Burning Hearts

Chapter Thirteen

Casen

I’ve spent days talking with Tana, telling her all about my world. I couldn’t stop apologizing to her. This was my fault. I should have stayed away from her. She admitted she had been watching me for a long time. Orien visited as often as he could. He apologized to her too for pushing her to pursue me.

Orien tried to have his father help get her released, but there was nothing he could do. I couldn’t even marry her to save her life. It’s forbidden here. I wished I had gotten her pregnant. That is the only thing that would save her life. If I had, we could flee to America and live our lives without fear of her death. But alas, she is not pregnant with my baby.

She told me all her memories to keep the knowledge that she exists for as long as I live. Orien saved a picture book full of pictures of her and her mom from my dad and brother. He’ll give it to me when things settle down. Orien held her hand to say goodbye to her when he had to leave. He promised he would return as fast as he could.

~~~

A solemn mood descended on our cells as the days passed by. We had moved our cots to the bars connecting our cells. We laid there facing each other. She could reach her hand through the bars, and I held it as we talked. She hasn’t slept much because these are her last couple of days to live. She wants to spend as much time with me as she can. She has accepted her fate even if I can’t.

They brought us food and she didn’t bother to eat it, like she hasn’t eaten for these past couple of days. I am fighting to stay strong for her. I don’t want to cause her more grief because she feels she needs to console me. She won’t stop apologizing to me. Tana feels this is her punishment for lusting after someone she had no business wanting. She has apologized for being a liar and a stalker.

I keep denying her need to apologize, but it is not registering. I want to join her after I exact my revenge. She won’t let me have that. She made me promise to live. To change things to hopefully prevent this from happening to some other unsuspecting person too. I wished she was one of the people that couldn’t see our world.

Not only could she see, but she described our dragons to a tee. Somewhere there was probably a witch or other supernatural or magical being in her family line. Her blood was tested though, and she is human.

~~~

The doors to the dungeon opened. I barely registered one of our guards had entered. “What do you want for your last meal? Do you want a priest?” I heard the guard ask her. “I don’t want anything.” She said so low if it weren’t for my dragon hearing I wouldn’t have heard her.

“Don’t be this way. Anything I can do for you within reason I will.” “Just inform Jacob McDowell that I have passed with whatever story you tell him. He deserves to know he’ll never see me again.” “It will be done, miss. Will you eat anything today?” “No, it is pointless.”

A tear slipped from my eye as I peeked my eyes open. She was sitting against the stone wall at the head of her cot. Her eyes were sunken in and seeming to be bruised as each hour had passed, she hadn’t slept. Her color is dull and almost lifeless now. She just stared at the door to the dungeon, not really seeing anything.

I sat up and sat next to her leaning myself against the wall too. I reached what I could fit with my fingers through the bars. She took them in hers and looked at me. She gave me a small smile. She looked so peaceful despite how she looked elsewise. We just stared at each other for the rest of the day. There was nothing more we could say we haven’t said already many times.

They collected us when the last of the sun dipped below the horizon, plunging everything into darkness for the night. They cuffed me before I could leave the cell. I still managed to knock free of their grasp as I rushed to Tana. I claimed her lips and told her with my kiss how much I love her. She caressed my face. They didn’t bother to cuff her because it was futile, she couldn’t escape, and she knew it.

The throne room was full of the alphas in Europe. My father sat on his throne with Callum standing at his side. They chained me to a metal pole near a patch of dirt and Tana to a wooden pole in the center of the dirt. She climbed on the wooden box facing my father. They moved to tie her hands behind her back and to the pole. They tied her waist and legs to the pole as well.

They didn’t need to tie her. She climbed up willingly and wasn’t fighting them. She just stared at my dad. I don’t think really seeing him or anyone else. She was brave.

My dad stood. “Tana Ember McCoy, you have been sentenced to death by burning commanded by me, King Corbin Carrington, king of all the dragons in Europe. Do you have any last words?” “I forgive you.” She said loud enough for everyone to just hear her. It was as if she had struck him across the face. I wanted to sing her praises for that. My dad deserved that. He did look as if she slapped him.

“Your sentence will be fulfilled now.” My father walked to her. Callum joined him. They stood in front of her, and she didn’t waver or show fear. She actually smiled as they changed into their dragons and blew their fire over her body.

“NOOOO!” I screamed, myself hoarse, not able to control it any longer. I sobbed as her body went up in flames. Burning her alive. Her body was consumed by their blue fire. She never screamed or cried out. She quickly turned to ash and my legs went out from under me.

