He’s been injured.
Holy fuck.
The raw lightstorm in my blood surges violently, urging me to ignore Paige and go straight for Jasper’s throat. Electrocute him. Eviscerate him. Do whatever it takes to make sure he never touches anyone ever again. If he’s actually been weakened, this is my chance to kill him once and for all.
This is my chance to end the war.
But I can’t, no matter how badly I might want to. Everything I’m thinking right now is just the power talking. I have to ignore it. I have to remain in control. We’re still in the Winter Realm, which means Jasper is pretty much invulnerable no matter how weak he is. Not to mention I’m still getting reacquainted with my dragon form and everything that comes with it. There are muscles I haven’t even thought about using in millennia.
No matter how badly I want to tear his throat out, I have to focus on saving Paige. Who knows what he’s done to her already? There’s a splotch of dark red on the castle that looks suspiciously like blood.
I can only hope it’s not hers.
There’s a sudden flurry of wings as Jasper finally notices my presence. Those frosty eyeballs of his are practically shooting icicles in my direction. If I wasn’t buzzed on lightstorm right now, I might actually be concerned.
But as it is, I don’t fucking care.
I angle upward and soar higher into the atmosphere as Jasper rises toward me. I’m careful to remain fast enough to keep his attention on me, but also close enough to intervene if his ice nymphs show up. They’re shifty creatures and more than a little dangerous. I don’t want to imagine what fresh horrors might be waiting for Paige if they drag her into his castle.
But she’s alone for now. Staring up at me and Jasper. She’ll know to wait for me to come for her. Or at least I hope she will.
She will, right?
Jasper widens his jaws and spews hail at me from behind. I haven’t flown this high in millennia, but I manage to swerve around the projectiles and fire a bolt of lightstorm back at him.
I miss.
He exhales another spray of hail at me. Unlike the last time I was in the Winter Realm, I’m in dragon form now, which means any magical barriers will be useless against me. But that won’t stop Jasper from using every trick in the book to force my retreat. I don’t know what he’s been doing with Paige, but he’s clearly not fucking around anymore and neither am I.
Both of us are willing to kill.
I dodge the hail and fire another bolt of lightstorm at Jasper. Back and forth we spew magic at each other, each of us trying to do as much damage as possible. My attacks don’t seem to be hurting him in any significant way, but it’s still close enough to a stalemate that I’m surprised. Jasper should be stronger than this.
The next time I have an opening, I spit out my lightstorm with every ounce of strength I have, saving nothing for my own defense. No risk, no reward, right? Or maybe that’s just the power talking again.
But this time I strike Jasper square in the chest, knocking him unconscious. His wings fall motionless as he tumbles aimlessly through the sky. Far from the intense fight I’ve expected, the battle is over almost before it begun.
What the fuck? I shouldn’t have been able to hurt Jasper like this in his own realm. That should be me right now, unconscious and falling to my death below. If he’s been weakened this badly, Paige must have gotten him where it really hurts. But the more she uses her power, the more likely Jasper is to notice that she isn’t exactly what she appears to be.
I have to get her out of here.
I veer away from Jasper’s falling body and swoop down toward the castle with my claws spread wide. Paige is waiting for me on a parapet, her dark hair flowing in the wind. The snow is melting all around her, and she’s holding an ice weapon that looks like a baseball bat.
It is a baseball bat.
She must have used it to defend herself against Jasper. But it won’t be enough to fend off the pack of snow wolves currently crawling up the outer wall of the castle. The creatures aren’t as strong as ice nymphs, but they’re a hell of a lot nastier.
I have to get to her first. Beautiful, defiant Paige. Just because we had sex in the bookstore doesn’t make her mine.
But she’s all I can see now.
The entire fantasy plays out in my mind. I’ll seize her and carry her to the Summer Realm. All in the name of protection, of course. She’ll cling to my green scales as I show her around my impressive domain. We’ll make love behind the waterfalls of the Cliffs of Rain. On the warm sands of the Aurora Desert. In every room of my forest castle at the heart of the Midsummer Woods.
I’m so distracted by Paige, by the very elaborate fantasy I’m having about her and her strawberry scent, that I don’t realize we’re in danger until it’s almost too late.
Her blue and green eyes are wide open and she’s screaming at me.
When I glance back, Jasper has recovered and is coming up right behind me. He’s flapping his wings ferociously, creating a blizzard above the castle. A multitude of hellfrost spells are crawling across my scales, searching for a way in. I’m on the verge of losing the battle even though I was just winning a moment ago.
Fuck this.
I fold in my wings and dive through the sky, aiming straight for Paige. With my claws extended, I snatch her up as gently as possible. Crushing her is not an option. I have to protect her not only from my enemy, but also from myself.
Jasper spreads his jaws wide and exhales a cloud of pointed icicles at me. Because I’m shielding Paige, I’m not as agile as I was before. I manage to dodge most of the projectiles, but a few sink into my back.
They hurt. Like hell. Too much to just be icicles.
But I can’t let myself be distracted by the pain. All that matters now is getting Paige to safety. I can’t bring her back to the Earth Realm. Not when Jasper knows to look for her there.
