Page 43 of Dreams and Dragon Wings (Clean Fairytales for Adults #2)

Benevolence

M y throat tightens as she flees from me. I should have told her this before, back in Spindleton.

My inner dragon snarls at me, irritated that we have offended Na’therya .

I know, I know , I try to soothe that wild part of my soul. But how could I have told her then with my Shade tempting me to devour her at every turn?

“Aurelia, there is more—”

“Wait,” she gasps, the word little more than a breath on her lips. She stands before the apple tree, staring down at the nearly lifeless forms of Brisa and Glorana resting there. Their eyes are closed. Their chests weakly rise and fall.

My aunties do not have much time left.

Nor do we have the time to wait.

“You must understand,” I urge the back of her head, willing her to look at me again. “The Jewel War began once we dragons realized a Jewel’s gift could be taken by force. Masters of Spirit could bind a Jewel and torture them until they agreed to give the gift away.”

“No—”

I grip her by the shoulders and swing her around to face me.

“ Vaei . And if all else failed, a dragon could simply consume the Jewel’s essence—their soul—and claim for his or herself at least a small portion of the gift.

Maybe only twenty more years of life at most, but at least that was something. ”

My eyes search hers.

She now looks so lost I can hardly stand it.

“Don’t you see, Na’therya ? First, my people nearly hunted yours to extinction.

And then Malice cursed me so that I would be driven mad with hunger to consume you to take your gift for my own.

And now Malice will either force you to give him your gift, or he will surely consume you if you refuse.

There is no way to win in this if you stay. You must leave.”

Within my hold, she trembles, and I immediately release her. I want to embrace her, to soothe her, but I see that she needs space.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m so terribly, terribly sorry. I should have told you back in Spindleton so you could guard yourself against this moment. But I feared…” Dare I tell her now? But I must. I must . “I feared you would misunderstand my feelings if I did.”

“Your feelings?” she echoes, retreating from me by a step.

I let her go, though my arms ache to tug her back in close.

She glances around the garden and then looks at me as if something I have said has horrified her beyond words. Her hands lift, covering her mouth.

“Bene,” she exhales against her fingers, the words muffled. “You’re Bene .”

I frown at her, confused by this sudden declaration. “Of course I am.” I look down at myself, giving my torso a pat. I look the same as I always do when I am not in my dragon form. “Who did you think I was? Malice?”

“How insulting,” Malice’s voice drawls from just behind me. “We look nothing alike.”

Aurelia’s scream echoes through the garden as I whirl to face him, a bestial snarl erupting from my throat. I place myself between my uncle and my Jewel, my teeth bared. I may not be able to protect her in the waking world, but I can certainly try to protect her here.

Except even here, it is Malice who makes the rules.

Some force I cannot see lifts me off my feet and binds me fast, like iron bands constricting my chest. I struggle in vain, kicking and thrashing. But I cannot move.

Nor can I speak.

Malice turns toward Aurelia, an infuriating smile curving his lips. “How convenient of you, Nephew, to only explain part of the story—the part that makes you look like a hero rather than a villain like me. Let us explore the details you left out, shall we?”

Naei ! I was going to tell her the rest. I was going to tell her everything.

I open my mouth, but no sound emerges. My inner dragon claws at its prison, fighting to be loose.

I look at Aurelia—at her beautiful sky-blue eyes that stare up at me with such hurt and confusion.

Naei, na’velar . I never wanted to hurt her.

I made her that promise back in Spindleton, and I meant it.

I meant every word.

“Don’t you find it interesting, my dear,” Malice speaks again, drawing Aurelia’s attention back his way, “that Benevolence only came to find you after all these years when he stood to lose your gift to Friedemar? To be fair, that is also why I came to find you, but I will never claim to have had any other motive like my nephew will.”

I try to growl, but even that is silent. Mute, I shake my head.

That is not true! I came to her because she was in danger.

But more than that, because I wanted to. No matter the danger to myself, I needed to see her again. To be with her if only for a small time.

I try to pry my mouth apart to speak these things Aurelia needs to hear before she succumbs to Malice’s twisted truths. But he has stolen the very voice from my throat. The very air from my lungs.

