Fire of Stars and Dragons

by Melissa Petreshock

  “No.”

  “Wow. Detailed answer. Care to elaborate a bit?” She’s rueful at my dismissive response, but the car is not the proper place to discuss the matter. “And do not dare say it’s complicated. Dragon or not, I swear I will slap you.”

  I don’t doubt she will. I also do not doubt she puts enough passion behind her actions to cause more harm than one would expect from a woman her size.

  “It is not at all complicated, but I prefer to explain it once we are in the privacy of your home.”

  She turns away, facing the window. “It’s not home anymore.”

  Reaching for her, I place my hand over hers. “Temporarily.”

  Cait snorts a sarcastic laugh in a most unladylike manner, and I refrain from showing my amusement.

  “Uh huh. So if I chose you, you’d just give up whatever life you have now and move into my place?”

  Now is not the time to say my place is by her side, my life with her wherever that may be, and my home anywhere her destiny leads us, Cait not yet understanding the position in which I find myself.

  “I have no qualms making our home in the place of your choosing. I’m quite flexible.”

  Turning back to me, her eyes fill with tears, and it takes every ounce of strength I possess not to take her face in my hands, run my fingers through her hair, and press my lips to hers, swearing no harm ever to befall her.

  *Cait*

  We’ve settled in my room while I pack, after some time spent in the kitchen. I wasn’t aware dragons must maintain appropriate hydration levels due to their high body temperatures or it can force a shift into their natural form. Not wanting my penthouse apartment with its beautiful waterfront view destroyed, I made him drink a gallon of water before letting him anywhere else inside.

  I already finished stuffing my train case with bathroom supplies, have several evening gowns in a wardrobe bag for any formal occasions, and am down to packing two large suitcases with everything else. Theo helps by staying out of my way, sitting on the bed, or actually, more like lounging back against the headboard, making a very attractive addition to my bedroom decor, sipping on a bottle of water I insisted he bring just in case.

  Taking another drink, one drop lingers on his bottom lip. He has such full, inviting lips, and I lick mine, breath unsteady. Glancing up, I find he’s watching me. Warmth spreads across my face, and I focus on folding the shirt my hands. Goddess, help me. I hope dragons can only read souls and not minds.

  “Are you ready to explain yet? You did say you would once we got here. So far, I’m not hearing anything in the way of an explanation of anything.”

  We need a topic of conversation before my mind runs off again, and really, he hasn’t said much aside from explaining why dragons drink a lot of water then making some recommendations on what to bring. I wouldn’t have thought of evening gowns otherwise.

  “Are you ready to hear what I have to say?”

  Yes. No. Maybe. As ready as I am to get married. But I need to hear this, and I have to marry one of them. There are times, Cait, we must do what we do not like. Complaints are for the weak-willed. True strength prevails regardless the situation. Easier said than done.

  He loosens his tie, unbuttoning his shirt at the top, still looking uncomfortable, though somewhat less threatening in the black suit and shirt than the medieval cloak and armor from court. But no less distracting and pulse-racing, made worse by the fact he’s on my bed, owning that spot in the way he relaxes there, as if he knows he belongs.

  “As ready as I’m going to be.… Do you wanna get comfortable first? I can tell you’re miserable.” I switched to a t-shirt and jeans the second we got back, taking advantage of the recently repealed Female Standard of Dress laws.

  “It is unusual for a ward to have such concern, not without time. Perhaps…” His voice trails off, maybe because I’m staring like he just grew a second head.

  “Ward? What?” I demand. “What are you talking about, Theo?”

  His expression changes, becomes apologetic. “For some time now, I have felt the change coming—what we feel when a dragon reaches the point a new ward will become his. My tie has long been to the Corrigan clan as a whole rather than a specific ward, yet I’ve known it would not always remain so.”

  I’m willing my head to wrap around what he says as he stands and walks toward me, making it harder to think, slipping out of his jacket, pulling off his tie, tossing them onto the bed, and he does look more comfortable, just as I expected… And sexier.