Which means there’s only one place we can go.
I feint left, then tilt downward in a nosedive to the ground. It’s a good thing the Winter Realm is mostly barren. There’s only snow and ice as far as the eye can see, with pine forests and the rare log cabin scattered here and there. Some creatures have learned how to survive, but nothing larger than a polar bear.
Nothing that can get in my way.
Jasper is slowing behind me, the coldness of his breath easing on my tail. He doesn’t understand what I’m doing. It looks like I’m about to crash into the earth with Paige still grasped in my claws.
Or maybe he does understand, but he’s not as insane as I am.
I’m counting on it.
Just before I hit the ground, I wrench open a portal in the snow. On the other side is a warm bedchamber and a golden shaft of sunlight. If I could talk to Paige, I’d tell her we’re going to be okay. We’re about to enter my castle in the Midsummer Woods, which is made of stone and bark covered in velvety moss. If only she could listen, she’d hear waterfalls roaring and birds singing and trees whispering into the summer wind.
But she’s still screaming and I can’t speak to her while in this form.
With Paige in my claws, I burst into the Summer Realm and slam the portal shut behind us, keeping Jasper and his ice creatures far away from this world.
Silence.
I huddle on the stone floor, the ice melting from my scales. Before long, the tree nymphs who care for my castle will arrive with thick blankets and nourishing food and rich, hearty wine. But for now it’s enough that the air is gloriously warm and the sun is shining down on me.
Something in my chest stings momentarily, like I’ve been stabbed repeatedly. Otherwise I can’t feel much of anything.
Except for the ball of warmth in my grasp. Paige.
I unfurl my claws.
I’m expecting her to run away immediately. She doesn’t actually know it’s me, you know? And most of her experience with dragons has been with Jasper. Her reaction should be to scream and put as much distance between us as possible. It will h
urt, like she’s knifing me in the fucking chest, but I need to accept it.
She looks so tiny. So fragile.
How could she not be terrified of me?
But Paige doesn’t run. She doesn’t scream. Instead she slowly rises to her feet and rests a hand against my scaled face. So much lightstorm and hellfrost and mistgreen and wildwind is swirling around inside her that I can’t understand how she isn’t turning into a dragon like me.
But this time there’s something else, too.
The faintest tendril of earthwater at the very center of her heart.
Fuck.
Holy fuck.
Only one person has ever stood in my claws and gazed up at me without any fear.
Only one person has ever held this much magic and remained stable.
Only one person has ever had earthwater at the very essence of her.
For so long I’ve believed that Gaia died because I failed at my duty to protect her. I remained a dragon for too long, and I was forced to watch the goddess burn along with the rest of the tower.
But what if she found a way to escape during the fire? I thought Gaia was turned to ashes, but she could have been turned into something else.
Someone else.
As Paige stands before me with her hand on my scales, a familiar memory pushes into me again. It’s from Gaia’s perspective, and this time it’s of the moment she first saw me as a dragon. My eyes are dazzling and giant from her view, my scales almost eclipsing the sun entirely. The two of us stood in the Summer Realm, in a bedchamber just like this one, and saw each other naked for the first time.
I asked the Queen of the Summer Faeries to find a spell for me because I wanted to know what had happened to Paige. I wanted to know how some of Gaia’s memories had ended up inside her head. But I never stopped to think that maybe no one had done anything to her at all.
What if Paige... is Gaia?
Chapter Eleven
Paige
I curve my palm against Aidan’s face, my fingers trembling on his green scales. The summer dragon just saved me from Jasper, the winter dragon who’s been attacking us. Lightstorm and hellfrost battled each other in the sky, creating a whirlwind of electricity and snow that made me feel terrified. Even after Aidan rescued me from the ice castle, I could sense him wanting to turn around and fight Jasper as we flew away.
But because I was grasped in his claws, he didn’t.
He wanted to save me more.
Just before we crashed into the snow, he carried me through a portal and into another world. I don’t have to ask to know it’s his world.
Aidan brought me home.
When I look around the castle now, it feels like I’m somewhere familiar. The mossy walls are made of stone and trees, and open windows are letting in the sunshine everywhere. A four-poster bed is nestled in between a pair of acacia trunks, while a waterfall is roaring in the lush forest outside. Every breath I take is brimming with vibrant grass and honeyed peaches and sweet magnolias.
The thought comes to me, unbidden.
I always loved the Summer Realm.
The summer dragon still hasn’t moved from where he’s crouching. His bowed head is graced with horns, and his overlapping scales are glinting like gemstones underneath the sun. His tail is wrapped protectively around the both of us.
The winter dragon filled me with fear and terror, but this one fills me with something else.
Memories of warmth.
Memories of sunshine.
Memories of love.
I move closer to Aidan, who seems to be barely aware of my presence and yet acutely focused on me all at the same time. I think I like that he’s in this form, even though it’s kind of surreal. But it feels right in a way, like recognizing an old friend years later despite a drastic change in appearance. His green eyes still hold the same intensity and intelligence as they did when he was human.
He still hasn’t moved.
