Ember of Hope
Chapter 32

Valiance was going through the motions without even acknowledging them. He was still reeling from the fact that she loved him. That she loved him enough to have broken his curse. She loved him truly. He could hold her now. Kiss her raw while running his finger through her beautiful fiery strands and watch her beautiful jade eyes flutter close.

The moment she started talking, he was lost. When she slit open her palm and offered her blood – he was so afraid his heart stopped. He was afraid to take this step. As it could easily be the end of his hope – the end of them – end even before their beginning.

But when he looked into her eyes and saw the same fear clouding those beautiful orbs – in that moment he wanted nothing more than to rid her of that fear. He owed it to her after she had taken such a brave step. Now was his turn to be brave. So, he took the leap of faith and took her offering.

The moment her blood entered him, a sharp, bone crunching pain speared his whole body. It was agony beyond measure. He ground his teeth to stop himself from screaming. The pain disappeared as suddenly as it had come – leaving his whole body gasping.

And then, the miracle happened. He felt the shift taking over his body. He asked her to turn around then. The unimaginable had happened. The curse was broken. And he stood once again – in his human form. His legs wobbled either from the shock of it or from misuse for so long.

He had his human form back – a form in which he would finally be able to hold her in his arms… to kiss those lips he had dreamed of kissing for so long. So, he did just that. And for the first time in a very, very long time – he felt whole.

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It was quite unnerving to have a humongous dragon follow you around like a lovesick puppy. The only consolation Sarah found was that at least his tongue wasn’t lolling out of his big ass mouth, drooling like afore-mentioned puppy.

Whenever she tried to lose him, he mentioned that Raegan had asked him to not leave her alone; as if Raegan was her mother and she was a naughty child. The gal of the man… or in this case; dragon. And that damn Raegan was nowhere to be seen. Let her come back, I’ll shoot her in the ass, she thought. Sarah was grumbling non-stop and Damien was acting like a perfectly silent and deaf guard. Her last resort – Raegan ’s friend Nina had also bailed, taking her leave to go into town and so here she was… stuck with that damn golden dragon; who wasn’t so bad to look at… ok he was beautiful… she admitted to herself begrudgingly. If he stood still, he would look just like a statue carved out from gold… even his eyes were golden. Damn pretty golden dragons.

She was stuck with him. So she decided to make some good out of it. “So Raegan told me about this curse thing. It’s a horrible thing to do… to so many people”.

“It’s even more horrible to endure… to lose your form… your humanity… your only chance at happiness”. There was a deep set hurt lacing his tone. She felt bad for him… for all of them.

“How long has it been?” she asked in a soft voice.

“Round about 50 years. A half century we’ve been stuck in this curse just because of her misunderstanding”. He replied darkly.

“That’s a really long time. How old were you then?”

“You want to know my human age or dragon age?”

“Mmmmm tell me both. How long can a dragon live?”

“A dragon can live up to thousands of years. I was almost 65 in dragon years. That makes almost only 5 in human years”. He laughed. “You can say that a dragon year is almost equal to 13 human ones. And as we grow in power, we start to age even slower. We live long… if we aren’t killed in a fight or battle”.

“Wow. That’s a long life”.

“Yeah if we have to live like this… cursed… otherwise it’s not that bad. But I don’t think she plans to come back to relieve us of her bullshit… don’t know if she is even alive”. Darkness was once again descending in his tone. She needed to change the subject, fast.

A thought occurred to her: “Tell me Damien, are you this golden in your human form too?”

He chuckled. “Yeah you can say I’m a golden boy”. And the damn dragon winked at her. Who knew that dragons could wink… or flirt?

“May be some day you would like to hear the whole story of this curse?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah sure it’s not like I have any other thing to do”.

– Raegan Turner was so dead –

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“I must say I’m not looking forward to shifting anytime soon. I can’t lose this. I can’t lose you”. They were in Pericles as usual, lying next to each other; gazing at the night sky. They hadn’t returned to the fortress at all.

