Claws and Kisses

The funeral began with a woman.

She was tall with long, curly blonde hair. Her skin was fair and dewey in the candlelight, contrasting nicely with her dress, which clung to her hips and breasts tightly. The dress itself was a deep purple, and trailed all the way to the ground. The whole arena’s attention was on her as she glided across the bottom floor to Loch’s funeral pyre.

“That is Loch’s mate, Bora.” Avel whispered softly to me, his eyes on the woman as she halted before the dragon. “She was High Lady of the Dragons. The most powerful woman in the world.”

I glanced at him. His defined features were almost invisible in the now dark room. Only his violet orbs were distinguishable in the booth. They glowed with an energy that seemed almost fictional. Too magical and serene to be real. And yet . . . “What about now?” I asked quietly. “What will happen to her without him?”

Avel shrugged. “If she is like most Drachen couples, she will die in the next few weeks. Burned on the same pyre he now lays on.”

We both watched as she took a torch, burning in a goblet held by a guard, and ascended the stairs leading to her mate. Her mouth was moving fast in an old, ancient tongue. Even though none of those in the stands could hear her, it was obvious that the High Lady was chanting a prayer. There were no tears on her face as she laid fire to the High Lord’s body.

The fire sparked and started to spread over Loch’s body in a matter of seconds. The body and the pyre erupted into flames, casting the room into a pale orange glow. Loch started to slowly disintegrate into nothing. Bora had stepped off the stairs and returned to the center of the room, expressionless and rigid. As black smoke drifted in a spiral toward the ceiling, Avel’s hand tightened on mine.

I looked over to see his features strained. His eyes were no longer on Bora, but the cascading fire. Leaning close to him, I placed a hand on his chest, my eyes wide and sincere. “Are you alright?”

Avel’s expression immediately eased, his face once more guarded and closed off as he offered me one of his half-smiles. “Of course.”

I tilted my head knowingly. “I’m not planning to die anytime soon, Avel. You can place your worries elsewhere.”

He scoffed quietly, shaking his head and shifting in his seat. “I’m not worried about you dying.” He looked away from me and to the fire. To Bora, who stood as still as a statue in the middle of the arena. There was a somber glean in his tyrian gaze. “I just can’t imagine . . .”

I nodded slowly, moving my hand from his chest to his shoulder. Before I could say anything else, he suddenly pointed to a spot on the bottom floor where Bora stood and said, “In a couple minutes, when the fire goes out, you me, the Inner Circle, and Jericho’s crew are going to head down to that section right there.”

His voice was like thunder; low and powerful, rumbling through my very core. I twitched in my seat, extremely aware of the tight dress I wore and the number of people who could see us from our conspicuous seats in the booth. Avel did not seem to notice the clipped tone of my voice as I carefully whispered, “Why would we go down there after just sitting up here?”

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, his brow slightly cocked. “Are you trembling, little tiger?” His palm cupped my cheek in a gentle fashion. “I told you, I’m not worried about you turning up dead while we’re here. I would not have let you come if I did not think I could protect you.”

I nodded, letting myself lean into his touch a little. It is better he thinks me to be scared instead of aroused at his High Lord’s funeral. “Of course.”

Pressing a quick kiss to my temple, he gave me one last confidential smile before returning his hand to mine. We both fell quiet as the fire died and the announcement was made for all the Dragon Lords to make their way to the bottom floor. Bora looked up at all the booths then, and for a moment, I thought I saw her eyes zero in on me. She was glancing away and walking to her own booth before I could examine the action further.

“Come, little tiger.” Avel stood from his seat in one smooth motion, his red cape unspooling to the floor as he did so. He held out his hand for me with the ghost of a smile gracing his lips. “Let’s get this over with.”

I climbed to my feet and took his hand, using the moment to peer over my shoulder at the others. The Inner Circle was already standing and making their way to the door, all of them unusually quiet. My eyes snagged on Romeo, who kept his gaze firmly locked on the door even though I knew he could feel my eyes on him.

“I’ll be right back, Avel.” I drew away from the dragon, my eyes still on Romeo. “I just want to—”

“Wendy!”

A booming, familiar voice had my head turning in the opposite direction. Standing in the back of the booth, with Jericho only paces away, was Rhett. He was dressed in the same golden armor that Avel and Jericho wore. His mouth was slightly agape, as if he could not quite believe that I was standing before him, alive and healthy. He blinked a few times. Closed his mouth. In the next instant, he was striding toward me with quick steps.

Before he could reach me however, an irritated Dragon Lord was blocking my brother from view by planting himself directly in front of me. Rhett halted a few feet away, snapped out of whatever haze my appearance had caused. His eyes left mine and moved to Avel’s, whose tyrian orbs were emotionless and indifferent on the boy before him.

Swallowing hard, Rhett said, “May I please speak to my sister?”

Avel did not move, but only continued staring him down. Rolling my eyes, I gave him a nudge in a silent order to move. When he still did not stir, I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose. Territorial beast.

Jericho was the one to finally step in. “Avel.”

One word. Avel growled low before finally turning to me and grabbing onto my chin, tilting my head up until our eyes met. There was steel in his violet gaze. “Two minutes.”

One of my eyebrows rose steadily. “If you are worried that my twin is going to butcher me in the next two minutes while you’re gone, I got it covered. I have a killer right hook.” I winked in a weak imitation of Bear, smiling slightly. “He won’t expect it coming.”

With furrowed, amused brows, Avel shook his head and kissed the top of mine. “Where did I find you?”

