Page 51 of Castor

“I thought dragons took several partners. Why can’t Tatsuya marry him instead?”

A dry laugh left me. “Tatsuya is straight as an arrow. And Warrin is gay, so he has no interest in my sister.”

“Warrin?”

“The ice prince.”

Castor curled his upper lip. “Warrin. What a stupid fucking name. He sounds like a total loser.”

I couldn’t help but lean against him as I chuckled. My sadness bled through the laugh though, making it sound a little hoarse.

“I’m glad you find this funny,” he said, but there was no bite to his tone. He sounded defeated, if anything.

“Better to laugh than get mad and start punching walls. I didn’t know you’d be so upset.”

“Of course I’m upset.” Castor rested his cheek on the side of my head. “More than upset. I’m pretty fucking shattered right now.”

The area right above my stomach cramped, as if someone had shoved a hot iron poker between my ribs.

Castor and I had only known each other for a few months. We’d been screwing around for less than that. How was it possible to already feel so attached to him? Connected. The thought of leaving his side was physically painful. Almost like a part of myself would be ripped away in the process.

“Is there any way to get out of the marriage?” Castor asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“No. Tatsuya has already arranged it. Backing out now would not only be an insult to the ice clan but would probably throw us right back into conflict.” My throat got tight again. “I can’t let that happen, Castor.”

Silence stretched between us as we sat side by side on the bed, heads pressed together, fingers linked, and gazes forward.

When I’d rescued Castor from the fighting pit months ago, I never imagined we’d be where we were right then, hearts wounded and emotions high. Wishing for more time.

***

Golden light filtered into the room, shining through the balcony doors and the two large windows on either side of it. The tops of green trees swayed a little with the early morning breeze, and the clear blue sky behind them promised of a beautiful day.

But I didn’t want to get out of bed, beautiful day or not.

Castor’s arms enveloped me, and his face rested at my nape, his breaths puffing against me as he slept. I turned my face into his bicep, loving the way his warm skin smelled in the morning. Just another thing about him to store to memory.

We hadn’t had sex the night before. Both of us had been too in our heads. With only one bed in the room, we had slept together, but we had kept to opposite ends of it with space between us. Yet, sometime during the night, we’d found our way back to each other.

I shifted around to face him. Red hair swooped across his brow and fell into his eyes, and I smoothed it aside, noting the softness of the strands on my fingertips. Long, deep auburn lashes cast shadows on the tops of his cheekbones as the sun hit his face just right.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

My selfishness had hurt the one person I never wanted to hurt. The one person who never failed to make my stomach flutter and my pulse quicken, even when I was calling him an idiot or poking fun at him. Especially in those moments.

A light knock sounded at the door.

Castor cracked open his lids, and as his green eyes focused on me, my stomach dipped a little. He smiled and leaned in to kiss me. A kiss that ended abruptly when another, harder knock came at the door.

“I know you’re awake,” Alastair said from the other side. “Get up and get dressed. Baxter wants to meet downstairs for breakfast.”

“Fine,” Castor mumbled before rolling away from me and standing from the bed. I admired the two dimples in his lower back as he grabbed yesterday’s jeans and put them on. All of our luggage was back at the hotel.

“Should I come too?” I asked, sitting up.

“Yeah. I don’t want you out of my sight.” Castor paused as he went to put on his shoes and gave a quick shake of his head. “Forget I said that.”

He was trying to put distance between us. Was the good-morning kiss an accident, then?