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With a quick glance over his shoulder, he winked and vanished from sight. This male had split personalities. One moment he was telling her how much he hated everything about her and that he never wanted to see her again, and the next he was flaunting himself like a peacock.

* * *

With her bagslung over her shoulder, she stepped out through the hole in the outer wall to the waiting dragon. Presco had pearl-white scales with baby blue horns, the tallest horns she’d ever seen, and spikes all along his spine. Compared to the others back in Adalon he was colossal, bulky, taller, longer. He lay down with his head resting on his massive paws, but his back spikes still rose higher than the fifty-foot wall surrounding the manor. Even though she knew of his gentle nature it was intimidating to stand beside such a large dragon.

“Hop on,” Presco said, lifting his head. “It’s a two-day flight.”

She stepped forward, and Hel took hold of the strap around her shoulder. “I’ll take this for you.” The weight of it lifted as it vanished into nothing. She was going to have to learn to do that soon. The convenience alone.

“Thanks.”

Hel stood back and crossed his arms. “Let’s see you get up there.” He held up his finger, “Without your vines.”

“You mean, levitate?” She hadn’t done that yet and with Presco waiting and watching, it wasn’t the ideal time to try.

In answer, he arched a brow and shrugged.

“You know, we don’t always have to make everything into a training exercise.”

“I’m always testing you, even when you don’t know it. Get up there.”

She sighed. “Fine.”

It can’t be that difficult. All I have to do is float.She rolled her eyes at herself and imagined her feet lifting off the ground first. Nothing happened. Her magic tingled along her limbs, and she tried again, leaning into the memory she had of lifting out of the water.Come on, I’m Valeen, the goddess of night. This is easy.

The pressure of the ground beneath her feet proved otherwise. With Presco watching hopefully and Hel’s smug expression, she desperately wanted it but the more effort she put into lifting off the ground, the more resistance she came up against.

Alright, shadow then. Her solid form dissipated but kept her shape, and she climbed up Presco’s leg. When she weighed nothing, the climb was quick. One jump moved her up ten feet. Straddling a horn, she brought her solid form back and waved down at Hel.

As quick as a thought, he was behind her, leaning back against another spike that towered over his head by three feet, keeping a careful sword’s blade distance between them. Although this was a dragon, not a horse, she thought of her rides with Thane and the way he pressed against her backside. Hel seemed as desperate to stay away as Thane had been to be close.

Presco lifted into the air, barely jarring her with his smooth takeoff. Once they were level and soaring, Layala turned around, bringing her knees up to her chest and rested her back against the spike. With her hair secured in a braid, only the stray hairs around her face whipped about in the wind but Hel’s shaggy dark hair took the brunt of the blast. The whooshing of Presco’s wings and the howl of wind from their speed was loud enough she didn’t feel the need to talk to Hel. After everything they said the day before, the energy between them felt heavy. Recalling bits of her life as the goddess of night added tension and settled like a weight in her gut.

Hel flicked his wrist and the wind calmed to nothing, as if a surrounding bubble enveloped them. They sat quietly, staring off in opposite directions. Presco’s flying was relatively steady but a sudden gust of wind and a jump up, sent Layala sliding forward. Her fingers clawed at his slick scales but did nothing to stop her momentum and she collided with Hel. He caught her around the waist and to her horror, her thighs were now straddled on top of his. His face was inches away, his garnet eyes stared into hers.

“You need to hold onto something,” he said.

If he were Thane he’d add something like “and that something can be me,” and she’d remark something back, but Hel didn’t say anything. He held onto her waist like he didn’t want to let go, and he stared at her like he wished she would stay in his arms. And for a moment she found herself wanting to stay, too. A part of her knew what it was like to be in love with this beautiful male, and how for years he was her gift from the All Mother, an answer to her lonely prayers.

She wanted to fold into him and hold him like he was her Zaurahel and she was his Valeen and the last two thousand years never happened. Like he was the god who brought light into her darkness and she the goddess who broke through his walls and claimed a male who said he’d never fall in love. Even if she couldn’t remember it all, she felt it, felt his magic curl around her, felt her own answer to its call. Her lily mark even throbbed like a heartbeat of its own. She wanted to give in to him, just once, a kiss, nothing more. She couldn’t remember what his lips tasted like and if they’d move in sync with hers, if her heart would sing.

He leaned forward, and heavy-lidded eyes sought her admission. His fingers lightly dug into her ribs and his lips parted. His breaths came faster, so did hers.

Just once.

But then she remembered before.Just one kiss, he’d said.Just one kiss changed everything and that wasn’t who they were anymore.

It felt like a betrayal even thinking about kissing Hel and at the same time, being with him felt like where she should have been all along. Before she could even lean away he gently pushed her back. The buzzing connection severed, and she quickly turned her body around and scooted up toward the dragon spike. As her arms wrapped around the spike his voice entered her mind,It wouldn’t stop with one kiss, love.

She faced forward, unable to look at him.I know.

I would want more.

I know.Her throat thickened and tears came unbidden.All those things you said you hate about me…

A long pause. Are what I love about you. And I can’t have you. That’s why I hate them.

Chapter40