by Emma Hamm
The tall elf snapped her fingers and two of the rebellion archers climbed down the walls. They grabbed the young woman underneath her arms and dragged her away. Although she kicked and screamed the entire time.
Lore watched the young woman fight with dark, stormy eyes. Apparently, there would be words between those two. Soon, but not just yet.
“The battles are only just beginning,” Lore continued. Her words were tired, already exhausted from the fighting that she would be forced to partake in. “I need you all to return to your homes, to every corner of Umbra, and you will tell this story. You will tell everyone of the elf who killed the King. You will whisper into the shadows so that the magical creatures will come here. To me. To the rebellion. They will be safe here.”
“Safe?” a woman shouted from the depths of the crowd. “This is our castle! The King’s successor will take his place.”
And just like that, sharpness returned to Lore’s words. Her eyes narrowed and her shout sliced through the crowd like an arrow. “Not anymore. This is our castle now. The home of the magical creatures who lived here for centuries before you thought you could walk upon our graves. Let it be known, mortal. The castle of Umbra is ours.”
A cheer erupted from the ramparts. All the rebellion members threw their hands in the air, jabbing at the sky with their weapons as they shouted their approval.
The mortals trembled before his half elf and Abraxas had never been more proud than in this moment.
His little fire heart had grown wings.
Once the cheer stilled, Lore nodded at the rebellion members, who stood beside the gates. They slowly opened the courtyard so all the mortals could leave, but not without one last word from the elf who had killed the King.
“Ready yourselves,” she called out to the retreating nobles. “The magical creatures of this realm are preparing to cut out the poison. If you are part of that venom, we will slice you from the body of our land. We will let the sun rise!”
The rebellion repeated her words, chanting, “Let the sun rise!”
He could only imagine the fear those mortals felt as they fled the castle. They would go home and tell her story. Then, they would likely return here with armies to battle for the right to their beloved castle.
Lore was correct. The battles had only just begun, and they would get infinitely worse before they got better. But for now, they could all relax. They could rejoice that the first, and arguably most difficult, victory had been won.
When the last mortal disappeared, he let his power drift away. Returning to the mortal form he had once hated so that he could finally pull her into his arms.
By the time he was a man again, Abraxas found Margaret deep in whispered conversation with Lore.
“Listen to me,” the woman hissed. “That was not a clean kill. There is no way to know for certain that we have finished this. You will stay inside the castle with me until I figure out where we go from here.”
“I have no interest in staying here,” Lore replied. “I want to go back to my little apartment and back to the life I left.”
“You want to steal again? You want to go back to that dirty hovel and live in poverty?” Margaret laughed, but the sound was cruel. “You know I won’t let you do that.”
Abraxas could sense the fight in Lore long before she raised her fists. If he let these two elves continue arguing, then he would never get a few moments alone with the young woman who had so captured his attention.
And he found he was tired of quarreling. They’d already done so much of that.
Stepping in between them, he cleared his throat. “If I might offer another option?”
Margaret blinked at him. “Excuse me? What are you even doing here, dragon?”
He ignored her question and turned to Lore. “If you would stay here for a while, Lore, there is much I would like to discuss with you. I have... questions.”
“Questions?” she asked, her eyes a little too big. “What kind of questions?”
“Ones that need answering.” He should keep his hands to himself, but he couldn’t. Abraxas reached out and cupped her jaw, feeling the rough edges of her wounds against his calloused hands. “I think you’re the only one that can answer them.”
Oh, if she kept staring at him like that, then he’d never be able to leave this place. He’d fall onto his knees in front of her and place kisses to every wound, every bruise, every single spot on her body that needed his attention.
And then he’d start all over again.
She cleared her throat, cheeks blushing a pretty red color. “Perhaps I can stay for a little while. I don’t really know where to go anymore, I suppose.”
“Good,” he whispered. Abraxas leaned down slightly, just enough to inhale her scent. “I had hoped you might agree.”
Margaret sighed, and the sound interrupted their moment. “Just get her clean, dragon. There’s much we have to do and we don’t have time for her to second guess all this. Tomorrow. We’ll all talk tomorrow.”