I cried out my anguish as my dad and brother sucked their fire back in before it could consume the wooden pole. My heart was broken. It felt like a gaping hole has opened up in my heart. My father changed back to his human form. I didn’t even process him dismissing everyone.

Someone unchained me and I was the only one left in the throne room unchained and uncuffed. I ran to her ashes. I couldn’t stop crying as that was all that was left of her. The girl I wanted a future with. The girl I fell in love with was no more than ash.

As if the weather could pick up on my sorrow, lightning and thunder began striking outside of the palace. It was so violent it shook the throne room. I welcomed it as I laid next to her ashes. I watched the flashes of lightning get stronger in the glass-domed ceiling above the throne room. I almost wished one would strike me and let me join Tana because I don’t know how I’m going to live without her.

A few strikes got closer to the glass. The noise was deafening above me. I had to sit up and cover my ears with my hands. A massive bolt burst through the glass, breaking it and raining glass down everywhere. With the radius of the strike, the glass fell surrounding me and her ashes.

An even bigger bolt of lightning struck and this time it hit Tana’s ashes. I was temporarily blinded by the intense flash. I guess the heavens wanted at her ashes. Her ashes were struck a few more times. I had to cover my eyes. Amazingly, I wasn’t touched. The lightning only struck her ashes.

I noticed a small flicker of spark coming off her ashes. It was not even half the size of a pea. More sparks started to rise off her ashes. A deeply bright red glow started to form over the surface of her ashes. I forgot to breathe because of what happened next.

Fingertips started to rise from the center of the red fire that has now consumed her ashes completely. The fingertips are covered in the red flames of the fire. A hand formed. A second hand formed and pushed up as if someone was reaching up to be pulled up.

I didn’t think and reacted. I stood and reached down to grab the hand that formed first. I thought I would be burned by the fire, but it didn’t burn me. It caressed my hand and left a feather light tickling sensation across my skin. I clasped the other hand. I began pulling. The ashes fell down over her body as the fire caressed her body, flowing over her like a shield of protection.

She stood there watching me with her crystal green eyes blazing. She was naked and she smiled at me. I didn’t care about the flames. I reached for her and kissed her. I don’t know how this is happening, but I don’t care either. She’s alive. She’s here and my father can’t kill her again. She served his punishment.

She broke my kiss and caressed my face. She is a goddess in flames. Her face got a look of concern. She clutched at her stomach as the flames coursing over her body subsided. She cried out in pain, collapsing to the ground.

An energy wave of power burst from her body. It triggered my need to change. I had to step away from her to give space to change. When I did start to change, her body started to change too. I changed faster because I was used to the change. Within a minute, a beautiful dragon with the red coloring of the flames that consumed her ashes stood before me. She had some black scales mixed with purple and crystal green like her eyes, which are blazing brighter than ever.

Her tail had feathers at the tip. I’ve never heard of a dragon having feathers anywhere. From the tip of her tail running almost halfway down her tail, it was on fire with the red flames. It caressed her tail, flowing and ebbing. She spread her wings and my dragon responded with a roar of excitement. She roared too. She is almost as big as he is. She lifted off into the air and we followed her.

I’m so elated. My dragon flew around hers, caressing her by brushing his body against hers. We flew high into the night sky. Her dragon danced with mine through the night sky. He nudged her head with his and licked up the side of her muzzle. He is in love. I can’t blame him. I loved her before all of this. She nipped at his muzzle before pressing her snout to it and breathing us in. His body trembled with joy.

We guided her to Orien’s house. No one is there. We landed and changed back into our human forms. I noticed her hair changed. It is now a mixture of the red of her flame flowing from her scalp where it ends in the black of her hair at the ends, looking like she has black flames crawling up her hair.

I took her hand, and I went to the door. I entered the code to enter the house. I dragged her to one of the spare bedrooms. The furniture was covered in cloth. I crashed my mouth to hers. She tugged at my jeans until she freed me. She climbed up my body and settled herself down onto me.

I groaned deeply as I filled her body with no barrier. She rocked on me as we stood in the middle of the room. I walked us to the bed and dropped us down onto it. I yanked my shirt over my head. I backed away, tearing the rest of my clothes off. I moved back to her and thrust back into her body. She watched me with her beautiful eyes.

Our love-making was fevered. I was starting to worry she couldn’t speak anymore when she panted out yes, yes, yes in a chant. I was consumed by her. She broke into a scream as she found her release. I thrust twice more and found my release filling her body with my release. I don’t care if she gets pregnant. She is mine and I am hers.