Raegan turned on her side to face him; “you don’t need to be scared of that wretched curse anymore. It’s broken now. I’m here Val… and I’m never leaving you ever again”. She placed her palm on his cheek and turned his face towards her so that he was looking in her eyes. “You’re not going to lose me again Val, trust me… I’m here”.

He just placed his hand on top of hers and closing his eyes he moved his face to kiss her palm.

“Tell me what made you come back here?”

“You” she replied simply. Valiance raised a brow in question.

She sighed: “I just kept thinking about this life. My time here… all of you guys… the way I felt at home here. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was away from home… that I was supposed to be here, because…” She trailed off.

“Because?” He urged her.

“Nothing”.

“Tell me what were you going to say?”

“You are not going to let this go, are you?” She sounded exasperated.

“Nope love. Not a chance”. He chuckled and her breath caught at his beautiful smile. He was a beautiful man. She couldn’t take her eyes off of his face. And this beautiful man was hers. She felt her heart swell with love.

“Because you were here Valiance”. She whispered.

And suddenly he was almost on top of her, balancing his weight on his elbows and his lips crashed on hers. He kissed her with so much passion that she melted some more beneath him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into her. She didn’t know for how long they kissed… she was breathless but didn’t want to break the magic of their kiss. He might have sensed that she needed air or maybe he needed it himself because he pulled away slightly, breathing hard. She was able to fill her lungs only once before his lips were on hers again. Her hands moved to his hair and she tangled her fingers in the silky soft mass, earning a groan in response. He deepened the kiss some more like he couldn’t get enough of her… like he couldn’t get close enough… she knew the feeling… because she felt the same way.

When he finally pulled away, she was replaceing it hard to catch her breath. He touched her swollen lips with his finger tips so tenderly… and the look in his eyes… the adoration and love they held… she was mesmerized by the intensity of those emotions. He was like in a trance… his other hand came up to touch her cheek equally softly. “So beautiful” he murmured so low she barely heard it. She was sure he didn’t even know that he had said the words out loud… he was so lost.

She trailed her fingers from his hair to his cheeks. “You know you were in my dreams from the day I went back”.

He snapped out of it and raised a brow in amusement; “Was I?”

“Yeah! I used to have the same dream every night. I used to see you as you are now… you in your human form… and you used to beckon me… and though I hadn’t seen you by then but I just knew it was you… and that my dreams meant something and I wasn’t just missing you. So here I am… back to where I belong… where I was meant to be”.

He was looking at her in wonder. She lifted her head up and kissed his lips. She just couldn’t help herself.

Settling back down, she continued; “You know I saw the exact same scene as the one where you came back after dressing up and called me”.

Valiance abruptly sat up so she followed suit and immediately he had his hands wrapped around her face again; “Let’s complete the blood bond, let me bind myself to you forever Raegan ” he murmured near her lips, looking in her eyes, searching for an answer… she averted her gaze.

“You don’t want to?” his hands fell limp in his lap. Raegan hurried to take his hands back in hers; “Valiance no. No it’s not like that. I want to… believe me I want to. It’s just…” she was having trouble replaceing the words to make him understand. When she didn’t say anything, Valiance looked stricken.

“Stop looking at me like that. Val I told you this before and I’m telling you once again, and I’ll keep telling you this for as long as it takes it to sink in your thick head. “I – LOVE – YOU… and I’m not leaving you… and I’m not going anywhere away from you. I mean it Val. Don’t ever doubt that okay?” she kissed his knuckles. “Look! Me and Sarah; we’ve been friends for our whole lives. We’ve done everything together. Playing, school, college, trips, shopping, you name it – we did it together. We even used to get into trouble together. And when we were ten; we planned to have our big day together. It’s like a promise which we both take seriously. And now that we know Sarah is destined to be here too, like me – I want to keep my promise. When she accepts Damien, we’ll complete our bond together. Please let me have this with her Val. This is important to me”. She looked in his eyes for an answer.

“Anything for you my love… I can wait an eternity for you”. He murmured.

“No, eternity would be too much… just some weeks or months would suffice”. She said playfully.

He pulled her closer and she melted in his warm embrace. “I love you” he murmured near her lips and then they were kissing again. Slowly at first, but neither could control their need for the other for much longer.

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