He replied with nothing more than a grunt. How was he supposed to rip his gaze from this lovely young woman who had captured his heart?
Chapter 36
Lore
Lore trailed after Abraxas out of the courtyard under the promise that he would bring her back to the castle soon. But first, he wanted to make sure that she was in one piece and no, Margaret could not send anyone with her. He was a dragon, and if anyone attacked them, he would eat them.
Margaret argued hard. But eventually, even the leader of the rebellion knew that she had met her match. Abraxas would not bend. He would not yield, and she would have to let them go.
Thankfully, Lore didn’t have to say a word. And she feared what would have happened if she said anything, because she had a feeling she might have simply screamed.
One foot in front of the other. That’s all she had to do.
They were about a ten-minute walk outside of the castle when Abraxas turned to her. He held his hands out at his sides, stretching them toward her as though he were going to touch her face, but then letting them drop to his sides again.
He battled something. She could tell that. He opened his mouth, closed it, then shuffled his feet in a step closer to her.
“What?” she asked, her voice filled with exhaustion. “What is it?”
He let out a long groan before grumbling, “I hope you forgive me for this.”
He lunged forward, almost too fast for her to see, and scooped her up into his arms. Abraxas buried his face in the side of her neck, holding onto her with a shaking grip. His lips pressed to her pulse. Not in a kiss, but as though he wanted to feel that she was alive against his mouth.
Oh, this man. This sweet, kind dragon who had been used by the worst of people.
He’d given up so much to help her. More than she ever had any right to ask.
Lore wrapped her arms around his neck and let him hold all her weight. “I’m sorry,” she whispered in his ear. “I’m so sorry for what you had to do.”
“You shouldn’t have wielded the blade. It should have been me,” he said at the same time.
Guilt bounced between them both, rolling into anxiety that pressed against her neck. She couldn’t breathe through it. Through the realization that she’d killed again, and that the knife was torturing the King right now. That she’d forced this dragon to give up his chances of ever having other dragons in the world just so they could get rid of a corrupt ruler.
Now there would never be dragons in this realm again.
A choked sob caught in her mouth. She tried hard not to let him know she was crying, but...
“Oh, Lore,” he whispered.
His hands slid down her back, and he palmed the back of her thighs. Abraxas guided her to wrap her legs around his waist and then he took off for the forest. Slow, measured steps brought them deep into the heart of the woods. Until she could hear nothing other than the soft chirp of birds and the sound of his breath.
Sunlight turned the fore
st into gold and emerald. Mossy outcroppings grew up the surrounding trees, and then Abraxas sank to his knees in the moss.
He just held her. Their hearts slowed, beating together until the guilt eased from her soul. She drew back from his embrace, still seated on his thighs while his arms held her steady around her back.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “You shouldn’t have had to make that decision for me. I thought... I thought you wouldn’t...”
Abraxas touched a tear that ran down her cheek, following it from her eye all the way to her jaw. “You thought I wouldn’t save you?”
“You had good reason not to.”
“Lore...” Her name on his tongue was a whispered hymn. “You have etched your name on my soul. What kind of world would this be if you were not in it? Lady of Starlight. My Fire Heart.”
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“Fire heart? It is the way a dragon names a person who was born in the wrong skin.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, fingers lingering in the tangles. “You are half elf, but with the soul of a dragon. I knew that the first moment I saw you.”
“The first time we met?” Lore smiled at the memory. “You didn’t like me in the woods.”
“I did. I liked you too much.” He frowned, tiny wrinkles appearing between his eyes. “You nearly suffocated me with maddening hunger. The mere sight of you ruined me, Lore. I didn’t know how to be or live, and that is not something I am accustomed to.”
How was she supposed to respond to that? How did one honor a dragon in such a way?
“I...” Lore swallowed hard, wishing she knew how to say pretty words. How to explain that he made her heart feel like it would burst just by looking at him. “I...”
Abraxas grinned, and the expression was blinding. “Lore, you’re glowing.”
