Wintersflame

The Lady and the Stranger (Part Two)

A nagging thought at the back of my mind woke me. It felt like being suddenly pulled from under the water and consciousness washed down my entire body. The fire in the hearth died sometime in the night while I was asleep.

The air was frigid even inside. I looked around to see all the windows and the door was still closed. Draco was nowhere to be seen. The niggling worry at the back of my mind fed at the negative thoughts that endlessly pestered me. But I held my ground. I trusted him. At least, I believed I do.

When the knock on the door came, I panicked but tamped it down almost immediately. Guards wouldn't knock if they were here for me. Still, my breath lodged in my throat, refusing to be let out until Draco spoke from the other side. It left my lips as a relieved sigh.

"Chandra, it's me. Are you awake?"

"Yes," I replied. "Are you alone?"

"Yes. Open the door please." There was urgency in his voice but I hesitated. My hand lingered over the deadbolt. Doubt gnawed at me. What if he betrayed me? As if my mind and my body were two separate entities, I found myself opening the door before I could think. Draco rushed inside, pulling me behind him.

"We have to go. The King's guards are headed this way."

"What?"

"They're half a day away on horseback. We have to leave now if you want to get away from them."

"How did they know I was here?"

"They don't, but if they find you here, they will know. Let's go."

"Where will we even go?"

"Look, the King's guards are not allowed to enter Hovalon's border without permission. It'll be seen as an act of war. We can pass through there and head to Tranada."

It didn't take us long to pack food and a few spare clothing for our departure. All the while, Draco kept looking outside. There were times when I mistook my erratic heartbeat with the noise of galloping horses before I berated myself for being paranoid. Still, the fear remained. As we descended the Crimson Mountains, I thought of how peaceful the Salvia Forest looked from above. But I knew, beneath the thick canopy that shielded the floor from sight, the guards were on their way for me.

We saddled Nardell and without the weight of the cart to slow us down, we left the rocky terrain. Each step the mare took lightened the worry in my chest until I stopped looking behind my back. We arrived at the stone bridge to Hovalon just as their church bell tolled seven, accompanied by the roar of thunder.

Three days ago, I left our house to meet the King. Today, I left another house to get away from the King. My chest tightened at the thought.

Ꙍ

"Where is everyone?"

I directed this question to the barmaid serving our breakfast in a small inn in Hovalon. In our hurry to leave, we completely forgot to eat. The sudden downpour made travel difficult that we decided to stop and wait out the storm. Draco was—again—nowhere to be found.

The barmaid turned to me, frowning. "If you believe these drunks," she gestured to the men on the table beside ours, "I reckon they're hiding from the dragon. I bet they're just hiding from the storm."

"It's true!" One of the men exclaimed. He turned to me, glazed eyes trying to centre me in his sight. "I saw 'em meself. Large, winged beast, big enough to swallow the moon, I'm tellin' 'ya!"

"Where?" I asked.

"Up over the forest. Might be flyin' to Veluinia by now."

My spoon clattered to the floor. A lump formed in my throat and I had to force the words out. "Did you say Veluinia?"

Another merchant answered me. "Yes, Miss. I heard everything's been crazy down there since the King's bride went missing. They say she's been abducted by the dragon."

My mouth opened to object when Draco entered the inn. His hair was matted to his head, ends dripping with rainwater, and his clothes were soaked that I could see his sculpted body beneath the thin fabric.

The barmaid berated him for dripping on the floor and he apologised half-heartedly, taking the seat across me. "We can't travel in this weather," he told me. I nod knowingly.

"Draco, I have to go back to Veluinia."

His gaze narrowed. "Why?"

"They said there's a dragon terrorising the kingdom and I left my sister there!" I stood up and my chair toppled backwards. Everyone in the inn had their eyes on me but I could not care less about what they thought. I left Amaris there. I left her there.

Draco dragged me by the arm and led me into the upstairs bedroom we rented until the storm abated. In the small space, the sound of raindrops against the wooden roof was amplified.

After making sure the door was locked, he turned to me. "Calm down, Chandra. Nothing's going to happen to her."

"How do you know?" I snapped.

"Just trust me, Chandra."

"How can I even trust you if you won't tell me anything?" I balled my hand into a fist.

"I don't want to tell you anything!" Draco paced in the small bedroom, his hands gripping his hair in frustration. He avoided looking at me that for a moment, I doubted myself. "I'm scared that if I told you the truth, you won't accept it. That you'll leave me. Gods! I can't lose you, too."

"Tell me, Draco. I deserve to know."

He looked at me and my knees almost buckled at the storm contained in his eyes. Still, I held my ground. I needed to know the truth. I wanted to trust him so badly but the doubts would always remain.

He reached for his necklace and offered it to me. I thought it was stone when I first saw it, only this time I realised it was glass. My fingers traced its edges. Black glass threaded through a thin, leather string. I waited for him to say anything.

"It began sixteen years ago," he began. His explanation was nothing like I expected and I was torn between believing him or not. "Twenty-one years ago, when the last dragon was slain, the child of the dragon-slayer was cursed to turn into a dragon when the sun sets and will remain so until the sun rises again. The dragon-slayer refused to believe it until his son turned five. On the child's fifth birthday, there was a fire. The dragon-slayer lost his wife to his own son who, when dusk came, became a dragon."

