Zyion was stepped back, his eyes sliding over my face before recoiling as he realized it was my face buried in his chest. The tenderness he’d held my body with lessened, as if he was slowly coming to his senses, noticing it wasn’t Scylla against him, which he held longingly. I told myself the sharp pang I’d felt as he’d realized he held me, not her, wasn’t real.
“It was real. You’re a horrible liar, for the record, Aria. It’s okay to be a little jealous. I am when Knox holds you, but Lennox won’t do that for me. Men are the dumbest when trying to learn our needs.”
“I get it, Ember. But right now? We have to figure out how to regain control of our body before we end up doing something we really don’t want to do.”
“Your grandmother doesn’t want to fuck him. She feels as if she betrayed him. He trusted her. Then she forced him to murder the one woman he’d ever truly loved. Of course, she didn’t know how he felt because guys are so stupid.”
“How the hell do you know that?” I whispered the question, sensing her sadness.
“Because in this realm, I sometimes cannot hear you. There’s a wrongness here that hurts me, but it stresses our connection, severing it sometimes. You’ve been too busy to notice my silence. Probably best since you’re best lesbians with Esme, not me.”
“Oh my god, are you fucking with me right now?”
“Is it working?” she countered, which had my eyeballs rolling so hard I was shocked they hadn’t ringed the bell at the back of my head. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.” She shrugged, as if it wasn’t an asshole thing to do.
“Focus, Ember. We don’t have time for complaints. File them with management later.” I groaned, then internally rattled, praying it was heard within the chamber. Ember added her rattle to mine, which caused the entire room to stiffen with the call to bow before us.
“That’s enough of that shit, Granny-body-snatcher-three-thousand! It’s rude to steal someone’s body or trying to kiss someone else with the body you snatched! Give it back, now! And, for the record, I have a man! And he’s a damn good hunter, too. My guy? He doesn’t enjoy sharing his toys, which means stop trying to kiss, touch, or get closer to Zyion, who smells really nice for some reason.”
“If the King of the Dragons thinks you’re his toy, child? Then you need to remind him of who you are, and who created you. Zyion deserves more for what I’ve forced him to give up to create you, Aria. I only intended to give him a chaste kiss on the lips.”
“Look, it’s not that I’m not grateful. Because I am… grateful. But I don’t want Zyion to get the wrong idea here. It’s not your body pressing against his right now. It’s mine. You aren’t alive, remember? That means he’ll confuse me with you, and I love Knox.”
Shock rushed through me at what I’d just admitted. Even if it was only inside my head. I’d never acknowledged my feelings, not even to myself. Warmth sliced through me, but it wasn’t from arousal. It was because it had been the honest truth. I loved that asshole.
Zyion’s touch sent warmth through me, sure, but it wasn’t Knox. Leaning against his body had caused a strange tingling sensation to spread through me. Not as much pleasure as it felt more like a connection of awareness from the link we shared. Unlike the raw, primal arousal I experienced when Knox touched me, either. He just wasn’t Knox, and that was who I craved. Zyion was gentle, but Knox? He was brutally savage against my soft body, unafraid of breaking me. It was what I loved about him most, he didn’t see me as something breakable. He didn’t handle me like I was made from glass. He manhandled me, mauled me like he couldn’t get enough of me, and I liked every fucking filthy moment of the way he took me.
“If you love him, granddaughter, then you’d best be willing to fight for him. I fear his road will not be an easy one. Neither will loving him. His grandmother invoked the anger of the gods when she sought to escape the arrangement made in order to prevent Hecate from ending their line, as she sought to do with ours.” Icy fear encased my heart as her words slammed into me.
“What arrangement?” I queried even though I was uncertain that I really wanted the answer.
“If I’m going to tell you the truth, then all should hear it at once. I’ve employed much of the energy I housed in order to prevent Evaleigh from coming to blows with a room filled full of dragon kind. I enjoy your presence, but to answer your question? I am within you, but it isn’t easy for me to reach you, even though I am near to you, my darling. If you worry about me intervening during a tryst, know that I cannot sense what you do unless you’re fearful of what is occurring. I only woke because of the tension you worried over, which allowed me to see through your eyes, and listen with your ears.” I felt her love for me spreading through me, as if she was wrapping her arms around me. “Be kind to my knight, Aria. Zyion was forced to sacrifice more than he was willing to at my behest. I chose you and your destiny, even over his life or happiness. He has yet to forgive me for forsaking his future for yours. I know you feel the thread linking you two together, and think it is wrong. But, Aria, it isn’t wrong. It’s his connection to my fire, which now burns inside of you. Whatever type of relationship you choose to have with Zyion? It is up to you, and only you to choose what it entails. You were born with the right to choose your mate, which was my gift to you for what you’d surely endure as become the monster who was needed to protect the world created for me. The Nine Realms was the first and only gift my mother gave to me, which is why I’ve fought so hard to protect it from being destroyed. If you truly love your dragon? Don’t let him go. Hold on to him tightly.”
“Aria?” Esme demanded, slapping my face even as Zyion attempted to step between us. “Fuck off, asshole. She wouldn’t have kissed you! I don’t care who is trying to use her body to speak. Aria didn’t grant them the right to do so,” she hissed as panic-stricken, violet eyes held mine.
“She’s spirited, Aria. I see why you chose her to be beside you during this turbulent time. Esmeralda is also born of my blood, even if through a weaker line. She will never betray you. You should respond to her before Zyion harms her to prevent injury to your person. I’ve released my hold on you.”
“I’m okay,” I stated, not entirely sure I was. The moment I said it, my entire body jerked forward against Zyion’s hard frame, then it was flung backward, forcing him to rush to catch me before I could fall to the ground. “What the hell is happening?” I demanded, even as I felt warmth leaving my body, as if the source of heat within me had diminished to nothing but an iceberg was left within me. Turning as I shivered, violently. I discovered Scylla standing beside me, her eyes filled with worry at the sight of my trembling frame.
“She will require warmth until I return to her, Zyion.”
Immediately following her words, the entire room was bathed in warmth. It only took a few moments of him radiating intense heat, along with the other men in the room, before I was able to stop shivering. All the heat forced my body to slowly begin swaying, as if I were about to pass out. Zyion grabbed me, steadying me with worry churning in his stare.