Touch of Flame

“How was she as a person before all this?” Ares asked Ankine wanting to know if Nazneen was being this emotional only because she was locked for too long and because she was disappointed in him as her breedmate or if it was also part of her personality.

Ankine smiled as she wiped the floor in the temple. “Is she giving you a hard time?”

“More like wasting my time.”

Ankine stopped the wiping and looked at him. “She has always been a little more on the emotional side. A good compliment to a calm man like yourself.” She smiled.

She found this amusing. He shook his head. He had always been drawn to calm, intelligent and focused women. How did he go from a woman like Ravina to this one? Not that he intended to have her as a partner. He was dying after all but he still needed a calm woman if he was going to help her become a ruler. He couldn’t have an overly emotional person on the throne.

“I hope it is the good kind of emotional.”

“Both.”

“Is she fit to be a ruler?”

“I don’t think she will have a problem with you by her side,” Ankine replied.

The problem was he wouldn’t stay by her side forever.

Ankine watched him for a moment. “She is emotional but not stupid. Have you asked her to help you with the ancient language?”

No, he didn’t. He had been going through the book just in case since looking at the letters had triggered something in him and he had been able to command Nazneen and Ankine.

Ares left Ankine behind to go back and have insults thrown at his face. She had calmed down a little after their conversation but she was still casting hateful glances.

“Where were you?” She asked when he entered the hall. She sat on the couch straight and looked at him.

“At the temple.”

“Conspiring?”

He wondered whether to just leave her or say something. “What exactly do you want from Nazneen?” He asked her.

“To act like a breedmate?”

“You mean like a dragon breedmate, because I am acting like a human breedmate. What do you expect from a human breedmate? To come and offer ourselves to you simply because we know we are your breedmates?”

She frowned.

“Since it is not that, it is either this or having left you to stay locked in your cave because I did risk my life releasing you. I have no obligation toward you. Releasing you should have been a reason enough to ask for something in return.” He has had enough after another whole day of insults.

But looking at her for a moment, he felt bad again when her eyes glistened.

He walked over to her and sat across from her. Truth was, even if he wanted to be the breedmate she wished to have he couldn’t be. His life was short. “There are many more relationships apart from being breedmates that are just as meaningful.” He told her. “I may not have an instinct but I am capable of feelings and there are people I care about deeply and protect fiercely in my life.”

What was he saying? He wasn’t supposed to give her hope. She would take this the wrong way.

She nodded, her expression softening and her eyes calming down. She gazed into his eyes and he felt that magnetic pull again. He couldn’t explain it, but he found himself drawn into them. God, she wasn’t even his type no matter how exquisite she looked and she had been trying to tease him between the insults.

“Would you mind helping me translate your language?” He asked her once he could pull himself away from her eyes.

She seemed taken aback by his request but agreed.

Ares left to bring the book and then came to sit beside her. He opened the pages and she moved closer. He had noticed how hot she was when she slept in his bed and now he could feel the heat from her body as she came to sit so close next to him. Her shoulder brushed against his and her thigh against the side of his thigh.

Ignoring the warmth seeping through his clothes he focused on the book. “Do you know what the words I said when commanding you means?” He asked her.

“Garcane calls to attention. It can mean many things; stop or heed my word. Tus fendres means descend, surrender or bow.” She explained.

Ares was taken by her voice when she was calm. It had a soft lilt, very feminine and soothing.

“What is this?” He asked pointing at a random sentence just to keep hearing her calm voice.

“Avi feres moretane. It means…” she paused and looked at him. “Attack one another.”

He turned to face her. She really told him this. It was dangerous to her people unless she was lying to him but he didn’t get that feeling.

He shut the book without tearing his gaze away from her. “Why did you get locked?” He asked.

Her expression hardened and she looked away in refusal. “I am tired.” She said standing up. “I will go to sleep.”

The day after she was even calmer. She helped him more with the ancient language and he taught her how to aim right with a pistol. She learned fast and she refused to give up until she succeeded. Persistent at least he thought to himself.

Although she was calmer, her eyes still burned with hunger sometimes, often followed by hostility. Some nights she would come into his room while he was asleep. She would stand there for a while and then go back. She would talk to him more with less insults. Through her, he learned more about her clan and dragons in general but she would still not tell him why she got locked away.

“I need you to take me somewhere tomorrow. I need to meet my crew and refill with weapons.” He told her.

“You want me to fly you.”

