Chapter Two
1274 Words
Amelia
“Well hello there sleepy head” The voice was oddly familiar, there was a note of laughter to it and my eyes fluttered open.
Wren.
“you back with us?”
I blinked at him rapidly. What the hell had happened? The last thing I remembered was the searing pain like I was being torn apart from the inside and then nothing.
I had asked someone to call him, I remembered that hazily but only after Dewi’s name had tumbled from my lips.
Calling Dewiwas out of the question, no matter how much I wanted to curl up on his lap and scent mark him all over like a kitten. Dewi was the enemy. I was on the run from Dewi.
I hated him.
I loved him.
He was my mate, for better or for worse I would never really be free of him. I could run a million miles and it would be his body I saw when I closed my eyes, his skin I craved to run my lips over.
“Amelia” Wren was shaking his head. “Can yous top for just a moment” His blue eyes were twinkling, taking some of the sting away from his reprimand. “I do not need those mages in my brain thank you very much”
I did a double-take.
Ooops.
“Sorry” Mentally I pieced back my protective wall. I was usually more careful than this. It wouldn’t do to keep your mind open and your thoughts unguarded. You never knew who was going to be listening. I was a wanted woman after all,
“Sorry, hey how did you get here so quickly?” I struggled to sit upright on the bed. Using my hands to scoot myself up on overstuffed soft pillows.
My bed.
I was in my bed and not some rock hard hospital bed.
Well, that was a silver lining.
“How long was I out?”
“Few hours, I carried you home. You gave everyone quite the scare but I told them some story about menstrual cramps”
I couldn’t help it. Cramps? He had used womanly cramps as an excuse for me passing out? U shook my head. “And they believed that?”
“They seemed relieved it wasn't anything more serious”
“ok, not sure why couldn’t just say food poisoning like any normal person but thank you” It still didn’t answer my earlier question though. How had he gotten to me so quickly?
“Hmm food poisoning” He scratched at his chin. “Might have been better thinking about it but hey” He shrugged his shoulders. “You feeling better right? You had everyone worried”
“Yes, Wren why were you already in town? I thought it was best to stay away?”
He paled visibly. “I was coming to check up n you. We had some information…” He drifted off, his eyes searching my face. Trying to get a read on me and my emotions,.
I sat up a little straighter. “What is it Wren, just tell me because I thought I was dying. The pain” I didn’t finish. I didn’t have to “Its Dewi isn’t it? Something has happened to him?”
I didn’t even see his eyes narrow. The curve of a smile. “Back to calling him Dewi is it amelia?” he seemed amused by it all and I batted at his hand impatiently.
“Shut up and tell me whats happened to him?” panic gripped my chest, my heart thundering. My breath left me a whoosh and I couldn’t seem to get it back no matter how much I gulped. “Wren is he dead?” I couldn’t breathe. What would I do if he was dead? I hated him, but to know that he was no longer on his earth. To know that those whiskey eyes had closed forever?
I couldn’t breathe.
“Calm down Amelia, breathe dammit” Wrens big hands were rubbing circles on my back, trying to calm me. Hysteria was bubbling up now, I could feel it clawing at my throat. “Dewi is alive. You wouldn’t be here if he was dead. s**t” He swore under his breath. “The link is stronger than I thought”
“Then why the f**k didn’t you say so at the beginning and not let me…” I narrowed my eyes at him. He might be a friend but he was as infuriating as the rest of his species.
Bloody dragons.
“What is going on with Dewi? What has happened?” I stressed the words, drawing out each syllable so he would have no choice but to answer me.
“Amelia” He looked suddenly sad. “Amelia, it's best if you don’t know. We tried to make it that you had a fresh start…”
“Tell me or I swear I will blast your annoying ass right out of the room” It wasn't a threat. I flexed my fingers. I hadn’t used magic since before my wedding day. My collar might be off but it was too risky to show myself in such a way.
“The council… Amelia you really don’t want to hear this”
I shuddered. No, he was right. I didn’t want to hear it but I already knew. “They tortured him didn’t they?” my voice was barely a whisper, a shaking had started in the tips of my fingers. I had known they would. I had known what they were doing when the pain became unbearable.
“And today?” I shivered at the memory. Why had today been so much more agonising?
“I think today they finally broke him. He was obviously protecting you somehow. Shutting down the link the best he could so he could….”
A single tear slipped from my eye. “So I wouldn’t feel it”
“Oh, amelia” Wren hovered as usual. The big dragon brother I never knew I wanted or needed.
“What else?” There was something else I could see it in the way his face was closed down. “What else Wren?” I was already swinging my legs over the bed, my feet hitting the warm bare floorboards.
“They took the boy”
I closed my eyes tightly. Gripping the two rings on the chain around my neck. They had taken Rhydian?
I had caused this.
“Amelia, you need to rest”
“ I need to make this right” I heaved myself upwards, still stiff and aching. “Be helpful and find out where they have him”
No wonder Dewi’s agony had been so intense
“Amelia, you can't just go rushing back into the dragon's lair. It isn’t safe”
“I'm not the one being tortured Wren. He is”
“Dewi is ancient, he will heal. He will always heal”
His words sent bile rushing up my throat. Wasn’t that worse? He would heal yes, only for them to do it all over again. And I knew Dewi. The pain of losing his son would far outweigh any physical pain. “Either help or leave me the f**k alone Wren”
- Writer
