Aris: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Stratham Dragons Book 1)

by Sarah J. Stone

  He closed his eyes, pushing the magic from the most inner workings of his body, but he couldn't seem to break the barrier within her to renew the cells. And to his horror, Enya was still in pain. Her fever still burned, and her head was half limp against him.

  “Nicholas,” Cole's eyes flew open. “Nicholas, can you come and help me?”

  Nicholas moved forward, placing his hands on the bed.

  “Tell me what to do, brother.”

  “It's healing magic,” Cole said. “But you have to give it to me. Can you do a transfer spell?”

  “I think so,” Nicholas replied.

  “You can do it,” Cole urged him. “You can do it. I know you can.”

  “Right.” Nicholas put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

  “Cole?” Enya asked, and he squeezed an arm around her.

  “It's OK, love, just give me a minute.” He was trying to sound hopeful, but his heart was beating a million miles a minute. He couldn't seem to find the perfect position to give her all the magic he had. It was almost as if her body was putting up its own barrier. “Just one minute.”

  He felt Nicholas's magic flood into him, and he pushed as much as he could, grasping Enya tight.

  Her cells were highly damaged. He could practically see them in front of his eyes – warped, weak, and fighting for survival.

  “I need more!” he cried to Nicholas, who gritted his teeth and pressed harder.

  “Cole,” Enya said again, and it sounded like she was in even more pain.

  “Just hold on,” Cole said, as he tried again. The magic was starting to flood him in ways he had never experienced. He knew that using high amount of magic was dangerous, and he knew that it could sometimes do terrible, harmful things.

  But in that moment, feeling Enya's limp body against him, he didn't care. He would give up his own life for her.

  He suddenly felt what he could only describe as a pop or bang. It hurt immensely and he felt darkness sparkle in front of his eyes. Nicholas fell back, slumping against the wall. Cole felt blood dipping from his nose, and he wiped it away in haste as he looked down at Enya.

  She was limp in his arms, her eyes closed. And to his horror, her chest was not moving.

  “NO!” Cole screamed. He was loud, the scream coming from the button of his lungs. It was such a terrifying cry that people from all over came running into the room. “ENYA! NO!”

  Alexander came sprinting in with Ariel, having been down the hall. Cole's hands were on her chest, trying to push more magic in a frantic attempt to revive her. Nicholas was dazed, his magic blown, and he could barely focus on the scene in front of him.

  “Move!” Ariel moved forward, letting go of Alexander's hand. “Cole, get off her. Alexander, call your medical team.”

  “What the hell happened?” Alexander barked, in his own panic.

  “I'm trying to help. I'm trying to help. I’m trying to help,” Cole repeated, but Ariel had no time for his explanation.

  “I said, call your damn medical team,” Ariel swore as she quickly tied her long, red hair in a knot. “They are more advanced than Earth, and yet they can't get here? Do it, now!”

  She pushed a stunned Cole aside, checking Enya's breath. Finding nothing, she placed her hands on Enya’s chest and began CPR immediately.

  Everything on the planet was either magically controlled or mechanically controlled. The simple measures of CPR seemed beyond them, and none of them had any idea what they were doing.

  Ariel continued CPR for almost five, heart-stopping minutes. It was the most chaotic that things had ever been in the palace. Cole was frantic and screaming, Nicholas was trying not to faint, and Alexander was trying to remain in control.

  Eventually, the medical team rushed in. They moved in perfect unison, taking over the moment that Ariel's hands left Enya's body.

  The redhead grabbed for Cole, holding him back as the team worked on her. They rushed her away, and the boys were only a moment or two behind.

  Within an hour, it seemed all was well. They had revived Enya, hooking her up to high tech machines, and making sure that she was awake and conscious. In a place where science and magic went hand in hand, it was the head physician who consulted with them.

  “It should have worked,” Cole said. “It should have worked. I tried to heal her on a cellular level.”