"Why are you telling me this? I want the truth, not a gods-damned myth!"

"I'm telling you the truth, Chandra!" Draco turned away, shaking his head. I said nothing. "Sixteen years ago, I killed my own mother! My father wanted me dead! I would've died if a servant didn't raise me here."

Sixteen years ago. That was around the time Amaris got her scars. I was too young to remember anything at that time but I knew the stories. The fire. The palace. The queen and prince. The truth barrelled into me in full force that I staggered to my feet.

"You're the prince," I breathed out.

"I'm cursed, Chandra. For eternity."

"You're the prince," I repeated. He looked at me and even without words, I knew without a doubt that it was the truth. How did I not recognise those eyes? Those were the eyes of the man betrothed to me, the man I ran away from. "Was it you? The dragon they were talking about?"

"I went to see how your sister was doing. I knew how much she meant to you." He lowered his head. "She's alright. Chandra, I... I really wish things were different."

My chest tightened from the sudden overflow of emotions as I stared at the man who risked so much for my peace of mind. Was I willing to push him away because of my distrust? Because of his curse? Was I really that shallow?

For the first time in my life, I felt something new. This wasn't feeble or fleeting. I grasped it with both hands, not willing to let go. And somehow, I knew, he doesn't want to let it go, too.

I swallowed the lump barring my throat and said to him, "This doesn't change anything, Draco. Your curse, surely there's a way to break it?"

He shook his head. "None that I know of. Look, you don't have to worry about me. We just have to get you and your sister away from Veluinia."

"But what about you?"

He cupped my cheeks, and stared with those sapphire eyes I'd come to love in the days I spent with him. Those sapphire eyes that spoke of so much I couldn't begin to fathom its depths. "You know I can't come with you."

"Yes, you can. Together." I placed my hands over his. "We'll go together."

I heard the pain in his voice when he said, "I'm cursed, Chandra. It's my burden and mine alone. You don't have to concern yourself."

"It's a curse, Draco. A curse is like a heart." I shook my head, hoping my eyes could say everything my mouth couldn't. "It just needs the right person to break it."

He said nothing.

I didn't think. I didn't allow myself to think as I pushed myself on my toes until my lips hovered beneath his. His breath was warm against my skin. Tingles pulsed their way through my veins and into my erratic heart. I saw the same desire burning inside me reflected in his eyes, sharp and immovable. With eyes closed, I pressed my lips to his.

It was a kiss that destroyed me to the finest particle of my being. Every bone in my body sang to the harmony of our beating hearts. His velvet lips moved—as soft as the petals of a camellia—discovering my secrets, uncovering my desires. My knees felt weak, threatening to pull me under, but Draco was there. His arms snaked around my waist, pulling me in and holding me up. His other hand was at the back of my neck, threading itself through the jagged ends of my hair. I was lost, yet found at the same time. I was made and unmade and remade by his lips. All the words I wished to say but I couldn't—and all the words he wished to say but he wouldn't—passed through our contact.

He didn't let go of me when we pulled away. For a long moment, Draco only stared at me. I felt myself flushing. He c****d his eyebrow and the corner of his mouth quirked up into a smile.

"It takes more than just a kiss to break the spell, you know."

I rolled my eyes, smiling at his attempt in humour, and wiggled out of his arms. "It was worth a try."

He chuckled as he pulled me in an embrace, nuzzling his face at the crook of my neck. "You said that the truth doesn't change anything between us." He said this in a whisper, but because of his proximity, I could feel every rough edge of his voice in my skin. When he took my hand, I flinched at the contact, marvelling how a single touch could send my entire body into overdrive. He traced circles at the back of my hand. "I think it just did."

I said nothing as I laced my fingers through his. At that moment, I allowed Draco to fill my mind and my heart.

Ꙍ

The storm grew stronger and by noon, there was nothing to see outside but the slanted drops of hazy rain. The wind whistled through the shutters no matter how we tried to close them. In the end, Draco and I laid down on the small bed that creaked each time one of us moved. We didn't talk. We just lay there, listening to the songs of the storm. Being beside him was simply satisfying. Like there was nothing more the world could do to make me feel better than I already do.

The world, however, did not agree.

It all happened quickly. The noise of the storm cloaked the commotion in the inn's lobby. When the door of our bedroom flung open and the familiar blue and gold uniform came to sight, it's too late. My body was ripped away from Draco's arms. I thrashed against the grip of the two guards dragging me by the arm. Three other guards remained with Draco, and just before the door closed completely, I saw one of the guards landed a swift punch to his face.

I must be screaming but I heard nothing. Not my voice, or the storm, or the heavy boots against the wooden floor. Forcibly, I was dragged out of the inn. I turned to the barmaid for help but she just stared with an apology in her eyes.

The world spun and my legs gave away. My chest constricted, grappling for air that wasn't mine. I screamed and thrashed. Again and again and again. I called his name until my throat stung. I called until my voice became a whisper swallowed by the storm. I called until black spots danced across my vision. When the darkness came for me, I thrashed against it, too.