Page 60 of Upon Buried Embers (Upon Buried Embers #1)

Elf

I watch Rohan with the other Dragonbonds. The rest of the clans set off home many hours ago, making sure they’re back in time for their leader’s arrival.

The Dragonbonds don’t seem as intense this morning, more somber than anything as another horn blares for The Games.

I’ve been trying to ignore it myself, focusing on the ache between my thighs from last night instead.

My cheeks heat just thinking about it. I’ve never felt so alive, so wanted—no, needed . It was almost desperate, how both of us grasped for each other, scared that what’s between us is going to end, and in a way it could.

I still can’t believe that someone wanted me so badly that they took me again and again throughout the night, only sleeping to rest and do it all over again.

Whenever I witnessed sex, it wasn’t nice or pleasant. It was pain-filled because no one wanted it, but I never felt fear with Rohan. He made sure to ask what I wanted and gave it to me.

He let me choose .

And I chose him all night.

As if sensing my thoughts, Rohan turns, eyeing me and no doubt my red cheeks before he smirks.

I bite my lip. If he were a bird, he would be fluffing his feathers up now from the proud set of his shoulders.

How did the mighty Dragonbond end up wanting me ?

A grumble comes from my right, and Drogonah sits up straight, glaring down at Sparks with that eye of his.

“He’s only tiny, Drogonah.” And he is, he barely comes up to his ankles… Do dragons have ankles?

Sparks tries to climb up the front of his leg, clawing him, and Drogonah’s tail comes around, pushing him away.

“Don’t be mean.”

Growl.

Sparks goes back to him and he pushes him away again.

“We will all need to look after him now, and you will eventually have to teach him how to fly when he’s older.”

I smile at the thought. Oh what a grumpy dragon he will be.

He pushes Sparks one last time with his tail, and turns his back on him. If a dragon could sigh like they’re done with everything, it would be Drogonah now.

I watch as Sparks backs up, tail high, feet dancing and then, he runs for Drogonah, pushing off with his back legs and jumping on the base of his tail.

Drogonah growls, whipping around, causing Sparks to fall and land on his back, legs in the air.

Drogonah leans down, jaw just above him and he could easily tear the baby apart.

Instead, he blows a ring of smoke around him, warning him with a rumble and I pretend I’m not looking when he nudges him over so he’s standing on his feet again, tail curled around him to keep him safe.

All while looking in the other direction with his good eye, chin high.

I cover my mouth, laughing.

“Something funny, Little Whisperer?” Rohan appears in front of me, his hand on my chin to tilt it up. Thumb stroking over my smile.

“Drogonah’s pretending to hate Sparks, but he secretly likes him.” I think for a moment. “Kind of like his Dragonbond.”

He scoffs. “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t hate him, he’s just my enemy, waiting for an opportunity to kill me in my sleep.”

I huff out a laugh as I reach up to trail a finger down the new braid I did this morning. “There are so many now.”

He grabs my hand, bringing it to his mouth. “Twenty-three.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve done twenty-three small braids.”

My eyes widen. “You counted them?”

“Of course.” He looks at me like I’m crazy, and I look at the top half of his head, at all the tiny braids I’ve done on the sides, all pulled back into a bun while the bottom half of his hair is down.

I shake my head. “At least let me replace the old ones, I’m much better now.”

“Absolutely not.”

“But—”

“No.” I pout, and his eyes dip to it. “You can’t do that.”

“What?”

“That with your lips.”

“Pouting?”

“Yes, that. Don’t do it.”

I frown. “Why?”

“Because how am I supposed to resist that?”

He actually sounds mad about it.

I raise up on my tiptoes and pull him down to kiss his lips. “Does this make it better if you give in?”

“Maybe.”

He smiles into another kiss, until Drogonah’s impatient roar breaks us apart.

“I think he’s ready to leave,” I say, eyeing how he has Sparks on his stomach, flat, his foot on his back to keep him there while Sparks wiggles and whines.

I can’t wait for the others to meet him.

“Turn around.” I do, and Rohan gathers my braided hair, pulling it back up high for the journey.

I will never not want his hands in my hair, it’s so soothing, comforting.

“There.”

I turn and feel the back of my head, my eyes widening as I look at his forearm.

“You used your ribbon to tie my hair?”

“Just another thing of mine you claimed.”

I smile, stroking along his forearm. I haven’t asked him why he doesn’t have scales like the other Dragonbonds, but with the way he’s tensing at my touch, before slowly relaxing, I don’t want to bring it up and disrupt the mood.

“Thank you.”

He looks down at me, probably wondering if I’ll ask, but instead, he takes my hand and pulls me along. “Let’s go home.”

Home?

Something warm swirls in my stomach.