  “You did,” the physician said. “But it didn't work. Humans have a different make up than us, Cole, and magic doesn't work on them that way. You can't just change her cells without changing her in a radically different way. Or in this case, killing her. Medical science can intervene, manage the symptoms, and heal the damage done by the rebel cells. But you cannot change them.”

  “What are you saying?” Cole asked. “That I can't cure her?”

  “No,” the doctor said sadly. “No, you cannot.”

  Cole sunk against the wall, his face growing pale.

  “I lied to her,” Cole said, softly. Nicholas turned to him.

  “Little brother.”

  “I lied to her,” Cole said. “I promised her. She risked everything for me. She gave up everything for me. I promised her that she would live, that she would be healed, and I lied.”

  “You didn't know,” Alexander said softly. “You thought as usual, Cole, that you were invincible and could do anything that you wanted to do.”

  “And now?” Cole asked, in a flat voice. “What do I know? If you lock me up for the crimes I committed, she cannot receive my magic which is the best for her. If you try me, I will die, and so will she eventually. If you let me out, I know that your rule will be forever questioned.”

  Alexander said nothing, looking between each of them.

  He had never wished that Finneas was here more than in this moment, and that was something he wished for daily.

  “Cole,” he said. “You will be under house arrest in the palace while Enya recovers,” he said. “You can stay in the medical center with her. You won't be guarded, so I need to have your word and your honor.”

  “Of course,” Cole said, and Alexander looked him right in the eye.

  “This is your last chance,” Alexander said. “If you break this parole, I will have no choice. There will be no way to get out of this.”

  “I understand,” Cole said. Alexander had his doubts about the promise, but he knew he had to take the risk. If Cole didn't change, then he would have no choice. It would be life in prison or worse.

  “Good. Go to her then,” he said, and Cole hurried off. Alexander looked at Nicholas and sighed.

  “Any ideas?” he asked. “Otherwise, an innocent girl will end up dying.”

  Nicholas sighed.

  “For once, brother, I have nothing to say.”

  CHAPTER 14

  She had been in the medical center for three days, and she had been enjoying every second of having Cole by her side. Without the need to rush through the cipher, or half way across the world, they were ironically having the most relaxing time of their relationship. Cole brought her things to do, entertained her with stories, or occasionally took her on short walks through the palace to show her things that he had strong memories of.

  She laughed, she smiled, and she seemed to be growing stronger each day. But the fact remained heavy in Cole's heart that he wouldn't be able to heal her like he said.

  “What things did she tell you?” Cole asked. Enya shrugged.

  “That she goes back and forth and lives a normal life. I didn't realize something like that was possible.”

  “Well, Ariel is sleeping with the King,” Cole replied. “But it is possible, of course. Not forever, but for a time.”

  “So, would it be possible for me to do something like that?” she asked. “If things settle down?”

  “My love, if we find a way to survive this, I would happily give you whatever you want. But to be honest with you, I’m not quite sure how to get out of this.”

  “We'll find a way.” She leaned against his shoulder. “Your bro
thers are good people, Cole, we'll find a way.”

  “You have such faith in them, and you barely know them,” Cole replied.

  “Yes, but they are related to you,” she replied. “So, they are good people.”

  “Oh Enya,” he replied. “You are such a romantic.”

  “Mmm,” she said. “Until then, we cannot change anything, so why don't you relax?” She closed her eyes. She had been through so much, and somehow, she felt the safest and most calm in her whole life.

  In the throne room, Alexander and Nicholas had locked themselves away with Ariel, scouring records and books.

  “You know how this society is,” Nicholas was saying. “If we can find a way to pardon him by law, then the citizens will accept it. Besides, has he done any worse than any of us when we go to war?”

  “The difference is, it was in cold blood,” said Ariel, who seemed undeterred by this. “Unless of course, it wasn't.”

  “It was,” Alexander replied, but Ariel shook her head.

  “He went into a war-torn zone to take his temperature, a zone that you have been sending fights to for years. Who’s to say that he wasn't following through with some order, some war. He killed enemies, too, didn't he? Civilian casualties are part of war.”

