Stealing the Dragon’s Heart by Kiersten Fay

40

Aidan peeked one eye open, scanning her face. “You’re kidding me.”

“But we can’t be talking about the same man. What are the odds?”

Aidan sat up and rested his back on the headboard. “When it comes to Faieara? Pretty damn high, apparently. I served on a ship called Marada, captained by a demon named Sebastian. Sebastian is now mated to one of the Faieara Princesses, Anya, or rather, Analia. We call her Anya for short. Sebastian’s brother Cale is mated to your Queen, Kyra. Ethanule was also on the ship with us.

Onnika was rendered speechless, dizzy with the realization that her people had survived the invasion. For so long she’d craved information, any information…gathering none. Now she was getting firsthand knowledge. She remembered Kyra and Analia, daughters of the king, along with their sister Nadua. Uncle Ethanule had worked as a guard at the castle. On the day of the Kayadon invasion, the princesses were spirited away. Later, so were Onnika and Caryn…thanks to her uncle.

Onnika hadn’t thought of that day for a very long time. Her mother had begged her uncle to find safe passage off planet for her and Caryn, believing, since the King was sending his own daughters away, that it was the only way to save her children. “When the Kayadon attacked,” Onnika told Aidan in a detached voice, “Uncle Ethanule found us a shuttle and sent us away. I watched from a porthole as those horrid ships bombed my planet. My people. At the time, I was old enough to understand what was happening. Caryn? All she could do was cry for our mother and cling to me in fright.”

Aidan urged her on with his caring expression.

“Though I was just a child, I was old enough to care for her on my own. But I was still too young to fly, so Uncle Ethanule put the ship on autopilot and set a course for a planet called Veya, where we should have found shelter with the Veyans. Unfortunately, we found nothing but death there. I suspect those who invaded Evlon had found Veya first. Someone had, in any case. I can’t imagine they would have destroyed themselves so thoroughly.”

“I’m so sorry. How did you manage, all alone?”

She laid her head back on his shoulder, tucking it under his chin. “Some dwellings on Veya still held stores of food, so we waited there, hoping for rescue. We waited years. We knew nothing of farming, and after a while what was left of the preserved food was either running low or going sour. We started to survive on grains and what little we could forage from the forests. I’m still haunted by how thin Caryn had grown by the end.”

She shuddered. “When travelers finally came, friends to the Veyans who had no knowledge of what had happened there, I was wary of them, but Caryn was certain we should go with them. We certainly couldn’t stay on Veya. By this time, I’d grown to rely on Caryn’s magical ability. She always chose the correct path for us. So we went. But it was I who decided to trust these strangers more than I should have. I told them what I could do and the next thing I knew, they took us to a slave market and sold us to the highest bidder. The one consolation was that we remained together, but that was the first time we were betrayed.”

“But you managed to get away?” His voice was stilted and rough, like he’d spoken through his teeth.

“We always did…eventually. It seemed every time we fell in with a new group, allowed ourselves to trust, they either sold us or tried to exploit us in some way.” Propping up on her elbow, she noticed Aidan’s expression had tightened. She didn’t need magic to sense how saddened he was by her story. Clearing her throat, she added airily, “Rinse and repeat, and the rest is history.”

“I fear there’s much more to it than that,” he said. “I despise the difficulties you must have endured. I want to burn the bastards who sold you. Anyone who could be so cruel to children deserves a prolonged and painful demise.”

She shrugged, though his words touched her. “In the end, I believe it was for the best. I believe Caryn’s instincts were correct. If we hadn’t gone with them that day, who knows what would have happened to us on Veya. We might have starved to death, or been found by an even more ruthless bunch.”

“More ruthless than those who would sell two young girls with no concern for their wellbeing?”

“At least they never harmed us.”

“Can the same be said for those who bought you?”

She glanced away. “We all have a path to follow. Mine has only made me stronger. Through trial and error, I honed my powers more quickly than I would have under the peaceful rule of Evlon. Though I could not always be in control of our situation, I taught myself to read the true desires of others based on their intentions. I learned when to back down from a fight, when to avoid one altogether, and when to issue a challenge. I discovered how to subtly sway someone to do as I wished without them even knowing it, and most importantly, I learned how to protect Caryn from the worst of it all.”

Aidan flinched, as though imagining the horrors she might have endured.

She placed her hand on his cheeks and brought his gaze back to her. “If I had it all to do again, I wouldn’t change a thing, because a single deviation from my path and I might never have met you.”

His eyes grew so fierce and intense, she almost had to look away. He hooked her waist with his thickly muscled arm and pulled her tighter against his chest. “I wish I could have spared you every painful moment you might have suffered on your way to find me, but at the same time, I know it has shaped you into who you are today. And in a way, I am grateful for it, because it has made you into the woman I love.”

She gasped and blinked up at him several times, her vision watering. “I…I love you, too.”

He pushed her back onto the mattress and claimed her lips in a tender, yet searing kiss that instantly stole her breath. Abruptly, he pulled back, studied her for a moment, then pushed off the bed to stand. She was a little dismayed by his sudden exodus…until she read his intention.

Aidan crossed to his desk and paused, feeling that old wound in his chest begin to throb. But Onnika had shared some of her pain with him, and she deserved his honesty in return.

Retrieving the photograph of his deceased wife and son, he returned to stand next to the bed and handed it to her. His lips quirked when she didn’t look surprised to see it. He should have known she’d go snooping through his things. He was surprisingly unbothered by the fact.

