Elena and I had been practicing the Conveyance Spell for the past week. She was still struggling with the stick-on just because she pronounced one word wrong.
I’d tried to help as best I could.
Lu left to visit Dean. Apparently, he didn’t need to practice that hard with Tabitha. Not that I knew what spell they were going to perform.
When the door closed, I darted toward Elena, seeing it as our alone time.
Her laughter poured out from her, filling the room as I pinned her down on the carpet.
“Come, let’s go take a shower,” I said, smacking my lips fast on her as I hauled myself up from the floor and off her.
“Blake, we need to practice.”
“You need a break too. We can try again tomorrow.” I entered the bathroom and turned on the taps. I held my hand underneath the water, adjusting the faucets until the water was warm.
I pulled off my clothes and stepped into the shower as she traipsed in and started removing hers.
She was by far probably one of the most beautiful naked persons I’d ever seen.
It didn’t stay long with just a shower, as I couldn’t get enough of her.
My need for her had grown over the past few months since we’d said our I do’s and the sounds that came out of her told me that none of it was painful anymore and that she was finally enjoying it with me.
She’d gotten over her shyness, too. I did miss the redness that used to color her cheeks.
It took longer for me to get there, and through that, ended up depleting Elena’s energy fast, but she loved every minute.
I finally toppled over, and Elena gave a tired laugh, sounding drugged out of her mind.
I slipped out of her and got out of the shower, giving her time to find herself again.
I dried myself as she climbed out and grabbed her towel that she kept here.
When I opened the door, I jumped slightly on that first step as Lucian sat on the couch, watching TV.
Fuck.
A shriek pierced out of Elena and the door closed right behind me.
I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped my lips, and Lucian’s lips curved at the corners of his mouth. I walked to my dresser, yanked the drawer open and got a pair of boxers, and started putting the layers back on my body.
“Please, just say you didn’t hear a bloody thing.”
The laughter poured out of Lu. “My lips are sealed.”
“Thanks.”
I shoved my arms through my sleeves and pulled on my shirt. The door opened and a beet root color replaced the soft creaminess of Elena’s skin.
She got out fully dressed and came over, grabbed my arm, stood on her toes, and planted her lips on my cheek. “I’ll see you later.”
“You’re leaving?” Lu asked what was burning the tip of my tongue, just staring at her. We still had to master that spell.
“Yes, bye.” She rushed to the door, opened it, and disappeared.
My mouth gaped, staring at the door, and my gaze flickered back to Lu on the couch, who thought it was hilarious.
I shook my head and plopped on my bed to put on my socks.
“I thought she wanted to wait.”
I sighed. “She did.”
I could feel his eyes on me. “Wait, what?”
I pulled on my jeans and shirt. “You heard me, Lu. She didn’t break that promise.”
“I mean, she wanted to be married first.”
“Yeah, I know.”
His eyebrows raised slightly, and then he squinted. He hunched forward and lowered his tone to almost a whisper. “You’re married?”
I nodded. “That weekend before the mission. Adolph performed the Vastech.”
“Blake?”
“What?”
His face grew a shade whiter, if that was possible. “Does her father know?”
“Are you crazy? Nobody knows, especially her fathers.”
“I’m the first one?”
“Yeah.” The corner of my lips curved.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Who were the witnesses? You need two witnesses for this at least?”
“Micha and Jose.”
“His guards?”
I nodded.
Lu closed his eyes and opened them again, just staring at me. “The favor was for that?”
I nodded.
Lucian pulled his hands through his hair. “Holy crap.”
“Don’t tell her you know.”
“Married. It’s big, Blake.”
“I know what I want. She is it for me, and I’m it for her. It was going to happen, eventually.”
“How the hell did you get her to say yes?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t propose this. That was all her.”
“What?” Lu smiled.
I chuckled.
“She sure comes with plenty of surprises.”
“She doesn’t want anyone to know, so please, just keep this to yourself and don’t let on that you know.”
“I won’t. Promise. You didn’t even have a bachelor’s party. None of us were there.”
“You will be at the second one, promise.”
He laughed. “The band knows?”
“No, just you.”
He stayed quiet. “I’m honored, Blake. I mean, you could’ve told me that her need was just too big, but you didn’t. You told me the truth.”
“You are my blood brother. Even though I was almost lost to darkness, you were still the only one that refused to give up on me, even went out of his way to make an oath that was never his to make.”
“I was thirteen and thinking about that now, as noble as that sounded, it was probably one of the stupidest things I’d ever done.”
A chuckle left my lips.
“One ability, sure, your ass would’ve been mine, but all of your abilities. I can count my lucky stars that I got out of that ring in one piece.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. We all know how badass I am. And then I ended up submitting.”
Lu laughed. “But your reason behind that was righteous, and I could only imagine how hard it was for you to submit that day.”
A huff left my lips. It wasn’t, really. I knew what Elena was to me, and there was no reason to fight. I’d submitted a long time ago before that, just like her dad had said.