  “You think somehow you and I are… connected… or something?”

  My breath catches, heart racing as he steps in front of me, towering over me in my bare feet by a good eight or ten inches, eyes meeting mine with an undeniable fire, and it’s not his supernatural body heat. “You are most definitely my ward, and I am most definitely your dragon.”

  “Yours? You’re mine? What does that mean?” Between this declaration bringing a thousand questions to mind and his delicious proximity, I might spontaneously combust.

  “Yes, Cait, I am your dragon, bound by honor to protect you with my life, my very existence, safeguard you through your destiny, remain with you until the end of time.” He’s matter-of-fact on this point, though I can’t imagine how it’s possible.

  “My brothers sensed the shift in my loyalty after the bond sealed.” I start to ask, but he fills in, “when you touched my hand in the conference room. The contact does it, though I already knew, as did Oliver. He realized the moment I felt drawn to you in the courtroom. Whereas Oliver’s loyalty falls specifically to Corrin, my looser tie to the clan left me with the potential destiny for a singular ward. I told him something far greater lay ahead for me.”

  “I’m something greater?” I ask, unsure if I want the answer.

  “Indeed you are, great enough that my own brothers fear crossing me, and Oliver grows quite concerned with keeping Corrin in line to prevent such violence amongst us.” I’m wide-eyed and drop-jawed, digesting his words. “Oliver is as honor-bound to Corrin as I am to you and will defend him to the death regardless of the indefensibility of the king’s actions. Duty requires the same of Liam and Clifford, given their loyalties lie with the clan. Should it happen, they will fail. Despite this, they must try.”

  He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Of course, my brothers would reincarnate, and I would suffer no permanent loss. Still, none of us desire fighting each other to the death. Throughout our history, no two Dracopraesi have protected opposing wards. However, I shall protect you at all cost, and they the king, despite his disreputable behavior. Until this matter of your marriage settles, relations may be rather tense between my brothers and I.”

  “Rather tense? Considering you’re apt to try killing each other, I’d call the situation more than ‘rather tense’. And how in Hades’s name do you know you wouldn’t end up…” I swallow hard, the question sticking in my throat. “How can you know you’d win a fight against them?”

  “Because I’m vastly stronger and far more skilled than either Liam or Clifford. Oliver and I are best matched, though I admit he’s better in slight ways.”

  My dragon wears a self-confident smirk, but his confidence doesn’t relieve my concerns. I already can’t imagine letting anything happen to him and am certain I can’t bear the blame, the responsibility of it. I’ve lost enough with Uncle Thomas gone. Maybe I’m not sure I have it in me to face another loss yet.

  “Do not waste your concern on me. I am quite capable, Cait,” he says with a wink, eyes bright with a mischievous glint, but it’s him brushing the back of his fingers down my cheek, his hand slipping behind my neck, that I find most reassuring. Arousing, even.

  “Oliver worries more than he usually would feel necessary, given I’m considered at an advantage as my ward is female. Few wards ever are, none my brothers or I have had, but they bring out deeper protective and predatory instincts in us. Unlike a male ward we form a companionable bond with, when we become honor-bound to protect a
female, we…” Theo hesitates, searching my face for something before returning his intense gaze to my eyes. “We love them, giving us reason to stop at nothing in protecting them.”

  My eyes widen, and I stare, unblinking. “You…”

  “I love you, Cait.”

  The statement comes out as pure factual information, no sweeping romantic gestures, despite his nearness.

  “Dragons do not fall in love, experience romantic love, or otherwise have any interest in the emotion. This is the closest we come to such a thing, making female wards unique and fascinating. With you, Cait, I understand why men have waged wars over women in history. Every bond between dragon and ward is quite extraordinary, yet by binding our honor with love, our loyalty becomes deeper, our desire to protect more ferocious, and thus the dragon more dangerous.”

  While speaking, he’s moved somehow closer, the space between us disappearing, his fingers in my hair rather than on my neck. He’s so warm, and a burning draw leads me to reciprocate, a hand at his side, holding his shirt as if I need balance.