  “So, let's say for a second he did,” Nicholas replied. “He didn't kill in cold blood. He still committed a crime.”

  “Argh,” Ariel put her head down. In her time here, she had become fluent in dragon words as much as English. But sometimes, she was simply frustrated with their stubbornness. “There must be something. Look, I love Cole just as much as the rest of you. But if you're going to follow the rule book to the letter, you're going to lose your brother. “

  “And then there's the case of this girl,” Alexander said. “To bring an innocent girl into all of this…”

  “As you did to me?” Ariel asked. Alexander raised an eyebrow.

  “You may have been younger than her, my dear, but you were far from innocent. You had seen and experienced the world. This girl has lived five feet from her parents and always been taken care of. It's a different case. “

  “Still, she's not here against her will,” Ariel replied. “She thinks she's in love with Cole, and I wager he thinks he's in love with her.”

  “Or they actually are,” Nicholas replied, and Ariel rolled her eyes.

  “Whatever,” she said, as she looked down at the book in front of her. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Hold on a moment.”

  “Hmm?” Alexander leaned over to look at the book in front of her. “Can you read that?”

  “I'm not just a pretty face,” she gave him a smirk. He had a look of pride on his face as she translated the text in her head. When Ariel first arrived, she had stubbornly refused to learn dragon lore. She had struggled with it and gotten frustrated. But now, she was fluent, and even able to take on ancient texts that sometimes confused him. She was growing to be a good partner, his red-headed dancer. “There's some bullshit here about the savior of an innocent – a trade.”

  “A trade?” Alexander asked, confused.

  “A trade: evil for good.” She squinted. “Nicholas, you must have invoked this half a hundred times. You're a rat bastard sometimes.”

  “What?” Nicholas asked with a smile on his face as he leaned over on her other side. “The law of Repentance. I've heard of it before.”

  “Your father probably passed it several times without even mentioning it,” she said. “You remember when you saved that drowning girl, and suddenly you didn't have to answer for the fact that you freaked out during a council meeting?”

  “I thought Father was just grateful,” Nicholas said, and Ariel rolled her eyes.

  “It looks like it's an actual thing.”

  “Nicholas had a temper tantrum,” Alexander said. “Cole slaughtered left, right, and center”

  “Correct.” Ariel seemed to think. “But Enya isn't going to be cured. He'd have to devote his life to the medicine here, to giving her just the right amount of magic every week. He can't do that if he's in prison or dead.”

  “What you're proposing is that he devotes his life to her,” Alexander said. “And it will wipe out the sins he committed. “

  “Not wipe out,” she said. “A trade. Will your people accept that?”

  “They might be upset, but they couldn't question it if that's the actual rule,” Alexander answered. “Nicholas, do you concur?”

  Nicholas ran his hand over his face.

  “You're the king,” he replied. “You don't actually need my opinion to do anything.”

  “I don't need your opinion,” Alexander answered. “But it might be nice to have it.”

  “Hmm,” Nicholas answered. “I think they might accept it, but only if there's a grand gesture. Only if he proves that this is forever.”

  “You romantic!” Ariel cried. “You are suggesting that he marry her.”

  “He has to do something,” Nicholas said. “Or we lose our brother forever.”

  “Is it allowed?” Cole asked, and everyone's head shot up.

  “Cole, what are you doing here?” Alexander asked, in surprise “I thought you were with Enya.”

  “She's asleep,” Cole said. “So, I thought I'd see what you folks were up to. Which is apparently planning my whole life.”

  “We are trying to save you, brother. We are trying to forgive you,” Alexander replied.

  “I know,” Cole said, leaning against the wall. “But Father wouldn't have wanted this.”

  “Father is gone,” Alexander said, raising his chin. “I am King now.”

  He had said it before, but Ariel had never heard it with such certainty and such confidence. She smiled at him proudly.