“Preferably.”

“You want us to die?”

“We will take the road over the ocean. Don’t worry,” he assured her.

She nodded then bid him goodnight before leaving. Ares wondered what went through her head lately. He knew that she watched him in secret, he could feel the heat of her gaze as he went about his day but she would also avoid him. It was better that way, he told himself and went to his own room.

Tossing his boots aside, he took off his jacket. He then removed his belts with all the weapons, slid out of his vest and the shirt followed. Just when he grabbed the buttons of his pants he sensed her presence behind him.

He stopped and turned around. She stood near the entrance, her eyebrows furrowed with questions and concern. She was looking at his body and stepped inside, walking over while her eyes scanned his shoulders and arms.

“You have so many scars,” she said coming closer.

He was so used to his scars he didn’t think that was what she was looking at. “Well, living as a pirate does that.”

Her eyes hardened with disapproval. “You got hurt so many times,” she spoke.

He blinked unsure of how to respond to this reaction. Then she reached for him, her slender fingers making contact with his shoulder. The frown between her eyebrows deepened as she traced one of the scars that started at his shoulder and ran along his arm.

Ares was surprised by her touch. He remained still as her fingers burned along his skin like ripples of fire.

“It is nothing,” he said trying to ignore the heat she was igniting within him. She wasn’t even touching him that way. When did he ever react so easily?

She grabbed his arm as he tried to step away. Her amber eyes searched his. “You have had a tough life too,” she said.

He was taken aback by her statement. No one had ever told him that. No one saw him as the one having a tough life because he never complained.

“Without parents, you had to take care of yourself.” She continued.

Why was she like this? He preferred the insults now.

“Of course,” he replied curtly.

She was concerned about these small scars, he wondered what she would do if she had seen his burns that Ankine somehow healed. Now he remembered. He had to ask her how she did it. Even with the infused dragon blood, his wounds didn’t magically disappear.

Her other hand came up to touch his other arm. “You are cold.”

He was? Or was she just too hot? And why was she torturing him?

He looked down at her, and watched the honey glow on her face, those thick dark lashes that cast shadows on her cheeks and then her lush lips. Everything about her had a wet enticing glow. He wanted to know if she was as moist as she looked.

No. No complications that could ruin his mission, he reminded himself and stepped away from her. He noticed her glowing eyes before he turned around to go put the curtains over the window. He was relieved to hear that she was leaving. This woman was not only testing his patience but his control as well.

After a long night, Ares was ready to leave and meet his crew the next morning. Nazneen was waiting for him outside, dressed in her usual revealing attire. That was their traditional clothing and he had no complaints when it was adorning such a body.

“Ready to fly?” She asked.

“Yes. We are going to the dead sea. I will give you directions along the way.”

Ares watched as the curved feminine figure in front of him turned into a large white beast. Before he could look any further, she snatched him with her wing and helped him get on top of her. He found a few thorns and scaled on her neck to grab and then she lifted off into the sky.

His hair blew back at the speed of her magnificent wings carrying them over the mountains and quickly leaving them behind. When they arrived at the sea, flying over it he already got the feeling of being back home.

Ares showed her the directions and told her to drop her off in the woods for her safety. “I’ll be back soon,” he told her.

She nodded.

Leaving her behind, he hurried to find their ship at the shore. After finding it, he hopped on deck.

“Ares!” One of his crew members Jayden came outside. “Where have you been?” He wondered.

He had decided to meet with them long ago. “We became concerned.”

“I am fine. Where is Noah?” Ares asked heading inside.

“We have some things to talk about,” Jayden said following him inside.

Ares went to find Noah. “I need weapons,” he told him straight and then just went downstairs to collect them himself.

“Where have you been?” Noah wondered.

“Long story, but I will be gone for some more time. I will come back with more explanation once I know more.”

“King Russell is missing. He is declared dead.”

Ares halted. “What?”

“Yes. He left after you did and he never returned. His son declared him as dead, saying his body couldn’t be found. He could have been burned by a dragon.”

Ares knew Richard had planned to go find Corinna. Something must have happened to him if he didn’t return yet.

“What should we do?” Noah asked.

“There is nothing we can do.”

They had already been preparing for his death since his condition got worse. Ares only wished he could have met his daughters before that. But where was he? He needed a body before he could declare him dead.

“There is something else.”

Hopefully no more bad news.

“It is about Lord Dragenski. His men are here.”