Malice continues, “I will make this plain for you so that you do not misunderstand me: the only reason my older brother and his wife rejoiced at the news that their precious son, the great Benevolence of House Radiata”—he sneers my name as if it is a swear word—“would take a Jewel for his queen instead of a dragoness is because of your gift.

Because they knew what that would mean: that Benevolence would enjoy a longer life and a longer reign. "

He barks out a laugh, his gaze still all for Aurelia.

"I see in your thoughts that you still try to deny my words, my dear.

Because my nephew told you that you were important .

But I fear your importance lies in one thing and one thing alone—the potential for life you carry within you. That is it . That is all."

That's not true. I shake my head again, trying to capture Aurelia's attention, to show her that I don't believe such lies and she shouldn't either. She's more important than that to me.

I do not care about her gift. Only my Shade does.

Smiling, my uncle turns toward me next. "But let us ask the great and honorable Benevolence directly, shall we? Do you deny the fact that you only came to find Aurelia because you sensed—by some means—that she was with Friedemar and you knew Friedemar would try to claim her gift for his own?"

I narrow my eyes and imagine punching him in the face again.

As if sensing my thoughts, his smile brightens.

Like a man who knows something I do not.

"Do you deny that if Friedemar had not captured Aurelia that night that your intention was to use the power of the Corona Ignis to destroy the Door, ensuring you never saw Aurelia again?

Ensuring that she never learned of the prophecy nor her true purpose in life: to give her gift to you ? "

He might as well have punched me in the stomach with these latest questions. I cannot possibly deny such a thing. Of course that was exactly my intention. He must have gleaned it either from my thoughts of those of my godmothers.

But, as ever, he leaves out the most important details. My why .

Because I hoped to protect her from my Shade. Because I wanted to protect her from his curse.

"Bene?" Aurelia prompts, looking up at me with now glistening eyes. Her lips tremble. Her breath catches. Almost too softly for me to catch, she asks, "Is that true?"

A sigh rattles from my chest. Of course Malice would return to me the ability to speak for this.

“Yes,” I rasp, the word sticking in my throat. “But—”

Before I can utter a single word further, my voice morphs into a strangled gasp as Malice clearly steals my ability for speech again. Naei! Again, I thrash against the invisible bonds restraining me.

But all in vain.

Always in vain.

Malice’s mocking laughter rings out, filling the nightmare garden.

“How sad, is it not? That the Great Weaver’s plan for you was always to be a mere accessory to…

that?” He gestures to me with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“A man who can only bring himself to want you when he stands to lose you to another? A man who does not think you worthy of knowing who you are until he is forced into a position to reveal the truth?”

It’s not true! That was never the Great Weaver’s plan. Aurelia is far more than an accessory. She is one half of a larger whole—

She is one half of a larger whole.

A shudder ripples through me as I realize my greatest mistake far, far too late. All my years of struggling to break my curse alone. All my years of carrying that burden on my own shoulders, thinking I kept failing because I wasn’t strong enough. Because I wasn’t good enough.

But now I see.

I never succeeded because I was only one half of the whole.

I never succeeded because Aurelia was never there to help me.

My uncle cursed us both .

I needed her with me all along to discover how to break it.

Slumping within the hold of the bonds holding me aloft, I turn my gaze Aurelia’s way, trying to catch her eye, to convey to her all that I feel—that I am sorry, that I need her, that I was wrong, that I want her. Not because she is a Jewel. Not even because of the prophecy.

But because she is my friend. My best friend.

And because I have loved her ever since that first moment in the garden, when I was nothing more than a stupid, stupid boy and she was simply the prettiest girl who didn’t smell like a girl I had ever seen.

But she does not look at me. She merely stares at her feet and wraps her arms around herself as Malice takes a step closer and purrs, “And despite my nephew’s poor opinion of me, I was neither intending to consume your soul tonight nor force you to bestow your gift against your will.

” He extends his hand toward her—a clear invitation.

“It was my hope that you would simply share it with me of your own free will when you become my wife.”

The dragon within me keens a mourning cry as I watch Aurelia back away from us both.