Aidan’s leathery wings are folded in close behind his back, and he seems to be afraid of taking even a single step. He’s crouching on the fragments of a wooden table, so it makes sense that he doesn’t want to destroy anything else. If he spreads his wings, he’ll crush me in an instant.
But I’m not afraid of him.
He doesn’t want to hurt me.
And somehow I know that he can’t.
When I was watching Aidan battle Jasper in the Winter Realm, I could feel magic flowing throughout my entire body. The snow was melting all around me, and the locked portion of my heart was begging to be set free.
I don’t think anyone could have hurt me in that moment. Not even Jasper.
It feels like a lifetime ago that the most exciting thing to happen was a hot stranger entering the Dragon’s Tale. I couldn’t imagine flirting with a man who wasn’t Summer, much less having sex with one.
I never thought a demigod would propose to me.
I never thought my apartment would be overgrown with nature.
And I certainly never thought a dragon would take me home.
I slowly step over Aidan’s curled tail and walk in a circle around his body. My fingers trace his scales, taking in the size of him. He’s slightly smaller than the winter dragon, or else he wouldn’t have been able to fit through the portal at all. But he’s still taking up so much space I can’t really remember what things were like without him at this size. His musk is strong and familiar, and the red roses wrapped around his tail are giving off a vaguely romantic fragrance.
He’s shivering everywhere I touch him.
I stifle a gasp when I reach his back.
Three long icicles are protruding from his scales. Jasper must have struck Aidan just before we escaped through the portal. His wounds are frozen over and not even bleeding, but I think the icicles are hurting him in a way that’s not entirely physical.
He’s freezing from the inside out.
By the time I circle around to his head, Aidan is visibly shaking with the effort of remaining still. I can see the truth in his enormous eyes. He’s restraining himself from unleashing the raw power inside him to heal his wounds, because he can’t do it without destroying everything else in here. He’s in too much pain to control himself.
He doesn’t want to risk hurting or scaring me.
He doesn’t want to endanger me more than he already has.
“Please,” I say softly. “I can help you.”
Aidan seems to hesitate for a moment. His eyes slowly blink as we stare at one another. Nothing happens for a few seconds, and I’m not sure if he’s actually able to return to human form or not.
Can he even understand what I’m saying?
But then he gradually shrinks in size, transforming back into a man. His emerald scales soften into skin as his horns dissolve into golden hair. By the time he becomes human again, he’s kneeling on the floor with his shoulders hunched over.
The two of us stare at each other for a few seconds in reality.
But to us, to our thawing hearts, it might as well be an eternity.
He’s completely naked.
I think this is the first time I’ve seen Aidan without any clothes on. Jasper was all sharp edges and pale skin, but the demigod before me is broad and muscled and tanned by the sun.
His veins are turning vivid blue underneath his skin.
Focus, Paige.
Save him like he saved you.
I hastily kneel down on the floor behind Aidan. Based on his expression, he’s in so much pain he can barely remain conscious. The icicles are embedded in his back even in human form, and they’re so cold I can feel a drop in the temperature around us.
Each one is longer than I imagined.
I wrap my hand around one of the icicles and start to draw it out from Aidan’s flesh, trying not to think about how cold it is or how deep it must have gone. If he flinches or makes a sound, I don’t think I’ll have the nerve to keep going. It’s already taking all the willpower I have to do this.
Seriou
sly, how much am I hurting him?
But the icicle eventually comes out cleanly, without even a speck of blood. A tiny orb of bright blue magic is swirling at the very center.
But the tip must have gone straight into his heart.
Aidan sucks in a sharp breath, his muscles tensed in pain. The other two icicles are still frozen in his back. Somehow I know they’re drawing power from the magic that’s inside him, the lightstorm he’s been trying to avoid using around me.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
He gives a tight shake of his head. His veins are even bluer than before, and I have the bad feeling he’s either dying or about to be.
I take a deep breath and grab another icicle, repeating the process twice more. But the temperature around us is becoming colder and colder.
I’m starting to shiver too.
By the time I set down the last icicle, I know something is wrong. Even though all three icicles are melting, the blue orbs at their centers are only glowing brighter and brighter. Aidan’s lips have become colorless, and every breath he exhales forms a cloud of snowflakes.
When he turns to look at me, his eyes are terrifyingly blue.
“Leave me,” Aidan rasps over a frozen tongue. “Please.”
I flinch at his words, because I don’t want to leave and he knows it. It stings a little that he doesn’t think I can help more than this. Given everything that’s happened, haven’t I proven I can handle myself around demigods?
But when I look down at my hands, my own skin has turned snow white.
I can’t feel the tips of my fingers.
I can’t feel almost anything.
Aidan is fading away before me. He’s so close I can feel his chilled breath on my lips, but at the same time he’s so far away I almost can’t believe we’re in the same room.
A wintry night is crawling into the castle despite the sun, as if another world is casting a shadow onto this one.
Snowflakes are whirling around us, along with cruel laughter and a powerful gust of wind.
Jasper is attacking again.
This must be why Aidan wants me to leave. If he’s not worried about hurting me, he’ll be able to unleash his lightstorm and stop hellfrost from entering this world.
Gaia Awakened Page 9
