Page 2 of Wrath of the Dragons (Fear the Flames #2)

“I would be if your healing skills were better. I’d have asked Elowen if she wasn’t getting ready for the day.” Ryder grins when Saskia’s glare intensifies.

I clear my throat and claim a chair on the other side of the coffee table. “Have you seen her?”

Saskia’s glare slides to me, but quickly becomes more contemplative, making me feel like one of the coded letters she looks forward to deciphering.

I think it’s always irked her that she’s never been able to read me as well as she can other people.

She finishes bandaging Ryder, making him wince again.

“Only briefly. She came to my chambers an hour ago and asked if I’d accompany her into Verendus today. ”

“How did she look?”

Saskia grabs a small bowl of fruit off the tray before leaning back on the couch. “She looked fine.”

She didn’t sleep. She’s not fine. Her uncle betrayed her, and even if she wants to pretend his death doesn’t faze her, I know it does.

She wanted his approval and love, and he never granted her either.

She was constantly reaching out her hand and left it there with blood pooling in her palm as the man that should’ve cherished her, loathed her.

When I carried her out of that banquet hall covered in his blood, she looked shattered.

“I’m hoping to get some wedding planning done while we’re out. You need to solidify your claim to the throne as quickly as possible.”

“Give her some time,” I state. “Just get her out of this castle.”

Saskia’s eyes soften a fraction, but she remains silent.

I’d have taken her away from the castle after she said good night to her dragons, but her eyes filled with pain as soon as she landed in the grass and saw me waiting for her.

She took to the skies after the dragon ceremony and didn’t come down until she was so cold she could hardly walk.

She wants time away from me, and though it goes against my instincts, I’m trying to respect it.

But I can’t sit by and watch her torture herself within the confines of her mind.

She internalizes all the pain around her, trying to take it away from everyone while brushing her own aside as the knife twists in her heart.

She wants to protect everyone else, and all I want to protect is her.

Ryder fills a cup of coffee halfway before pulling a whiskey bottle from the shelf under the table and topping it off. “You look like you could use this.”

I note the label painted with black flames. “Did you take that out of my reserve?”

He shrugs. “You import the good stuff.”

I take the cup from him, making a mental note to replace the lock. Saskia’s eyes still burn into my face, so I gesture for her to voice whatever thought is brewing. “Let’s get this over with.”

“You’re in love with her…” she softly states. “And it’s killing you.”

“All hells, Sas,” Ryder mutters. “At least let the man finish his drink before you begin analyzing him.”

Love.

Love latches on to a person and drains them until they have nothing left to give.

It reinvents someone and makes them unrecognizable.

One of the many flaws in human nature is regarding a heart as anything more than an organ that pumps blood.

I’ve lived a life of endless battles, always needing to have my weapons raised against threats in front of my face and behind my back.

There is no room for love. It’s a weakness I could never afford and never wanted.

And yet, when I think of Elowen, the fire that’s raged within me for as long as I can remember is tamed.

Her presence is a moment of peace in a lifetime of pain.

What I feel for her defies the logic I’ve lived by.

I don’t like calling it love; it seems too mundane a word and too hypocritical.

Men say they love their wives but slide their hand adorned with a wedding band across the skin of another.

Elowen is tethered to my soul in an unbreakable way.

I would do anything for her, but she’s never felt like a weakness.

It’s true that if someone wants to hurt me, they’d target her, but Elowen’s existence makes me more ruthless than I’ve ever been, to ensure she’s never taken from me.

She’s the poison I’d willingly lift to my lips without an antidote in sight, and force myself to survive, knowing death would offer me no relief if it cleaves me from her.

I ignore Saskia’s observation. I don’t know what love is, but whatever I feel for Elowen Atarah is something unknown to this world. “I’ll serve as her guard today.”

“We’ll have Finnian and Braxton and five dragons that are never too far from her.” Saskia sighs. “Let me try to talk to her. She won’t be able to think as clearly if you’re there. People can’t process their pain when surrounded by it.”

Not good enough is on the tip of my tongue, but I douse the words in whiskey. “If anything happens to her…”

“We’ll all be on our guard.”

I crack the tension in my neck. “You have the day, but she’s mine tonight. Make sure Finnian knows that, too.”