than my head, I might add.It was hard to be this close to him—I couldfeelthe Curse on him.

Someone else without magic might have interpreted it as “bad vibes” but for me, since I’m so sensitive to the magic of others, it was like standing next to a demon at the gates of Hell.There was something malignant in him—something rotten that needed to be carved out if he was ever going to be whole.It was like a cancer—a tumor—and it was poisoning his entire existence.

We stared at each other and I wondered what to do next.Then I remembered how Kaitlyn had interacted with Ari’s Drake the first time she’d ever met him.Tentatively, I lifted a hand.

“Can I touch you?”I asked the Drake, raising my eyebrows.

He already had his head lowered, or we couldn’t have looked eye-to-eye, but now he made a very soft snort which sent a puff of gray smoke from his flaring nostrils.I took this as a yes and since he didn’t back away from me, I put out a hand and laid it on his long muzzle.

The black scales beneath my hand were hot to the touch, as though he had a supernatural fever—or a furnace inside, which was more likely, considering what he was.But they weren’t quite hot enough to burn me, so I held my hand there and concentrated on communicating.

The Drake was trying to communicate with me too.I felt a wild, confused rush of emotions and a jumble of images crowded my mind.I saw myself and Saint holding hands, sitting together, looking into each other’s eyes and I felt the Drake’s longing to have the same kind of closeness with me.It was like Saint had said—he really did just want to cuddle me.

But under all that chaos and need, I felt pain and bewilderment too.The curse Saint’s Drake was under was clouding everything, causing him intense agony and making it hard to think or reason normally.

It made me think of someone with a mental illness, like schizophrenia.He honestly couldn’t help the way he was—this evil magic had colored his entire life.He didn’twantto be a raging lunatic anymore than someone with cancer wants to be sick—but he couldn’t help it.He was stuck.

The realization filled me with sudden sympathy.

“You don’t want to feel this way, do you?”I murmured to the Drake as I stroked his long muzzle.“You want to feel normal—to feel whole.”

He snorted softly again in agreement and a feeling of deep sorrow and regret rolled through him.He truly felt terrible about the things he had done—the murders he had committed.He had lost control of himself and had been unable to stop until it was too late, he told me.

The thought of being tied not just to a woman but to the wrong person for the rest of his life had made him feel crazy and he had lashed out.But he was so,sosorry.He knew he made Saint’s life a misery—that he had caused him to be an outcast—and he felt awful about it.

I had the feeling that if the enormous Drake could cry, he would be sobbing by now.The river of remorse and shame and pain ran so deep in him it was nearly overwhelming.

But he couldn’t cry—it wasn’t in his nature.I could though and I found that I was.My vision was blurry as I wrapped my arms around his long muzzle—well, as far as I could, anyway.

It’s not your fault,” I whispered, stroking his burning scales.“It’s not your fault, baby.We’re going to heal you—I’m going to break this curse no matter what it takes.I swear it.”

It might seem strange that I was calling a twelve-ton beast “baby” and trying to comfort him, but it didn’tfeelstrange at all.I found that the love I felt for Saint absolutely extended to his Drake as well.I just wanted to heal him and lift the awful curse that had made his whole life a living hell.

The Drake responded to my emotions by pouring back feelings of his own.His love for me—as twisted as it was—was absolute.He wanted to own me, to protect me and keep me safe, he let me know.He wanted to treasure me always and never let me go.Helovedme.Loved me so much it hurt him but he didn’t care about that—he just wanted to keep me close.

“I know, baby.I know,” I murmured, stroking his scales.“Come on now—let’s go.Let’s set you free.”

The Drake was willing to go at once, but first I had to turn to face my friends once more.They had all drifted closer, though they were keeping a prudent distance between them and the Cursed Drake.I swiped at my eyes which were still wet and gave them a watery smile.

“It’s all right,” I told them, not having to fake my confidence this time.“He loves me as much as Saint does.More probably.He’d never hurt me.”

“Oh, Avery…” Megan had tears in her eyes.“I want to come hug you but I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.”

“Me too!”Emma echoed and Kaitlyn nodded agreement.

“Let me tell him.”I turned back to the Drake—I still had one hand on his long nose.“Listen, my friends want to hug me goodbye before we go,” I told him.“They’re not going to try to hurt me or take me away from you—they love me too.Okay?”

I felt reluctance from him to let anyone else touch me but after a moment, he agreed.“As long as they don’t try to steal you away,”he sent.

“They won’t,” I promised.

At last the Drake agreed and I stepped away from him and held out my arms to my coven mates.

Emma, Kaitlyn, and Megan gathered around me and we had a last group hug before I left for the Sky Lands.

“Be careful, Avery!”Emma told me.

“Be safe,” Megan begged.