Page 27

Damian

L icking my lips, I forced myself to stop the constant shift of weight from leg to leg as I waited.

The gala will be fine. Things have gotten better, you know that. You can both be mature enough to handle a night of dining and dancing politely.

Better was not the same as fixed. Sure, the giant glacier between us had begun to thaw, but it was still there, still an ever-present part of our every interaction. The kiss on the plains near the border had taken us both by surprise. The ensuing confusion in my mind seemed to be echoed in Aurora, but I didn’t know because she wouldn’t talk to me about it!

Over a week had gone by. In that time, nothing had happened. It was infuriating.

No new leads about the missing scepters. No threats, no more holes in the border—even the one Aurora and I had discovered had begun to close on its own—and no more attempts to steal others. It was as if the culprits had gone entirely to ground, content to wait things out.

My frustration was boiling over into the tension between Aurora and me. She was having a hard time reconciling the two sides of me, not believing I could be both people without bias. In her world, that leaked over, and she was hurt by that, all the while forgetting she wasn’t in her world anymore.

I’d tried bringing it up several times, but eventually, anyone would get tired of the cold shoulder.

“We’re going to be late,” I called loudly enough so I would be heard through the closed door. “Are you ready?”

“No,” came the distant reply. She was distracted, likely fiddling with something. “But I’m probably not going to be any more ready, either. I just hope I look okay.”

I knew she would look better than “okay,” but I tempered my response so as not to come on too strong. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin the evening before it had started.

“You will look fabulous, I’m sure,” I said, attempting to sound uncaring.

“You’re just saying that so we can get going.” She sounded closer to the door.

I laughed. “Absolutely not .”

“What? Do you not like these things?” she asked, the handle turning.

“I may have to occasionally act as a politician, Aurora, but I detest everything that goes along with it. I do what I do to ensure justice is applied fairly to all. Not to be seen or heard, which is exactly what an event like the Peace Gala is all about. For those with power to preen and be admired by those whom they have power over. No, it disgusts me.”

The door opened.

“But I think I’ll survive tonight,” I said as my jaw fell open at the visage that greeted me.

Aurora had opted for a stunning midnight blue dress. A stiff, structured upper half that fell off the shoulders in pleated waves gave way to a form-fitting lower body, with a leg slit that instantly started the drool flowing. She looked like a classical beauty. I admired what she’d done to her hair, somehow making it shorter by pulling it back, giving it a little bob-like effect.

Her pouty lips were now bright red, acting like the cape of a matador, and I was the bull.

“Well?” she asked, somewhat subdued as she twisted left and right, the motion only emphasizing the high slit in her skirt, showing off a delicious amount of leg.

“You look spectacular,” I said bluntly, unable to come up with any better descriptor for her. “Just … wow.”

“Just wow, eh?” she teased, a hint of fresh redness coloring her cheeks under the makeup.

I nodded slowly, giving her another head-to-toe once-over. Apparently, letting her loose in the store with no limits on what she should buy had been the right choice. Every dragon at the gala would admire her once they saw her.

My dragon snarled possessively. It didn’t want to share. For once, we were on the same page about that. Tonight, Aurora was ours.

“You look pretty wow yourself,” she said with a giggle, pulling on the jacket of my uniform. “The purple stripes on your pants are a nice addition.”

The dual stripes ran down the sides, the color marking me as magistrate. The formal uniform jacket had matching stripes on the shoulder under the green and orange emblem, making up grinning dragon head of the office of the sovereign.

“Thank you, but it’s nothing compared to you.”

Aurora blushed deeply this time, unable to hide her embarrassment. “Please stop. I never liked getting all dressed up for events. I feel like a doll on display.”

“I thought you were a politician,” I said, taking her arm and heading for the door, noting that she’d opted for a pair of black strappy sandals to go with the outfit. A wise choice.

“That doesn’t mean I liked everything about it,” she countered.

Her mood darkened so suddenly I nearly broke my neck looking around, trying to see what it was. There was nobody in the hallway. We were alone.

“What’s wrong?” I asked softly. “Do we need to go back?”

“No,” she said, reaching over with her right hand to squeeze my forearm. “I was just thinking. My father loved these events. He was like a peacock showing off. I should’ve known then. That should’ve been my first warning sign that he was full of lies.”

