In answer, I started to change without the power of the sword.
As my bones twisted in agony, Caliel freaked out.What has possessed you now?he demanded. He started to help me, but I felt how weak he was.
Leave it,I commanded.This is between Riggs and me.
A pang of something I couldn’t quite define, and then he withdrew.
When a gasp of agony escaped my lips, Riggs picked up the sword. He pulled it free, and it glowed brighter than the sun, far brighter than when I’d held it. The runes danced along the blade. For just a moment, he seemed caught up in it, his eyes shining metallic. Then he reached out with it and laid the blade against me.
It washed the pain away, and I embraced my human form with a mix of relief and elation. When I finally rose to push my hair out of my eyes, he inhaled sharply.
Sunlight chased over my naked skin.
Naked. Not a scale or feather in sight. A knot that had been tied tight inside me loosened.
Rigg’s moved as if to cast the sword away… And my hand snapped up to wrap around his on the hilt. “No,” I said. “This sword belongs to you.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “I cannot be who it wants me to be,” he whispered. He pulled it free from my hand, and laid it down on the stone.
The torment in his voice tore at me, but I held firm. And from deep within, a tired Caliel spoke.
“It sees not just who you are, but who you will be,” he said through my lips. “And just because destiny is not easy to accept, does not make it any less possible.”
I witnessed the desperation blossom in Riggs’s eyes. “The Empire will never be restored by a Dragon without wings.”
I met it head on. “You have wings,” I said. “You have mine.”
“Your wings have feathers,” he husked.
I reached up to run fingers along his jaw. He was broken, and I knew how deeply. The inability to soar struck to the heart of who he was. But Fate had destined us to be together—and I could give him back his wings.
“You can give me the missing piece,” I said. “I will be your Dragon.”
His throat convulsed, and his pulse pounded beneath my fingers. “Why would you want to be part of this?” I could barely hear him.
I drank in the sight of him—not just his height and breadth, but the man I knew he was. His warrior soul, the drive to do what was right and the ability to see it through to the end. But more than that—his fierce loyalty to whom he loved.
He would die to protect me. And as my heart filled to bursting, I knew I would do the same for him.
“I am part of you,” I breathed, hooking fingers behind his neck to pull his head down to mine. “And you know it.”
I rose on tiptoes to touch my lips to his—and with a low groan that came from the depths of his soul, he kissed me. I tingled all over as our lips touched, and I opened for him, eager to taste him. To make himmine.
I drank in his musky scent as I spread my hands out over his chest. He was captivating to touch, with rock-hard muscles beneath the fabric of his hoodie. I slid questing fingers upward and thrilled in his satin-smooth skin.
Mine. He wasmine. Heart, spirit, soul…
Andfire—passion for a Dragon was all aboutfire. His eyes ignited as he exhaled hard. He yanked the hoodie off with such force that a seam gave. It left the tremendous breadth to his shoulders gloriously exposed to the fading sun, the golden light chasing across the Dragons rendered there.
For a moment, we both froze. His eyes gleamed at me, drinking me in, and a big hand drifted gentle fingers along my jaw.
“This will change everything,” he whispered. “Are yousure, Breana?”
I met his gaze. “I have never been more sure of anything.”
His fingers cupped my jaw. “I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you. Told myself to stay away. But walking away from you would tear a hunk out of me—and I don’t know how much of me is really left to lose.” He huffed a soft laugh. “Like that makes any sense at all. And I clearly can’t do it, because here I am. Whoever or whatever there is left of me.”
It was quite the speech—and the pain woven through it wrenched at my heart. I reached to touch his cheek. “I know who you are.”
