I wanted to ask more about the prophecy. To dig deeper and find out the details of what was supposedly pre-ordained. But if I wanted to stop it, I’d have to leave. I’d have to put distance between Kane and myself so that I couldn’t get pregnant. There’s no way I could be close to him and not act on my desires.
I pulled his hands down to my chest, holding them over my heart. Looking at him, before I could speak, his eyes caught mine, and I knew I couldn’t leave him either. A dread blanketed me, and I found it hard to breath.
“Auri…” His voice was full of sadness.
I shook my head. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Let my men protect you while I go get what we need to keep you safe and healthy.” He squeezed my hands.
“No.”
“No?” He sounded astonished by my reply.
“No,” I repeated. “I’m coming with you. I can’t just stay here like a princess in a tower. Nor will I keep myself locked in here, scared of everyone that comes by me. Scared because you won’t be here in case someone tries something.”
He blinked. “I trust my men. And you have your own strength and powers. It is safer…”
I cut him off, releasing his hands. “I am safer with you. And I am coming. You will tell me more about this prophecy. And we will get answers about the portals while we are out.”
Something shot across his eyes.
“Kane?” I moved to be directly in his field of vision. “What? What about the portals?”
“I have no information,” he answers curtly.
I asked cautiously, “Because there’s no information to have?”
He set his jaw. “Because I have not wanted to know.”
“Excuse me?” I stood and took a step back, almost stumbling. “What are you saying?”
Inhaling slowly through his nostrils, he looked me up and down as if sizing up my anger before he replied. “I know that whatever information Saarzlairn might have for me will be there when I inquire of what he may have found out, but I have not urged him to scout thoroughly nor bring his findings back to me.”
“Why?” My response came out in a breath. I felt betrayed.
“Auri…” He reached out for me, but when I took another step back, his expression looked grim. “You said you wanted to stay. I want you to stay.”
“But…”
He nodded, his eyes hooded. “But I didn’t want to tempt you with a way home if one was possible.”
We stood in silence for a long moment. I don’t know if I was stunned into silence or being defiantly silent, but nothing came out of my mouth. But then again, Kane didn’t speak either.
That is, until he threw his hands in the air and roared, “Fine. You will come with me to Khialreth, and we will see if we can speak with Boutrol to see what we can find out about portals. If any dragon will know, it will be him. But we will have Wulfgar, Dorian and some of my soldiers with us. Are you satisfied?”
I was about to reply, but he started for the door. Still, I called out after him. “Who is Boutrol?”
When Kane turned back to me, there was something in his look that sent a shiver down my spine. Closing the space between us, his footfalls echoed around me. It was as if the air was sucked away from me by his closeness and the way he reacted to my question.
He played with a lock of my hair, the corner of his mouth lifting. “Boutrol, little one, is a dragon. One of the few left on Naelyra.”
I sucked in a breath heavily. “Dragon? Like a real dragon?”
He chuckled. “I’ve told you of them, no? Did you not have a vision of my past with them?”
I blinked. My mind was frozen for a moment, stuck on the fact that he just told me that he was taking me to go see an actual dragon. Finally, his words filtered into my brain. “Mhmm…”
He chuckled again. “Mhmm?”
“Mhmm…” I shook my head. “I mean yeah. Yes. Oh! Yeah!” The realization of it all came crashing in on me. “Yeah. But hearing tales and having some vision that felt more like a dream while awake is far less real that being told you’re going to meet one.”
“I did not say you would meet Boutrol,” he corrected me.
“You said ‘we’. That we would see if we can speak with him.” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Dorian… Wulfgar… Me. I will not risk you like that.” He mirrored my pose.
My eyes narrowed. “So, they’re dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“And you expect me to be okay with you going.”
“I will be fine.”
I groaned. “Can we table it until we find out even if the option is there to speak to him?”
“No.” He was staying firm on his decision.
I glared at him a moment before whipping around and walking away without saying anything. I wanted to demand that I go with him. I wanted to see the dragon. I also wanted to be sure he was safe. But what made me sulk the most? He was right.
“Auri…” His voice was soft.
I held a hand up as I pretended to busy myself with a small stack of books on the table next to one of the chairs near the fireplace, straightening them more than they would ever need.
His hand came to rest on my shoulder. “Auri. I do not…”
I stopped him. “I know. I’m pouting. I’m not mad at you.”
The wind tossed my hair as he spun me around, lifting me up into his