I thought frantically, trying to think of something to distract her. This wasn’t the tone I wanted set for the evening. We both could benefit from a good time, even if it was a lame political grandstand for the power-makers to attend and pretend like they were better than everyone else.

“Horus is feeling better, did I tell you that? He’s awake now and seems to be on his way to recovering.”

She glanced at me, hope banishing the doom and gloom. “Really?”

“Yes.” I smiled to myself, happy the mention of the border guard had worked. “We also found out what happened to him.”

“You mean why he was so much worse off than you?”

“Exactly. Apparently, he saw the hole in the barrier and tried to fly through it.”

Aurora looked up at me. “Why would he do that?”

I fought down the flickers of excitement as we locked eyes, trying to keep myself controlled. It was hard enough with her hand resting on my forearm while we walked. If I spent too long looking at her, it would only grow more difficult.

“When you know the barrier is usually invisible, but not tangible, it makes a lot more sense. Normally, we fly across it without issue. It’s a visual mirage, essentially. Not a physical wall.”

“Oh. You’re right. That does make more sense. He would have no reason to think flying through the hole would pose an issue.”

“Until it was too late,” I added, nodding along. “So, he got hammered by the energy, whereas I only got a tiny dose. It flung him backward and has left his dragon still stunned even now.”

I didn’t tell her that the only reason my dragon had come back to me, had been able to shake off the energy snare that had split us, was because of the wyvern. The near feral need to do anything and everything to protect her had reached deep inside me to wherever the dragon had been and roused it enough to come surging back.

Though I hadn’t told her, my dragon had crashed after we’d returned to the palace, requiring days of rest. Only yesterday had it begun to stir normally, and today was the first renewed insistence that I take her to bed.

It was making things difficult, to say the least, especially because as far as I could tell, that was the last thing Aurora wanted to do with me.

But we did share that kiss. I didn’t imagine that. It was real.

The confusing deluge of emotions was more than I needed. With the scepters still missing, and the senior councilors clearly out to make my life problematic until it was resolved, falling for a human was an added confusion I could do without.

My dragon didn’t seem to agree or care about all my carefully constructed logical arguments. It wanted her, and it wanted her now , and until I claimed her as my own, it wasn’t going to be satisfied.

“Quite the lineup,” she said as we turned the corner and approached the main doors to the ballroom.

At least two dozen couples were in line ahead of us, all being ushered inside at a slow but constant rate. Behind us, more dragons were approaching. We wouldn’t wait long.

“This is the event to be at, or so I’ve been told,” I said as we took our place in line, advancing several steps as each pair in front of us was taken inside and announced to the party by the doorman.

“Gosh, if I only felt the same way,” she said, laughing.

I smiled, ushering her forward once more to keep things moving. “The other human women will be here. You could talk to them.”

She shrugged the suggestion off. “I don’t know them from anyone else.”

“Maybe not,” I insisted. “But at least they’ll be able to relate to things better than a dragon. You might find you appreciate just talking to someone who gets it.”

“We’ll see.”

The line moved forward, and we advanced. The front of the line was growing close, and we were only a few couples away now from the entrance.

“Are you ready to dance … with me?” I added the last two words almost as an afterthought, but from the way Aurora sharply looked at me, eyebrows lowering, I knew she understood the implication.

“Why?” she asked. “Do you want to dance with me? A human?”

A deep growl tore from my throat, echoing off the stone walls and filling the hallway, drawing stares from every side.

“You are not just a human,” I rumbled darkly, leaning forward over her to better make my point. “You are a wonderful woman. You are strong, intelligent, caring, and downright stunning tonight. Any man here should be proud to have you on his arm, dragon or not. Do not think I need pity, Aurora. I am lucky . Is that clear?”

She nodded jerkily, eyes wide at my outburst.

“Good. Now,” I said in a far softer tone, extending my arm toward her at the same time. “Would you do me the honor of entering at my side?”

Blushing furiously at the attention she was receiving, Aurora nodded, taking my arm once more.

Spine straight, I escorted her to the door and inside, glaring around the room. Anyone who dared say a thing about who I was with would be getting an earful.

At the minimum.