Chapter 4 – Forbidden Curiosity
1157 Words
Fire coiled around us alive, aware, pressing heat into my skin until I could barely breathe.
Claiming flame.
Destined mates.
The words lodged in my chest like a second heartbeat.
I tried to step back, but the fire tightened, pulling me closer to him. The Dragon Lord’s eyes held mine, golden, burning, conflicted. For the first time, he didn’t look like an untouchable ruler of storms and fire.
He looked shaken.
“Elara…” His voice dropped to a rough whisper. “Don’t move. The flame reacts to your fear.”
“I’m not afraid,” I said, though my trembling hands betrayed me.
He gave me a look. “You’re terrified.”
My chin lifted. “Of the fire? Or of you?”
His jaw clenched.
And the flame pulsed brighter between us.
The heat rose until I gasped. He instantly reached out, gripping my forearm. His touch was scorching, but compared to the flame, it felt grounding. Real. A tether in the chaos.
The marking on my collarbone burned under his gaze like it was alive.
“We need to break the circle,” he murmured.
“How?”
“You need to pull back. Reject the bond’s surge.”
His words were calm… but his hand tightened around me with something close to desperation.
I closed my eyes and forced my lungs to slow.
In.
Out.
The flames flickered.
Again.
In.
Out.
The fire softened, loosening its hold and then vanished in a swirling gasp of smoke, leaving the forest suddenly cold and silent.
My legs nearly gave out. The Dragon Lord caught me by the waist, steadying me before I hit the ground.
The touch was wrong. Forbidden.
But I didn’t pull away.
Neither did he.
For a heartbeat, we simply stood there. His breath was warm against my cheek, the rise and fall of his chest brushing mine, his hand firm on my waist like he had no intention of letting go.
I finally whispered, “Why me?”
His eyes hardened instantly. “This shouldn’t have happened.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He stepped back. Too quickly. As if my proximity burned more than the flames.
“I need to take you home,” he said, turning away.
“No.”
He froze.
I swallowed, lifting my chin. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s happening to me… to us.”
His shoulders tensed.
“Elara, the dragon realm is already aware of your existence. Tonight proved it. Leaving you unprotected is dangerous.”
I crossed my arms. “Then protect me. But don’t lie to me.”
He turned slowly, eyes narrowing not with anger… but with something darker. Something reluctant. Something pulled.
“You don’t understand what you’re asking,” he said.
“Then explain.”
His jaw worked for several seconds before he exhaled, looking skyward as if battling himself.
“The mark you bear… is ancient. It was never meant to bond with a human. The fact that it did mean something in the magic has shifted.”
“Shifted how?”
He stepped closer, and the air changed, thickening, warming. The forest felt too small for the space between us.
“Your soul now echoes with dragon fire,” he said quietly. “You will feel my presence long after I’ve left your side. You’ll sense danger before it reaches you. You’ll crave answers that your world cannot give.”
He paused. Then added, softer:
“And you will be drawn to me whether you want it or not.”
My breath hitched.
Drawn to him?
That… was already happening.
“But I don’t want this,” I whispered.
A faint, sad smile flickered across his lips. “Neither do I.”
The words cut deeper than I expected.
“Then break it. Break the bond.”
His eyes flashed hurt first, then stone-cold distance.
“It cannot be broken.”
Silence fell like snowfall.
He turned away again, as if creating distance would undo what the flame had sealed.
“Go home, Elara. Forget the clearing. Forget the mark. Forget me.”
My chest ached. “You know I can’t.”
His fists tightened.
Then, without another word, he shifted wings, bursting from his back in a blaze of gold and shadow. He launched into the sky, leaving the scent of smoke and the echo of his heartbeat inside me.
But forgetting wasn’t possible.
I felt him even after he left the faint warmth under my skin, the flicker of his flame in the back of my mind, the echo of power curling around my ribs.
That night, sleep avoided me.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the ring of fire. His hand is around my waist. His voice trembled when he said, Neither do I.
By dawn, exhaustion pulled me from bed. As the village stirred awake, I felt something else.
A tug.
Soft at first. Gentle. Like fingers brushing my collarbone from the inside.
Then stronger.
My breath caught.
He was near.
But why?
I wrapped a shawl around my shoulders and slipped out quietly, following the pull. Not because I trusted it.
Because resisting it felt impossible.
The path led toward the border of the woods toward a spot I had never dared approach. The air grew warmer with each step. Leaves shimmered faintly with residual magic.
Then I saw it.
A glowing seam in the air like a c***k in reality itself. Golden ember-light leaked through the gap.
I froze.
“What… is that?”
A portal.
A doorway.
Leading into another world.
The dragon realm.
My fingers trembled as I lifted my hand toward the shimmering opening. Heat licked my skin the moment I got close. It wasn’t painful, just warm. Familiar.
A voice whispered from beyond the c***k. Low. Familiar.
“Elara.”
My heart lurched.
He was on the other side.
I took a step closer, breath trembling. Everything in me screamed not to cross that line. Everything human warned that stepping through meant danger, secrets, consequences I couldn’t understand.
But the bond tugged again, stronger this time. Not painful. Not forced.
Inviting.
My hand brushed the glow, and the seam widened with a c***k of thunder, the light spilling out like liquid fire.
Through the opening… I saw him.
The Dragon Lord. Standing in a realm of floating embers, towering obsidian cliffs, and skies streaked with crimson light.
His eyes locked onto mine, shocked, unprepared, almost… vulnerable.
“Elara,” he whispered again, more urgently this time. “You weren’t supposed to see this.”
I swallowed hard, voice shaking. “You pulled me here.”
He stepped forward. “No. The bond did.”
“Then what do we do?”
His answer came as a single word, low and heavy:
“Choose.”
The world around us vibrated.
And the portal dragged me forward.
Straight into his arms.
- Writer