She ran her fingers over the child’s image. “This is your son?”

He nodded gravely.

“And this woman? Is she your…wife?”

“She was. This was my family, long ago.”

Her expression turned mournful, and she looked up at him with compassion. “What happened to them?”

“They were murdered.”

She flinched, then solemnly glanced back down at the photo.

“I loved them,” he continued, “but I was selfish and young. I craved excitement and glory. So much so that I left them to train as a pilot so I could run Phase Nine, unaware that it would be the last time I ever saw them. When I won, I thought it was the happiest day of my life, before I learned…” His features hardened. “Now it’s like a curse that has followed me everywhere. Wherever I went, people knew my name, knew my accomplishments, were constantly praising me as a hero while unwittingly reminding me that when my family needed me the most, I wasn’t there to protect them. I failed them in the worst possible way. That’s what Phase Nine is to me. My greatest failure.”

She was silent for a long while, peering down at the photo in her hand. “I’m sorry for what happened to them. And to you. But you must know it wasn’t your fault.”

“I could have saved them.”

“Or you could have died alongside them.” She shuddered, the idea abhorrent to her. Sensing his need for her nearness, she shimmied to the edge of the bed where he stood and placed a soft kiss over his heart.

He peered down at her, rendered speechless by the tender gesture, his pulse thumping with a rush of affection.

“There’s no telling what might have happened,” she continued. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that bad things can happen, no matter how careful you are. You might make mistakes, but there are good things, too. Happy, unexpected things that make the bad things a little less sharp.” She ran her fingertips over his heart where she’d kissed him. “And if you’re always watching the past, it makes it difficult to see the present clearly. I have a feeling you’ve been punishing yourself for a long time, and the idea of letting go of that pain feels like a betrayal.”

At length, he gave a curt nod.

“But I can understand that,” she added. “If Caryn didn’t survive, I’d never have forgiven myself because it would be my fault.”

“No,” he said softly. “It wouldn’t.”

She gave a feeble smile. “No one could ever convince me otherwise. And that’s how you feel about your family, isn’t it?”

Again, a curt nod.

Leaning forward, she rested her head against his chest, and his arms curled around her. “That pain is a part of you, and it’s a beautiful part of you, because it means that you once loved deeply, with all your heart, and that is never a bad thing.”

He let out a shaky breath and pressed his lips to the top of her head, breathing in her scent. God, this woman was like a balm to the wounds deep in his soul. He didn’t deserve her. That wouldn’t stop him from claiming every piece of her he could get.

“It must be difficult, running Phase Nine a second time,” she said.

“I was sure it would destroy me.” He pulled back to meet her gaze. “But then I met this obstinate, demanding thief who has kept me so worried and frustrated, riling the dragon in me at every turn, that I barely had time to castigate myself. A thief who tricked me into falling in love with her.”

“I didn’t trick you. I subtly swayed you.” She examined her nails. “Not my fault if you couldn’t resist me.”

His lips spread into a wide grin. “Didn’t help that you are completely irresistible.”

Curling her hand around the back of his neck, she pulled him down for a tender kiss. Then, placing her palm over his heart once more, she said, “If I’ve stolen this heart, I’ll have to see what I can do about healing it.”

He swallowed the hard lump that had formed in his throat and grated, “Quite an undertaking.”

“Good thing I’m the smartest, greatest, most capable woman you’ve ever met.”

A crooked grin tugged at his lips. “And perhaps the most devious.”

Gaze turning mischievous, her hand slowly trailed down his torso. “Just so. And right now I have some devious plans for you.”

The fire in his chest lit into a raging forge. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Sometime later, sated and content, Aidan allowed the pads of his fingers to drift up and down the smooth skin over Onnika’s naked spine. She lay across his torso, head resting on his shoulder, eyes closed. Was she sleeping, or merely basking in the glorious afterglow of their lovemaking? He wouldn’t disturb her to find out, but couldn’t keep from touching her. Her skin was creamy silk to his touch, and her scent was like a sweet dessert unique only to her. Instantly addictive.

Now that they were out of the race, the future seemed...bright. Onnika was here with him. She trusted him. Loved him. He vowed to protect her always. Keep her safe and return her to her people. Perhaps reside there with her. Or they could travel the universe and make new discoveries. Race. Make love. Be happy.

He didn’t know the precise moment when the scars of his past had begun to fade, no longer choking him with guilt-ridden pain. He only knew the reason for it lay in his arms, her soft breaths like a purr to his ears. For the first time in recent memory, hope fluttered in his stomach and tickled his heart. His heart was light. Unburdened. Free.

To an extent, anyway. The pain of his loss was still there, and as she’d said, it was a part of him and would be forever, but it was, for once, bearable. Like a knot that had been twisted too tight was finally loosened and he could breathe.

He suspected she felt the same, in a way .

As she had revealed all her secrets to him, a kind of tension he hadn’t noticed in her before—perhaps because it had always been there—had left her. She trusted him now. Completely. And he wouldn’t let her down. He couldn’t wait to see her excitement when she laid eyes on her homeland for the first time since escaping the invasion. Once Caryn was better, they’d be off to Evlon directly.

An urgent knock sounded on the door.

Onnika’s head jerked up with a gasp. Her grogginess was quickly replaced by abject fear. Sensing danger was upon them, she shot out of bed and rushed to dress. Now what?

Aidan followed her cue, stabbing his feet into his pants. “What is it?” he called to the door.

“Something’s wrong with Caryn,” came Priya’s muffled voice.