Page 54 of Upon Buried Embers (Upon Buried Embers #1)

Elf

I wait in the tent for Rohan.

He went to a nearby stream to bathe, not wanting to dirty me, and though I protested, he was adamant.

So now I’m waiting for his return, nerves settling inside of me.

Will he blame me for Rhett’s death and Darcia leaving?

No. I banish my doubts. He won’t.

Rohan enters the tent, but he’s far from relaxed, and he must have rushed bathing because he still has flecks of blood on him.

It doesn’t bother me, I’ve seen worse things in the underground.

He’s pacing, growling to himself about how he should have killed Darcia.

Though I can still feel his anger, the silence of the tent and the privacy it offers relaxes me now that he’s here.

“She’s gone now Rohan,” I remind him, and she is.

Sigrid said as much when she caught us walking back. She also said something about giving her another lesson, but I didn’t ask what that was.

Darcia isn’t here anymore. Rhett’s really gone.

The fear she caused, the looking over my shoulder, the constant anxiety as soon as she was near, evaporated instantly.

It’s over.

“You should’ve told me about them,” he fumes. “I should’ve found out sooner, I should have…”

I grip his hand and he stills, looking at my smaller one curling around his.

“I didn’t want you to know, Rohan. I didn’t want to cause trouble.”

He lifts his hand and runs his fingers down the side of my neck. “I didn’t protect you,” he says hoarsely, circling my throat gently. “It’s my duty, and I failed you.”

His duty.

“You didn’t fail me.”

“I did.” His eyes are hard. “ I took you, so I take care of you, and I didn’t.”

This silly man.

“Rohan, you have taken care of me far more than anyone ever has.” I touch the ribbons on his forearm and slowly start to loosen them.

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

I look down. “I’m an elf, Rohan. No one cares what I go through.” He releases a harsh breath. “But I thought maybe you would care.”

“I do,” he says fiercely.

My eyes snap to his, seeing the intensity in them, the honesty. “I thought I would get in trouble.”

“Never.”

I nod. “I… I think I know that now. I did try to tell you at one point, but I couldn’t seem to release the words.

” I bite my lip. “Come, you still have some blood on you, you need to bathe again.” He eyes me unwrapping the ribbons, and when the first one falls to the floor, I lift his forearm to my lips, placing a soft kiss there.

He tenses, but when I grab the other arm and do the same, I look up as I place my mouth to the scars, and his eyes darken, the purple glowing and his nostrils flare.

“Come on.” Ignoring the fluttering in my stomach, I take his hand and guide him over to the tub. “She was the only one who hurt me like that. And Rhett… he just watched.”

He stills. “Promise me.”

“Promise what?”

“That was it, no one else. That if anything like this happens again you will come to me.”

I stroke his forearm, the bumps and dips of his scars under my fingertips. “I promise.” His shoulders instantly relax at that, then he begins stripping out of his clothes and getting into the tub, bare arms resting on the sides.

I grab the cloth and apply soap, waiting for the suds before I start washing his arm gently, making sure to pay extra attention to his scars.

“Can you feel it?” I ask, and he eyes his forearm.

“Yes, but it’s a little numb in places.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Only in The Games.”

I frown, but I don’t ask as I continue to wash him, showing him how thankful I am to have him in my corner.

“I uh, I have something to tell you…” I say after a while, gaining courage.

Just three seconds, I can do this.

“What is it?” he asks, eyes pinned to my face.

I wipe the cloth over his chest, trying to gain some courage, and then tell him about Sigrid.

He lays there, not moving, staring off into the distance, and then…

“Are you out of your mind?!” he roars, but I’m not frightened of his anger.

“She’s trustworthy.”

“She’s a Dragonbond!”

“Exactly!”

He growls, hands clenching on the rim of the tub. “She could tell the others.”

“She won’t.”

“And how are you so sure, hmm?”

“Because her dragon lost her mate last year.” He stills, eyes focused on me. “He was murdered in The Games. Sigrid wants revenge on the king for that.”

“I didn’t know that,” he mumbles, looking away.

“If you didn’t know, I have to wonder what else has happened that no one is discussing because no one trusts each other.”

“Of course we don’t.”

“But what if you did?” I counter.

“Did you forget the theory of a Dragonbond helping steal the eggs? The whole reason why I brought you here is to try and find out if one of the Dragonbonds’ dragons knows about this.”