She gasped and looked down at her arms. She was indeed glowing. Her skin lit up like a thousand stars had exploded in her veins.
Hesitantly, she smiled at him. “I am.”
“For me?” he asked, but he should have already known the answer to that.
Oh, she didn’t want him to think otherwise. Lore wasn’t a woman of words, though. She’d never been able to explain how she was feeling or why she was feeling.
She slid her hands into his hair at the back of his neck. With a soft sound, Lore pressed her lips to his. His hands flexed at her waist, tucking into the indent where her ribs met hips. And this was... more. More than any kiss they’d ever shared before.
She could tell the instant everything changed. His hands gripped her a little too tight. The hitch in his breath as his chest swelled. Where she had been the one to kiss him first, now everything changed. He heated underneath the palms of her hands until it was almost uncomfortable to touch him.
His large hand shifted up her ribcage, tracing the outline of her body, gently lingering over bruises that eased beneath his fingers.
He kissed her like a starving man. One who had prayed in the darkness for a last meal and she was what he desired most.
Teeth nipping at her bottom lip, he begged her to open up to him. To let him devour her as only a dragon could. She should be afraid. She should fear him unraveling all the dark parts of her soul, but she... didn’t.
Instead, she bit back. Lore caught his lip between her teeth, biting a little too hard. He made a guttural sound deep in the back of his throat, hands spasming against her sides.
This.
This was what she had been waiting for.
She drew back for breath, but then couldn’t stop looking at him. Her dragon.
He might not be the most handsome man in the world. He had scars and a history that could never be forgiven. But he was real, and he cared for her.
That was terrifying. And lovely. And horrible. And wonderful. All at the same time.
“What is it?” he asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I just... I don’t know what this means. For us. For...” Lore struggled to find the right thing to say. “What do you want from me, Abraxas?”
“I hope the same thing you want. Lore, for a dragon...”
She wished she knew what he was going to finish that sentence with. Branches behind them snapped and cracked, then Beauty burst into the mossy glen. Breathing hard, eyes wild.
She stilled the moment she saw them tangled in each other’s arms. Cheeks bright red, she spun around until her back was to them and stared up at the sky. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry to interrupt. I know you’ve both earned a few moments to yourselves. Gods know we all could use a few moments with the ones we love.”
Love?
No, that wasn’t right. That wasn’t what this was, or Lore absolutely would have known. It was too much to say a word like that.
But Abraxas’s eyes burned ever hotter. As though Beauty had said what he wanted to say, and now that the words were free, it made his feelings even stronger. She stared into his eyes and swallowed hard. Was this...
What had he been about to say?
Beauty continued, as though she didn’t realize the two people behind her were breathing hard for a much different reason. “The King is alive. Margaret sent a raven after the Umbral Knights and they managed to keep him alive. Somehow. Black magic, maybe? We aren’t sure.”
The words burned through whatever feeling she had for Abraxas. Lore’s breath caught in her throat and she repeated the words slowly. As though they couldn’t be real.
“The King is alive?”
Want to find out what happens with Lore and Abraxas? And what about those EGGS!
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Acknowledgments
This book wouldn’t be what it is right now without the help of a few special people who really put in more hours than they needed to. Nic, Bego, and Denise, you three were rockstars. When I needed you to jump in on a weekend even to help beta read and edit this book, you were all more than happy to do so. I don’t know where I’d be without you ladies, but I know it wouldn’t be where I am right now.
And then there’s my prince charming, my pain in the ass, and my wonderful fiance who regularly gives me the inspiration to write all these incredible stories. Because of you, I know how to write a romance that makes people swoon. That’s all you, baby. I love you lots and lots, forever and always.
To my family, thank you for enduring my neverending conversations about books, people that aren’t real, and stories that have nothing to do with real life. Love you mom and dad, you two... you made me who I am today. And I’m forever thankful.
About the Author
Emma Hamm is a small town girl on a blueberry field in Maine. She writes stories that remind her of home, of fairytales, and of myths and legends that make her mind wander.
She can be found by the fireplace with a cup of tea and her two Maine Coon cats dipping their paws into the water without her knowing.
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