  “Yes,” she touched his arm, briefly. “But it is Cole's choice, remember?”

  “The truth is,” Cole grinned. “I thought marrying her would be nice. Either that or banishing me with her. How wonderful would that be? We'd have this secret life, and you could send us secret money and–”

  “Stop!” Nicholas rolled his eyes. “What is it that you want?”

  “Let me marry her,” Cole replied. “It'll be the first dragon-human marriage. We'll go down in history.”

  Ariel and Alexander exchanged looks.

  “You know it won't be easy,” Alexander said. “You think this will be the end of security and the end of judgment, but it will just be the beginning.”

  “I've endured worse,” Cole replied. “So long as I've got my family behind me.”

  The princes looked at each other.

  “We're behind you, Cole,” Alexander said. “And I think that you've suffered enough. You'll have to repent, but devoting your life to that girl may be enough to redeem you.”

  “Thank you,” he said. “And I know what I did was wrong. But I can't...I mean...”

  “Love changes us,” Nicholas said. “There's no one who would deny that.”

  “So, help me plan the greatest proposal known to man or dragon,” Cole said. Ariel shook her head.

  “You clearly don't know this girl at all. She doesn't want fireworks and a giant billboard. She just wants you. Do you have a ring?”

  “I think I can figure that out,” Cole replied. “Where's that ring that mother left?”

  “The sapphire?” Alexander replied. “That weighs more than she does.”

  “Perfect,” Cole said. “Let's get it then. This is going to be the greatest disturbance to the palace since you brought this red-head here,” he winked at her.

  Alexander knew that what he was doing was a gamble. Starting off his reign on shaky territory was not the way he had imagined. If he was truthful, he didn't really imagine starting his rule at all. He had always thought he would be the second prince – the one with all of the fun and none of the responsibilities.

  Even now, he felt like he was possibly just a place holder for Finneas, and not really the King.

  But everyday that Finneas did not return was another day that he knew he ha
d to shoulder this burden and do what he thought was best for his kingdom and his family.

  The ring was found, polished, and a new band put on to fit what they thought would be Enya's finger.

  Cole changed his clothes into his formal dress attire, looking like a beautiful Prince. He took Enya's breath away when he walked into the room.

  “What are you looking at?” he teased her, as she sat up in bed.

  “You look mischievous,” she said. “Like you're up to something. What is it?”

  “What makes you think that I'm up to something bad?” he asked.

  She gave him a look.

  “Did your brothers make a breakthrough?”

  “Yes,” he said, sitting on the edge of her bed. “They did.”

  “So?” She looked so hopeful, her eyes sparkling, and her cheeks full of color. She looked much better now that the medical team had helped her, and now that the excess magic had flowed from her body. He could see that she would soon be ready to leave and to live life again.

  “So,” he said. “It turns out, I could devote my life to doing something good, and I might be alright. Repented, even.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  “Well,” he replied. “I couldn't imagine anything better to do with my life than taking care of you, being with you, and living with you.”

  “What?” she asked, in shock. “Cole, what are you talking about?”

  He pulled out the giant sapphire. “I'm talking about marrying me. If you want.”

  Her jaw fell open as she looked at the ring.

  “Marrying you? Staying here?”

  “Marrying me,” he said. “So, my beautiful, Enya, will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” she breathed, and he slipped the ring onto her finger. “Yes, I will marry you.”

  “Good,” he replied. “Because with you in my life, I will be the best person I could possibly be.”

  CHAPTER 15

  When Enya pictured her wedding, she had never pictured something so grandiose. She had wanted a ceremony on Earth – a traditional wedding ceremony. The fact that she had been away from her parents and family for so long had been wiped away with Cole's magic. But she didn't want to continue lying and wiping their minds forever. She wanted them to know that she was safe, happy, and married. She had concocted some story about Cole living in Australia and being a pilot so she didn't have to be in the same place whenever they wanted to visit. It was the closest to his accent and the closest to his true status that she could get without completely lying.