“I know.” I scrub more soap on his shoulder. “But what if I can make sure there is no betrayal and if you all got together, maybe you can find out?”

He sighs, sinking lower in the tub. “We have never trusted each other, Little Whisperer. We’re attacked throughout the year, it could be from the king, could be other clans.

Fuck, it could be from my own people after Rhett’s betrayal and what Darcia did,” he growls.

“Trading with each other is tense, not knowing the reason why they short us sometimes, or change the deal at the last moment. We’re all out for ourselves to survive. If we don’t, we’ll die.”

I shake my head, it’s so confusing and silly to me.

“You all have dragons, all have your own clans to protect. But the dragons are in need, now more than ever, and no one will put their own issues aside to help? Not even try?”

“We’re here early to try and protect them,” he growls, sitting up straight. “You have not been with the Dragorie long. You don’t know this way of life!”

I sigh and go to get up, but his hand on my wrist stops me.

“Why are you wanting this so badly?”

I dare to remove his hand from my wrist, ignoring how his eyes flash and walk away. He gets out the tub and follows, naked as the day he was born and I try not to look at the droplets running down his chest as I face him.

“You set me a task, I am trying to fulfill it.”

“No,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s more than that. What is it?”

“I want to help.”

“You are.”

“Because of a deal, but now I want to help for the sake of helping. Not just to get Effy, not to make sure I’m safe here. I want to do it for me, for the Dragorie, for the dragons, for…”

He takes a step toward me, eyes full of fire.

“They’re just trying to live their life.”

Another step.

“And what of Frelia and her baby? It hasn’t hatched yet. She deserves to see her baby with no danger.”

Another step closer, and I’m aware of the look in his eyes, I feel it in my bones.

“And… and Sigrid’s dragon, her mate didn’t deserve to die either.”

I take a step back, and he walks, no, crowds me until I hit a table, his face inches from mine.

“They all deserve to live peacefully. Drogonah, Escor…”

“You want to help the dragons?” he murmurs, voice low.

“Yes,” I whisper.

“You want to help my dragons?”

“I do.”

“You want to help me ?” he rumbles, eyes darkening.

I say nothing, but he knows, deep down, that I’m doing it for him most of all.

“I do want to help you. Do this… for you. Regardless of the deal we made.”

Rohan lifts a hand to cup my cheek, running his thumb across my lips.

I shiver.

“You need to be careful with your words, Little Whisperer.”

“I mean them.”

“I know,” he breathes, nostrils flaring. “That’s the problem.”

“It is?” My eyes flutter shut as he comes closer, our bodies touching. The heat of his skin reaches me and I sigh, my stomach filling with butterflies. “Why?”

“Because it makes me want to keep you even more.”

My eyes open at that, looking directly into his.

“You meant it when you said that before?”

“That I want to keep you?” I nod. “I meant it. Let me keep you. Have you.”

Do I want that?

Could I stay here with him and his clan? Have a life here? I like his people, I like his horses and his dragons.

I like… him.

Could I have that?

“Let’s make a new deal, tell me, and I will give it to you,” Rohan murmurs.

“What?”

“Tell me what you want. No holding back.”

“I…”

“Show me that fire that you keep hidden.”

“But...” My chest heaves.

“You are more than a slave, so much fucking more than an elf, so tell me what you want.”

“I don’t think I can,” I whimper when his heat invades me even more.

“Yes, you can,” he growls, pushing me to expose myself. “Tell me what you want or so help me—”

“Everything!” I gasp out, emotions bubbling over with the admission. But now it’s out there, I can’t stop.

Everything spills out of me.

“I want everything. I want roses and comfort, happiness and freedom. I want to feel the breeze on my skin without repercussions, I want to eat so much I’ll feel sick.

I want to learn to ride a horse on my own and braid their hair.

I want to bathe in a lake and go to a market.

I want to come back to The Glade and see more dragons.

I want Escor to follow me around and Drogonah’s grumpiness!

” I gulp in air. “I want to stay here, I want to feel your warmth, and I want…”

“Say it,” he demands, bringing his palms up to cup my face. “Say. It.”

I squeeze my eyes shut before opening them again.

“I want you.”

I barely get the words out before his lips crash against mine.