Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Gabriel’s whole body has turned to stone. He’s cold. Only the slow rise and fall under his sweater tells me he’s alive.
I’m about to say something when he breaks the silence.
“You were a peasant woman. I was hunting in the woods, and I caught your scent. You were a few years younger than you are now, but well past marriageable age. You’d approached spinster age, which had your parents worried.” He shakes his head and continues. “When I met you, you were gathering wildflowers. You always skipped out on your chores. You needed freedom.”
A sense of certainty steals over me. Gabriel is telling the truth.
“We connected instantly. I wanted to carry you off right there, but I did what was proper. I offered a bride gift to your parents. They were in favor but insisted on a formal wedding.
“Everything was ready when there came word of an uprising. Enemy forces threatening war. I needed to protect you–to make sure our kingdom was safe. For you. I went to defend the borders of my land.” His voice is far away. He takes a few steps away, and I let him go, even though I miss his warmth.
“I thought it would be easy. Humans are so fragile. None can stand against the dragon.” He rubs a big hand down his face. “I let my dragon free, and we rained fire and death upon everything at the border. Smoke for miles and miles. But there was a windstorm. The fires caught and raged. They spread in an instant.”
He turns, and his face is gaunt, shadows smudging the hollows of his cheeks and under his eyes. “I flew to you.” He works to swallow. “But it was too late. The fires were so hot. Your village was ash. The church had caught fire and fallen in. The bridal procession…” He squeezes his eyes shut.
This is the final scene in the tapestry.
Humans are so fragile. None can stand against the dragon.
“You were dead. And it was my fault.”
I pad closer to him, reaching for his hand. He moves at the last second, blurring and appearing a foot away. “It was my fault.”
If he really wants to escape me, he’ll have to run farther than that. I close the distance between us and capture his hand, squeezing it to bring him back to me.
“It wasn't your fault,” I tell him. “It was an accident. And that's all in the past. Now I'm here. We're together, and we can figure this out. Okay?”
He whirls so quickly, I fall backward. He catches me, his hand closing over the cuff on my wrist.
“No. It's too much.” He catches my other wrist and holds my hands between us. “I’m a danger to you. I thought I could keep you safe, but I can't.”
“I’m still safe,” I cry because I sense something final in his tone. Like he’s breaking up with me. I shiver at the coldness in his face.
Gabriel stills. He pulls the sweater he’s wearing off and drops it over my head, leaving him in shirtsleeves. His incense-like scent surrounds me, and for a second, I am calm.
Then Gabriel shakes his head. His eyes are dull, his expression blank. “You won’t be for long if you remain here. I will have the pilot prep the jet to take you back to New Mexico. I cannot be near you.” He turns and strides to the door.
“What? No! Gabriel!” I stumble after him and stop short when he raises a hand.
“You will obey me in this.” His voice is frigid. “You will go willingly, or I will deliver you to your friends in a cage.”
He waits until I give a stricken nod and exits the room.
I’m left hugging my arms around myself, trying to get warm. I want to run after him, but I can’t bear for him to lock me up again. Lock me away, like the dragon.
Just when we were finally getting somewhere, when I’d started to believe this might be possible, he ends it. I can’t believe it.
I cover my mouth with my hand and sink into the couch with shaking legs.
I’m going home. Without Gabriel. A few weeks ago, I’d have been happy. Now? My heart is torn apart.
This is wrong. So wrong.
Gabriel
Darkness overcomes me. My rage melds with my dragon-mind, and before I know it, I’m in the sky, shifted from my human form into the great monster who nearly decimated my own castle.
I fly hard and fast, pumping my wings, needing to feel the air against my scales to cool the flames that lick up my throat. I end up over the Black Sea, where I dive into the dark waters, swimming ever deeper, trying to cool the storm inside me.
It doesn’t work.
I surface and belch a rage of fire that would’ve incinerated any ships in a half-mile radius had they been near.