And knowing that, I drifted off to sleep.
66
Ari
“So you were right,” I said silently to my Drake as he flapped onwards, his vast wings eating up the miles between the rift and my Sire’s palace. “You were right—Kaitlyn took to you at once—the moment she touched you.”
My Drake rumbled agreement, and though he was gracious enough not to say, ‘I told you so,’ I definitely felt a touch of smugness in his mental tone.
“Of course she took to me—she is our L’lorna,” he reminded me. “The moment she touched my skin, she felt our love for her.” He made it clear that he felt non-verbal communication—the pure exchange of emotion between himself and Kaitlyn—was much more effective in conveying our love than any silly human words that I might speak would be.
Well, I couldn’t argue with him there, I admitted grudgingly. No matter how I tried to tell Kaitlyn that she was beautiful and that I cared for her, she still seemed to hold back from me. It was like she couldn’t believe me—couldn’t see herself the way I saw her, as beautiful and perfect.
But when the Drake told her he loved her, she believed him at once.
I couldn’t quite believe it, but I was actually almost jealous of my own Drake. Which was foolish in the extreme—it was like being jealous of myself—it didn’t make any sense. But I couldn’t shake the feeling, even though I knew it was ridiculous.
My Drake felt my emotion and told me not to worry. Kaitlyn would feel the same love and affection for me that she felt for him by and by, he promised. But first, things had to change a bit.
“What things?” I asked him.
But strangely, he couldn’t seem to tell me. He only repeated that I should wait and be patient. Wasn’t Kaitlyn worth waiting for?
“Of course she is,” I said. “What do you think I’ve been doing all these weeks if not waiting to bring her to me? To us?”
Very well then, my Drake informed me. I would simply have to wait a little longer.
And then he flew on into the night, towards my Sire’s palace and the reckoning that awaited us there.
67
Kaitlyn
I dreamed of my childhood as I slept. Dreamed I was little again, my skin unscarred, my life simple and untouched by pain or loss. I was five or six and I was dozing in the back seat of the car.
We were on a family vacation and Mom and Dad were up front. They were murmuring in low voices and I caught my name—Kaitlyn—as they did, spoken in tones of love and caring. My Mom was telling my Dad about some precocious thing I had done and Dad was shaking his head and saying, “That’s our Kaitlyn—she’s a handful,” with laughter in his voice. I saw the light of the dashboard reflecting off their beloved faces and knew that they would love me forever.
Safe, I was safe with the people I loved and we were never going to be parted, I thought drowsily. We would be together forever and no one and nothing would ever separate us…
Then I drifted deeper into sleep and knew no more.
When I woke up, I was being held in someone’s arms. Someone big and muscular who smelled really good—slightly spicy and wild but also warm and comforting at the same time. His smell made me feel safe and protected. I curled closer to his broad, bare chest and sighed happily, my hand coming to rest over his heart which I could feel like a slow and measured pulse under my palm.
Wait a minute though…his bare chest? And who did I know that I felt so comfortable with I could sleep in his arms?
My eyes flew open and I saw Ari looking down at me. He was lying on his back and I…I was lying draped all over him, I realized in horror. Not that we hadn’t been close before—he always held me in his lap when he fed me his blood. But he usually had clothes on, at least. And now he appeared to be naked!
Or was he? A quick look down showed that he did have trousers on—well that was a relief, anyway. But why was he bare from the waist up?
Looking down at myself, I saw the reason. The night before I had put on his shirt and blazer to keep myself warm on the Drake’s back. I was wearing both of them still, though they were much too big for me.
“I didn’t want you to be cold,” Ari told me, apparently reading my thoughts. Wait—could he read my thoughts like his Drake could? I didn’t think so—we didn’t seem to have the same connection that I had to his other half, for some reason. But maybe what I was thinking was plainly written on my face.
When I thought that—thought about him reading my face—I realized that the protective sheaf of hair I always kept over the left side had been lifted and moved. Had Ari been staring at me while I slept—studying the scarred side of my face?
Even though he had looked at me before and even kissed me there, the thought was still slightly horrifying. I smoothed my hair down quickly, hiding my scars as best I could and scooting away from him.
This movement produced a rustling sound and I saw that we were lying under a giant tree that seemed to extend hundreds of feet into the air. Our bed was a pile of the most enormous leaves I had ever seen. Seriously, each one of them was as big as a twin-sized mattress and at least two inches thick. Piled all together, they made a cushy little nest. What was this place, anyway? And why was everything so big?
“We’re in the Sky Lands,” Ari told me. He hadn’t moved from his spot on the