“No one is left?” I ask Rohan as I grab Sparks, him baring his little baby teeth at a nonchalant Drogonah before he helps me climb on Drogonah’s back.

It’s early morning, so I wrap Sparks up in my cloak as Rohan settles behind me, watching the other Dragonbonds part ways mid-air.

My braids blow in the wind. They’re a mixture of small and larger ones, looking shorter with how high Rohan has put them, and I pick one up as my eyes catch on the hair at the end of the reins as Rohan holds them, and what it means runs through my mind.

I swallow my nerves. “Rohan? Do you have a blade I could use for a moment, please?”

He tenses, then after a moment, he passes me a smaller dagger. Eyeing it, it looks like the same size I’ve been training with.

“Thank you.” I bring it up and place it on a braid at the back of my head and cut through it.

“What are you doing?” Rohan fumes, taking the blade from me.

I take a tie out of another braid and quickly tie the end of the one I just cut, holding it in my palm when I’m done.

“Why did you do that?!”

I grab Rohan’s hand and begin to tie my hair around his wrist. “I don’t want to attach it to your reins, that is for your Mother’s hair.” I feel him tense. “But I want you to have some of my hair, in hopes that whatever comes in The Games, you will have my protection.”

“Elf…”

“Please, Rohan,” I turn and look up at him when I’m done. “Please accept it.”

“And what will you have?” he asks, eyes on his wrist.

“I have you, don’t I?”

“You do,” he rasps, eyes flicking to me. “You will always have me.”

I smile, turning back around. “Then it’s settled.”

“It is.” Rohan replies quietly, arm coming around my waist. “Ready to leave?”

We look back to The Glade, the distant roars and the shaking of trees. I’m sad to leave, and scared for them. “What if more come back and hurt the others?”

“We can’t stay here and miss the calling for The Games.” I can hear the anger in his voice, the tightness of his body at my back. “I would stay here all year and protect them if I could.”

I half turn to him, placing a hand on his cheek. “How does everyone fear you, yet you speak like this of wild dragons?” I tilt my head as his eyes bore into mine. “You have a heart that goes deep, Dragonbond.”

“The heart you speak of does not reside in my body.”

He places his hand over mine and closes his eyes for a moment. I’m so surprised at the softness of the moment, that when I feel Drogonah move beneath us, wings spreading wide to fly, I want to hold onto this forever.

I want to freeze time and stay here.

“Thought of a name yet?” Rohan asks, after a while.

“A name?”

“Yes, a name for yourself like we spoke about.”

“Oh.” I’d forgotten.

“We can’t call you Elf in the city, you’ll be taken by the guards as soon as it’s uttered.”

That’s true. “I don’t know of a name, though.”

“It’ll come to you.”

“Will you help me?” I ask, taking Sparks out of my cloak and placing him in front of me.

He blinks lazily, but as he rests his little front legs on the lip of the saddle, wings stretching wide like Drogonah’s, he soon wakes up.

“You should name yourself,” he replies, hand stroking my stomach. “No one should give you a name but yourself.”

I think on it for a moment. “If I do find a name, what if I can’t remember it?”

“Don’t worry about that, I can help you remember it by groaning it in your ear all night while I fuck you.”

I shiver, my breath hitching and I whimper when he moves his hand down between my legs, causing me to squirm. He rests it there possessively.

“Rohan,” I whine as he chuckles darkly.

“Don’t think too hard about it. It’ll come, and whatever it is, it’ll be right because you choose it.”

I sigh and relax into him.

“I’ll think about it.”

He nips the top of my ear. “Good.”

Roar.

We both peer down at Sparks, whose wings are now stretched as wide as possible, lifting his head high and roaring, proud of himself. Drogonah answers in a softer tone.

“I like it.”

“Like what?”

“This.” I breathe in the air, close my eyes and just like Sparks, I extend my arms like last time and pretend I’m flying.

Rohan chuckles at my back. “Then we’ll do this, often.”

“Promise?”

“Always.”

“Rohan.”

He squeezes me close. “Yeah?”

“This is one of my things.”

“What?”

“Just one thing. This is one of them.”

He’s silent for a moment. “I hope there are many now.”

I lean back into him. “There is.”

I listen to Sparks and Drogonah as they growl and rumble back and forth, bickering. If they were able to talk, I imagine what they’d argue about.

Drogonah would annoy Sparks by being too grumpy, and Sparks would breathe wrong in Drogonah’s direction.

Thinking about it makes me chuckle, but then a thought occurs to me.

“Rohan? What happens to the dragons if there are no Dragonbonds?”

“What?”

“There are five Dragonbonds, and no more have come from the Blessing this year, what happens when there are none left?”

“They die.”

“What!?” We both freeze at my panicked shout, even Drogonah releases a growl at it, his wings stuttering for a moment.

“The dragons, they’ll die.”