Chapter Eight

I stood at broad stone banister of my balcony watching the sun slide behind the horizon. The sunsets of Dracovia used to be beautiful me. Now everything was ash. Everything was dull and listless. As long as I knew Aria despised me, I could take no joy in anything. Of course, there was this small voice, my father's voice, that was telling me, if I waited long enough this feeling would pass. I knew it was the truth. Less than twenty-four hours had passed since she slapped me but I didn't want to wait for the feeling to pass. I couldn't just let this ride and let it go. After all, it had been my father, too, who had instilled in me a lust for vengeance, an inability to let things go, good or bad. So maybe it was a flaw of my character.

Wearing only a loose shirt, my pants and boots, I climbed onto my balcony and let myself fall, feeling the dragon within me quickly rising to the surface. My wings snapped out, catching an up draft and sending me higher into the night sky. I circled the castle a few times, still unsteady, still unsure, before I dove down, drifting until I was level with her balcony. To my surprise, Aria was standing on the balcony. She pulled her lace robe over the nearly sheer black fabric she was wearing. I could see the lines of her body under the fabric, even with the robe. She stared up at me with unease but her shoulders were squared, ready to face down what I could only guess she thought was her punishment.

I flapped my wings once more, the wind from the motion sent her curls over her shoulders and bared her long neck to me. My hind legs latched onto the wall and I put my large forearms on the banister, lowering my long neck so my head was over the balcony. I heard Aria gasp softly. My body was heavy and lumbered slowly over the banister but even as I got closer she didn't move. Lifting my forearm, I extended a claw. The wind had shifted, trying to right the wrong I had done to its natural movement with the heft of my wings and blown her hair across her face. As gently as I could managed I swept it aside and tucked it behind her ear.

Suddenly, it was like a light had gone on in her mind and I felt her small hand slap against my great paw. "Lucien Draconem, get the hell off my balcony. Dragon face with puppy dog eyes isn't going to work. Go away."

I was stunned. Not just because she was still mad but because not only did she hit me AGAIN, I was in dragon form and she said my full name, scolding me like a child. At this point I couldn't tell if she was truly fearless or completely reckless. A shudder ran through my body, and I shifted back to my human form, standing on the banister. As she turned to go back into her room, I jumped down.

"Aria, wait. Please..."

She stopped but didn't turn.

I started walking slowly toward her, treating her with the caution most treated great beasts, like fucking dragons. "Please just let me explain." She didn't move, didn't turn. "I know I shouldn't have lied to you, but..."

"Lied to me?" She whirled on me, fire blazing in her eyes like any dragon I've ever seen. "You think I'm mad because you pretended to be a guard? Are you serious?"

I was confused and sure my features showed it. "Wait, then... what..."

She scoffed. "You are so fucking dense. I don't care about your little act. Lemme guess. You didn't know me. You wanted to see who I really was, that it?"

I nodded, still slightly stunned. She didn't care about that?

"Whatever. You could have asked me. As prince or guard, you'd have gotten the same answer but I understand why you think you wouldn't. No, Lucien, I'm mad because you tried to claim me like prize at fair. Not even, like a slave. After everything I told you about my past. After every time we talked about my fears of this situation, were still no matter. It was like you didn't even hear me."

My shoulders sank. "It wasn't like that."

"Oh?" It was a skeptical sound.

"It wasn't, I swear. I saw you on the balcony and after that song, and watching you dance with everyone, the way you spoke to all the royals at the dinner, like any princess, any queen... I forgot."

"You forgot everything I said to you? That's your excuse?"

"No. No. No, no. Not what you said. Who I was supposed to be pretending to be." I took another cautious step closer and when she didn't move I scooped her into my arms, desperate not to miss my chance. "I'm sorry, Aria. I'm so sorry. Please, believe me. I claimed you, yes, but not out of selfishness or malice. Just because I..." I what? "Those words I spoke, they were the words that a king speaks to his chosen bride on the coronation day. It seals the pact between realms that they should be married. I am falling for you."