  “Yes.…” I whisper, “because the world really needs ferociously more dangerous dragons. Already lethal destiny-protecting, dark-soul-destroying, world-saving dragons simply weren’t enough.”

  He grins, brilliant white teeth showing. It’s there, the excitement, thrall, and allure from the courtroom, sizzling between us, and a connection, natural yet unnatural, implausible yet impossible to deny.

  “To protect a beautiful woman… of course.”

  I dive into the possibilities head first, on my tiptoes, hand snaking up to his neck, pulling him to me, and then his lips are on mine. Magnetic. Electric. Fiery.

  *Theo*

  Cait intoxicates me. Sealing the bond has not soothed my soul, only served to ignite a raging inferno within, both fueled and calmed by her touch. Her delicate hands grasp at me, begging me nearer, yet with no distance left to close I wrap one arm around her, lifting Cait off her feet. She does not hesitate to lock her legs around me in response, tangling her hands and fingers into my hair, refusing to let go.

  I do not want her to let go. I never want to let go of her. She is everything I never expected, everything I never cared to want, and all I am consumed with want for now as I carry her to the dresser, the nearest surface to ease our height difference.

  Her hair holds the scent of lavender, the feel of silk, the color of the darkest mahogany as I run my fingers through it. I clench them, insistent, keeping her impossibly near. Her lips and tongue are petal soft, allowing my lead in a dance of desire, and I pour my soul into that dance, wanting to sear an aching need for me in her, to brand Cait’s soul with a love for me as burning as mine for her.

  But one kiss cannot accomplish all I want, nor should it. As a man, I selfishly want to hold onto her, to keep her to myself. As a dragon, I must allow my ward the freedom of choice.… Yet we have no rules stating I may not compete for what I desire when given the opportunity, and the opportunity presents itself.

  She tugs my shirt loose, slipping her hand beneath the hem, gliding along my skin maddeningly slow, and I shiver, wanting more, and needing her to stop. I clasp my hand around her arm, stilling her movement and lean back, taking a breath before meeting her eyes. “I believe that is far enough for now.” Speaking the words sears my tongue.

  Cait’s arms are around my neck again, nose nuzzling against me, her breath warm, yet cool to my skin. “I’m really not such an innocent, Theo.” Illicit in their teasing, huskily-whispered way, those words would break a lesser being’s resolve.

  “I am well aware you are not,” I state quite calmly, though my mind wars, a storm of desire far from calm.

  Jerking back, she glares silent accusations. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  I suppress a grin. “Nothing derogatory, Cait. Quite simply, dragons do not feel a physical attraction to virgins. It defies our honor code to harm one’s innocence. To take the virginal innocence of a woman is a most heinous violation of that code.”

  She nods. “Because you couldn’t love them. Not the way you should.”

  It is a complicated matter, the nature of our destiny, honor, and the protection of innocents, requiring a lengthy explanation.

  “Yes.”

  Leaning against the dresser’s mirror, pulling away from me, letting her legs fall to kick her feet on the front, she drops her hands to her lap. “If dragons don’t love but you say you love me, how does that work if I choose you and we did get married?”

  I move, leaning on the frame of the closet door next to where she sits. “This is a different kind of love, Cait. Instinctual, protective, unconditional, eternal, one which cannot fade or be lost. As your husband, you would have that love, my protection, my loyalty, fidelity, everything you need.” Unable to stop myself, I laugh quietly, adding, “And I promise to be a most passionate lover.”

  A mild blush crossing her cheeks, my comment earns her giggle and a wide grin. “I guessed that much.” She shakes her head and sighs. “Then why should I bother with the other two, Theo? I know what I’d get with you. What makes the king worth the trouble, or even Dante?”