I shrugged, and watched as he and everyone else slowly filtered out of the booth. Avel gave one last promising, dangerous glance at Rhett before he left. Soon, it was only Rhett and I in the booth. As soon as we were alone, he crushed me in a bear hug. “Wendy,” he breathed out, leaning back to take me by the shoulders. His eyes were wide, his mouth pursed. “Jericho wouldn’t tell me what happened to you. I thought you were dead or dying or—”

“What?” I tilted my head and frowned, stepping slightly back from him to get some air. “Why would you think that? I’m fine. I’m more than fine, actually”

He shook his head, a little frantic. “The last time I saw you . . . you were in that metal carriage of yours, on the bench, screaming and clawing at everyone that came near you. And the tattoo . . .” His eyes drifted down to my shoulder, accusing and angry. “I thought that Avel was beating you into a pulp. Jericho wouldn’t let me near you for hours, and when I finally got to you, Avel was marking you like some kind of slave. Like an animal that needed branding.”

I shook my head, not understanding the hatred in his eyes. “You have a tattoo,” I said hotly, pointing at his while simultaneously trying to shield mine by shifting my body. “Why aren’t you fuming about yours instead of mine?”

My brother backed up, hurt and indignation in his green eyes. His dark brown curls were wild and windblown atop his head, making him appear as if he had just hailed straight from the battlefield instead of a coach.

“My mark is different,” he replied just as quick and sharp, crossing his arms as he did so. “Jericho . . . got me through a lot of shit that I’ve been dealing with ever since Valentina brought me to the horde. We have something. He didn’t give me my mark out of revenge, that’s for damn sure.”

I blinked. And blinked again. That night when Avel had given me the tattoo, all Rhett had seen was Avel laying into me after I had made a scene trying to make him get out of my way. Avel had explained afterwards that the mark would protect me at the funeral and would allow me some wiggle room when it came to voicing my opinions. Rhett didn’t know that though. All he had seen was his twin sister getting dragged off by a Dragon Lord to be taught a lesson about manners.

“You think Avel gave me my mark to . . . to prove something?” I shook my head, a little disgusted. “Avel treats me right, Rhett. Unlike your mate, who you told me was defiling you in the worst possible ways!”

Rhett scoffed, haughty. “You don’t know a thing, Wendy. If you would take your head out of your ass, you would see that Avel has you so twisted around his pinky that you are now defending him.” He threw up his hands. “Where did all of your talk about travelling the world and saving the children from our village go, huh? Where did that dream of getting vengeance for Baba and Mama go, hmm? All I’ve been seeing is you hanging on the edge of Avel’s every word and sucking up to his little friend group.”

Rage and shock churned fiercely in my stomach, mixing in an explosive way. Where the hell was this coming from? “You don’t get to talk about Baba and Mama, Rhett.” I stepped closer to him, jabbing him hard in the chest. “You weren’t there when I held their dead bodies in my arms.” Another jab. “You weren’t there when the ash settled and the smoke stopped curling into the air. You weren’t there when I fucking walked across the world to get you back. You. Weren’t. There.”

He shoved me away from him, his chest rising up and down rapidly as he sucked a breath through his nose. “Are you really blaming me for getting kidnapped by a psychopathic she-dragon right now?”

“No,” I gritted out, my eyes fiery and direct on him. “I’m blaming you for accusing me of sitting on my ass when I have been trying to hold on to reality the past few days.” My dress swayed as I stood my ground, not willing to back off from this fight. “You think you’re the only one who has been going through shit?” I shook my head again, the rage eating me up. “You think I don’t wish that I could give peace to Baba and Mama’s memories? You think that I want the children in our village enslaved in my mate’s horde?” The anger in my voice nearly choked off my voice, but I swallowed and kept going. “I am not a god, Rhett. I can’t snap my fingers and make everything better. I am trying to help everyone that I can, but you need to give me some fucking slack. After spending months travelling to find you, fighting off Valentina, breaking some bones, discovering my childhood friend was my mate and that you were his brother’s . . .” I shrugged, at lost for words. “I need some slack. If not from anyone else but you, so be it, but . . . you gotta give me something.”

Rhett stared, quiet for a moment. Both of our chest moved up and down quickly. Too quick. The booth was silent of everything but our heavy breathing. After a few, wordless seconds, he said, “I’m not trying to upset you, Dee. I just don’t want you getting caught up in something you’re not ready for.”

“Avel is a good man,” I whispered, voice raspy. “A great one, actually.” I looked down at the ground for a moment before returning my eyes to him. “Explain something to me, Rhett. How does someone go from being nearly tortured one day to being perfectly happy with the man who tortured him the next?”

Rhett shook his head. “It’s not like that and you know it.”

“So what do I know Rhett?” I lifted my shoulders and dropped them, frustration clear on my face. “What am I not getting?”

Silence reigned again. Before either of us could say anything, the door to the booth opened and a guard was poking his head in, telling us that Avel and Jericho required our presence. I did not wait for Rhett, and only strolled around him to the guard and out of the booth.

Happy holidays everyone! I thought you all might enjoy an early surprise update because I did not update on Christmas. Apologies! Writer's block hit me hard . . . (and I also got really into celebrating. Whoops!)

I hope you all are enjoying your week. We are now celebrating 200 followers! Woohoo! Nothing could have been a better Christmas present that all of you lovelies supporting my writing and giving me hope for the future. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I could not be more excited for the followers, all the reviews (so many!!), and every comment you guys have given me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In other news, what did you guys think of the twin fight? I feel like we have not gotten a ton of Rhett action these past few updates, and I wanted to catch up on Wendy and Rhett's siblingship a little more. So . . . here you go! And what the hell is going on with Romeo? We'll probably find out soon ;)

Anyways, that's all for today folks! I hope you enjoyed and are excited for the coming chapters!

~Elaine