“Leave me alone,” she whispers, her voice breaking.

Something inside me breaks right along with it.

But Malice doesn’t listen. He continues to pursue her, right up until the moment she shouts at the top of her lungs, “Leave me alone!” and blinks out of existence.

The bonds around me dissolve immediately, sending me pitching to the ground. I land hard on my hands and knees, my fingers digging into the dry earth, panted breaths escaping from my lungs.

Aurelia is gone. I didn’t get to say goodbye. I didn’t get to explain myself.

She is… gone .

Somewhere above me, Malice laughs. “I appreciate her spirit. She is a bit dull when she doesn’t fight back, but—”

I don’t hear the rest. I don’t hear anything.

My shift comes over me before I can stop it, my bones contorting, my body changing. My fingers are replaced by claws. My teeth by fangs. I want to crunch my uncle’s limbs within my jaws. I want to make him bleed. I want to make him scream.

I want to make him hurt just as badly as me .

My wings surge, lifting me into the air. Swinging my head from side to side, I hunt for my uncle, for the coward who can only bring himself to threaten my queen when I am not in a position to protect her with claw and fang. But he is already gone.

“Coward!” I taunt, flying as high as the prison will allow before I meet with another invisible barrier. I snarl, biting at the air that dares to keep me from passing. “Worm! Come and face me like a true dragon!”

Malice’s voice unfurls from nowhere and everywhere all at once. “Why would I bother doing that when I already have what I want?”

Fury sweeps through me—a conflagration that consumes all thought, all sense.

“I will never stop fighting for her!” I roar, flying toward the other side of my prison until I meet with another wall. And then another. Around and around I go, searching for any opening.

I find none.

“Face me, Malice!” I roar again, but this time, he does not answer me. No doubt he has already left so that he can go to Aurelia in the waking world.

And bend her to his will.

“Naei!”

I dive toward the thorns keeping me here. I slash at them with my claws. I snap at them with my fangs. Again and again, I throw myself at the bramble walls keeping me here until a thousand pinpricks dot my scaled body. Until my mouth pools with blood. Until I can stand the pain no longer.

It is no use. I cannot break through the thorns. I cannot escape.

This is truly the end.

Aurelia is lost to me.

A whimper escapes my throat unbidden as I wing back to the apple tree where my aunties still lie, their light almost completely faded. Carefully, I land beside them and curl my much larger form around both of theirs.

My breath rattles from my chest in great heaves, ruffling their hair as I settle my dragon muzzle on my front paws. I no longer have the energy for anything—not even to lick my wounds clean.

Brisa stirs, her eyes cracking open. “Bene?” Her voice is so far away, so weak. “Bene, what’s happening?”

“Nothing,” I lie, inching my face closer until I can give both her and Glorana a gentle nuzzle. “Rest now. Conserve your strength.”

I can’t let them give up hope yet, though there is no hope left.

I would rather they die still believing help is coming soon.

Glorana mumbles something unintelligible and rolls over, nestling closer to my paw.

But it is Brisa who places her tiny hand against my muzzle and whispers, “Na velar sha, Bene.”

Her words bring tears springing to my eyes; I shut them tight, refusing to let her see.

Tucking my head alongside her body, I rumble back, “I love you, too, Auntie.”

My heart aches. I should have protected them better. All of them—Brisa, Glorana, Velda, Aurelia. My people who will have to face Malice and his goblin horde without their king.

I should have told Aurelia everything from the very beginning.

All of this could have been avoided if only I had been completely truthful from the start.

Foolishly, I thought I was protecting her by keeping secrets.

I thought I was doing the right thing by shielding her from the painful reality of our situation.

But all I have managed to do is hurt her.

Even though I promised I wouldn't.

And now there is nothing I can do to help her overcome the hurt borne of my own pride and stupidity beyond pray for her safety.

Clenching my eyes shut tighter, I do just that.

Please watch over Velda, wherever she might be, and grant my people Your mercy in the war to come.

And… please, help Aurelia. I beg You to help her. She needs You now more than ever. Watch over her. Help her to know that she's not alone.

And that's she so much more than Malice would have her believe.