  I do not want to look at her when I say this, though she deserves such respect, so I force myself to meet her eyes. “Because as I told you before, dragons do not fall in love or experience romantic love, Cait. One of them may be able to give you the so-called ‘hearts and flowers’ kind of love I cannot.” My heart aches as never before when explaining the matter of free will to a ward. “With you as my ward, I am honor-bound to protect your life, and to ensure your survival and fulfillment of your destiny to the best of my abilities; however, our code prevents us from intervening in our ward’s right to choose their path. I cannot and will not make this decision for you, Cait. It is your life and your future.”

  She hops off the dresser, turning to face me. “Alright. I’ll give them a fair chance, a reasonable opportunity to prove themselves. I will try, but you have to promise you’ll try too.”

  No part of me intends not to try winning her, though I am unsure her intended meaning. “Try?”

  “Yes.” Her expression is the most serious I’ve yet seen. “Promise me you’ll try for ‘hearts and flowers’ too, to feel something more for me, more than you say you can, more than you think you can.” Taking a deep breath, she exhales, slow, even. “I believe you deserve real love. Romance too, Theo.”

  I stare at her, stunned, unable to imagine why she thinks I deserve such a thing. She cannot fathom what my existence entails, the duties and responsibilities we dragons bear. Yet, everything in me begs to be with her, to give her anything. “Yes. I promise.”

  Chapter 3

  *Corrin*

  “You are my brother, Evan, and I find grave disappointment in your actions. To support the notion of a competition over a woman to whom I lay claim fails me tremendously.” I stalk into my office, Evan on my heels, closing the door behind us as I settle at my desk.

  He takes a seat in a leather chair across from me, head bowed, appearing every part the scolded child. “That was not my intention, brother, but you should consider your own actions. Until now, you insisted you will not marry, so I ask: what changed, bringing on this desire to take Miss Hayden as your wife?”

  “Nothing changed. I have no desire to take anyone as my wife, no desire to marry at all, but Caitriona Hayden suits the position of wife to a monarch well enough. I find it doubtful other candidates shall present themselves so readily.” Staring at me, his mouth hangs agape in disbelief, or perhaps ignorance. “A physically attractive human, no bothersome family with expectations of favors, raised by a vampire, leaving her at ease with our culture, and a well-heeled socialite heiress to the multi-billion dollar international investment firm of Hayden Holdings. She is suitable to be my queen.”

  Shaking his head, Evan turns to stare out the glass walls of my seventy-fifth floor corner office. “Have you no concern for her happiness… or your own?”

  “Of course, her position
as Queen affords her the protection she requires and everything she could want for in a lifetime. You see how women react to me, Evan. Truly, what more could any woman desire?” I answer while sending a quick email to Uncle Reilly regarding business he left to attend in Dublin and London on my behalf. “My happiness lies in continued survival and maintaining hold of my crown, brother. Given Cait’s quite easy on the eyes as well, fucking her will be no displeasure to suffer.” Not bothering to look up from my work when adding the last part, I’m rather sure I know his reaction, prude as he is.

  “Corrin, if you have any intention of vying for her affections, please consider the serious nature of the matter. She needs to fall in love, or at the very least, feel more for you than Theo or Dante, in order to choose you as her husband.” His tone is of exasperation, as if I am incapable of understanding.

  Tossing my Sky Book on the desk, I glare at him. “Do you think me an idiot? I am well aware what game I must play thanks to your brilliant idea, Evan. My anger with you is for making me look a fool and not having you on my side when needed, not for a fear you have incited some impossible task.” Growling out the last words, I settle back into my chair, taking a deep breath before continuing. He’s far too sensitive, and will be of no help if I am too harsh.

  “Dragons have no interest in love or romance. Theo’s desire to claim her has no reasoning beyond duty to protect her as an innocent. As for Dante, offering another solution was the logical answer to diffuse the situation. His behaviors are often odd, but nonetheless enacted with great consideration. I cannot imagine he wishes to find himself burdened with a wife after all this time, though neither do I, but he is not driven mad by the contemptuous need to mate I am.”

  “It is not—” he begins, interrupted by the unexpected entrance of our father, followed by Oliver.