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It was a struggle to process, like a ribbon of magnesium exposed to flame.
Predictability was the death of fear.
Fear was nothing more than staring into the mirror known as death and seeing the reflection of your own transience, a visage far too intense for many to look upon.
Fear was familiar from taking it into her own hands and using it as deftly as if she were the personification of time’s judgment upon all mortal men.
For weeks he’d wanted to run from it, and now that he was faced with her once more, literally carrying a reason to loathe her, he wanted nothing more than to be by her side. He wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to be alone.
He wandered back to the other woman who had given purpose to his days. Cvareh went straight to her room first, before even changing his clothes for proper evening attire.
Cain didn’t know it, but what he feared was a Perfect Chimera. A creature that was so mighty it could even challenge a Dragon. Petra grinned madly. One man’s fear was another’s salvation.
All evidence pointed to a singular truth: The Dragon King was nothing more than a man. And men could be killed. Men could be pinned down and ripped apart and tortured until they begged for release—release that would never be given to them.
She wanted to give the people a show. It was illogical, utterly illogical. Everything lacked meaning, and in that, there was joy. Joy in death, in life, in doing just to do.
He could not cut open his own chest and turn himself into a living machine for the sake of science. But she could. She could because she was not Fenthri, or Dragon, or Chimera. She could because she had, and would again if fate re-dealt her a cruel hand.
He had never held his breath with such anticipation of a woman’s judgment—of anyone’s judgment. But she held all he was in that moment. She formed his future with her tongue and lips and she was going to destroy him if what spilled from them wasn’t everything he needed—not wanted, needed—to be for her.
“I want you for my lover, for my mate. I want to lay you down and take you to the pinnacles of delight. I want you… even while not knowing if you could ever grant me your favor.”
The gold blood. Bones strong as steel, as strong as a Dragon’s. Her height. Her muscular structure. It made too much sense to be a lie. She had developed and grown with the strength of Dragon blood coursing through her veins. “Nothing, Arianna. Nothing in your world or mine, or the next, would make me want you less.”
Twenty Gods above, restraint be damned. Cvareh would know all there was to know of her before the day was done. And if he was lucky, he would do it again, and again, and again.
Arianna snarled, driving her hips harder, faster, as if she could force out the conflict. She hated him. She wanted him. Shades of gray, rainbows of color—they blurred and smeared into gold.
She kissed him again. She kissed him harder. He tasted suddenly of longing and salt tears her eyes had stopped spilling years ago.
She could hardly breathe if the air wasn’t sweetened with the tang of his scent.
It wrapped her up in a familiar embrace, already intertwined before his lips fell on her ear.
They were drunk on each other still. Their magic was still fresh, and new, and desired. But eventually, they would sober. They would wash away the sweat of sex and the heat of each other’s skin. When the time came, what would they find?
He was doting upon a passion most tender and new. But love felt good, especially reciprocated love. Arianna had yet to say as much, but he’d felt it.
They sung the sweet chorus of passion in perfect harmony, a performance that could never be denied. He’d known hands on flesh before, but it was so vastly different when one had truly found the person he was to be with for the rest of his life.
He would do all she allowed for her, to her. He would memorize every crease and curve of her body and do it again should he ever find his memory lacking—which would be often.
Fighting for Arianna somehow made him more vicious than he’d ever been. It gave him a reason to be more dangerous than he’d ever thought possible. Dangerous enough to kill even a Xin. For her.
“I love you, Arianna. And I will not stand in your way, but I will also not let you flee from this. Reject me if you must, and that will be that. Until you do, I will see my future built with space for you in it.”
She had accomplished an inspirational amount in her short life. If Arianna could be all she was, then he could be a man she deemed worthy of her love.
There was irony in nearly everything that encompassed him. The woman who was sharp as a dagger and more abrasive than pumice was his lady of flowers. She smelled potently of honeysuckle, a scent he had delighted in long before they met. Her skin was the color of Lord Xin’s veil, her hair the shade of Lord Agendi’s path. She had been the first woman to so consume him that he had taken her before his patron to mate.
She did love him. Despite everything, it was true. Of course, if she was going to fall in love again, it’d be a Dragon.
Though he didn’t understand exactly how, he knew the creature before him would shake the very foundations upon which their world was built. He had what guilds wanted and Dragons feared. He had a Chimera that bled gold.