She was quiet for so long, I took her face into my hands, my fingers playing through her hair. Her eyes were like nothing I had ever seen before; void, empty, as if she were so deep within herself I could not reach her. Then she pulled away from me, leaving me grasping at air.

"And my world?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Your uncle told me about your brother, about your plans for my realm."

Shit. Damn you, Uncle Xavia. It would have been easier to just save Aria, just save the one worth saving.

Obviously, I didn't answer quick enough because she scoffed and turned to leave again, forcing a reaction of me grabbing her arm. On reflex, I flinched, prepared for retaliation, but when I relaxed, I saw only Aria staring up at me, her hands in fists at her side. Straightening up, I loosen my grip but kept her close. "Aria, please you can't ask..."

"I just did." Her eyes were fire again. "And I think you know this is not what your brother would have wanted. If he is anything like stories of him, if you are anything like the stories I've heard before I knew you were you, then you know that too." She pushed out of my grasp and began to thrust her finger at me. "So, it comes down to one of two things, either you are not the great king you think you are, or someone is pushing vengeance on you for their own agenda, and you are too naïve to see it. So, which is it?"

I had to pause. Her words burned into me, overlapping on visions of watching my brother gasping for his last breath and the wicked smile of triumph on his so-called bride. I felt my heart clench hard enough that my body hurt. I wanted to collapse into myself. There had to be something to make my brother stop screaming.

Suddenly, I heard myself gasp. Aria had her arms around me. Somehow, despite being twice her size I was curled into her. We had sunk to the floor and Aria cradled me to her chest, her fingers combing through my hair. She was humming softly and quietly saying I would be okay. Her thumb brushed under my eye, wiping tears from my eyes. Cupping my face gently, Aria lifted me so that we were looking at each other and said, "I understand your pain, I do, but you cannot spread pain in order to quell your own."

Growling under my breath, I pulled away from her and moved to stand up. "Don't try to mother me into sparing your world. What do you care what happens to that world? You ran away from your family only to be abused and mistreated. Wouldn't it serve you to be rid of all of them? All of the evil and greed and malice?"

Aria shook her head and remained on the floor looking up at me. Those hazel eyes didn't hit me with her usual fire just... disappointment. "No one realm is better than the other."

I scoffed. "Dracovia is a beautiful peaceful place."

"Is it? I was here for a day and your Captain of the Guard threw me into a deadly forest out of jealousy where I was attacked by starving vampires being punished for some capital crime. A day later we were rushed off a ridge by a gang of imps." She stood then, and crossed to me, spreading her fingers across my chest, "You were gravely injured trying to protect me, remember?"

Warmth spread across by body, budding from the spot where she touched me. Her words knawed at my mind but there was a rage and a fury still burning in my very soul that I couldn't shake. My mouth was dry. My tongue felt heavy. I could only nod.

"There are billions of people in my realm. Millions of which would fight tooth and nail to protect the ones they love, just as you would do anything to protect those you love. There are people in my world serving time for capital crimes, just like here. There are people who do nothing more than work all day and come home to their families trying to make a better way. There are runaways and deviants and greedy old men and the women that support them. You can not condemn an entire race for the actions of one woman." Aria was silent for a moment then her hand slipped away from me and suddenly that fierceness was back in her eyes. "Find her. Kill her if that will make you feel amended but a good king does not wipe out village to kill one traitor nor should he wipe out a realm because of one woman."

"Good king? What would you know about being a good king?"

"I know it starts with being a good man. Dante is a good man."

"I am not Dante. Dante doesn't exist."

"Doesn't he? You weren't pretending when you were him. You just were. Dante is a good man, therefore, Lucien, so are you." She shrugged then and turned away from me. "Destroy an entire world then, Prince Lucien," I hated the way she said that, so deliberately and through her teeth, "destroy families and small children because giving into hate and revenge is easier than being a good man."

The doors slammed behind her.