We’d spoken about the spell, and what he and Tabitha were going to do. They tackled an easy one.
Laughter rolled out of Lu when I told him about the one I was trying to pull off with Elena.
It won him a pillow in the face.
“Stop laughing, idiot.”
“You know how hard that spell is, Blake.”
“Can you imagine the merits we will get if we nail it? We will ace that exam with flying colors.”
“The way it sounds, with Elena still struggling, you are going to fail badly, my friend. It’s not too late to change to a simpler spell, Blake. Maybe she is not ready for that one.”
A growl left my lips, and Lu stared at me. “Don’t forget she hasn’t grown up this side, Blake. It was a wonder she didn’t land inside the Asylum. The way everyone pushed this world on her when she came here, how she trained every single day, and that she kept her wits, it should be in some book of records.”
It was hard for her, but I’d never broken it down like that, probably because I never saw what Lu had seen back then.
Maybe I should give her a break, try a simpler spell. There was still time.
ELENA
The next few days, Blake was like a horn dog. I had to admit, being with him like this was amazing. It felt as if I was on a different high and it was because of him.
It was slightly another story now that Lu knew. I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t even look the guy in the eyes. It lasted for about five days before things started returning slowly to normal between the two of us.
Blake had changed the spell too, which I had to admit, was a bit of a downfall for me. It felt as if I couldn’t do it, and to be honest, I knew Blake was disappointed in me because I couldn’t pronounce the words correctly, but I would not give up on that one.
My stomach felt bloated, and I didn’t like where my mind was going with this one. I couldn’t be pregnant. Not now. Dad Herbert and Dad Albert would kill Blake, and I didn’t even want to know what my dads would do to me. I wouldn’t be able to live with the disappointment.
It lasted for about two days and then on the third day, relief washed over my face as I completely forgot that my period could also cause a bloated stomach. I was never so happy to see that time of the month.
That night when Blake started feeling up my boobs, I told him. He sort of growled.
“It’s a good thing, Blake. We can’t be parents now.”
“I’m being safe, Elena.”
Yeah, until one slips through the condom. “Then why the growl?”
“As your period is taking away all my fun.”
“Blake!”
“What? I’m a dragon. I need sex.”
I hated when he would use his dragon as an excuse to act like this. “You are a jerk.” I got up from the bed and stormed out of his room.
He didn’t even follow. Asshole.
For the next couple of days, he took a few steps back. He hardly kissed me and not to mention sneaking in at night. He was spending his time with the guys or with Lucian.
He made me feel like I was a piece of meat.
When I voiced it to Becky, I cried.
She put her arm around my shoulder. “Shh, I have to admit, Blake is really acting strange. Since George stopped fighting with me anymore, he is nothing but super nice.”
“He is?”
She nodded. “Even when it’s that time of the month. He bought me chocolates and treated me like a queen.”
I bawled harder. Why was my dragon being a jerk?
The next morning, we fought about it.
“Fine, then go be with George as he sounds like the Dent of the year.” Blake got up and stormed out of the cafeteria.
Tears pricked in my eyes, and I got up and walked back to my room. I opened the door and rushed through to the bathroom. I hated crying in front of people, but my heart felt as if it was broken into pieces. I would never sleep with him if this was how he was going to act every time when it was that time of the month.
A knock on the door sounded. I didn’t know anyone was in the room, and sniffed. I wadded up toilet paper off the roll and dabbed my eyes with it.
The door opened, and Tabitha stood in the doorway.
She took one look at me and the pity lines turned the corners of her eyes down. She crouched in front of me, stroking my legs. “Why are you crying?”
I shook my head. “Something is wrong with Blake.” I sniffed as I tried to stop crying.
“What happened?”
“I should’ve never started to—” You married him, Elena. Suck it up.
“You took that step further?” Tabitha asked.
I nodded. “It’s that time of the month, and he is such a jerk.” I sniffed again.
She turned her head and looked at the bathtub before she flickered her eyes back to me. “Sounds like the Blake I know. Only treats you like someone if you can give him something.”
“It’s not the Blake I know.”
Silence lingered. “I have to admit, the way he acts makes little sense. Not with a Dent. I’m only going with my experience. If I could take things back, I would. If it would make Lu trust me, believe me, I wouldn’t think twice. But nobody can change the past. Still, I can’t imagine hurting him like that. I don’t understand any of this.”
“It’s why I strongly believe that something happened the day he went to save my father.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Always think about the extreme. It could be something else.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, but something that we can easily fix. Blake has broad shoulders, but he is just one being and the way they are dumping things on him might be what is leading to this.”
“I wouldn’t know, as he doesn’t tell me a thing.”
She rubbed my arm. She was really so sweet, and I couldn’t believe it was the same girl that almost killed me twice.
“Please don’t ask me to speak to him.”
“I won’t. I know you don’t want to give Lucian more fuel to hate you. I’ll get it out of him. I’ll think of something.”
“Use your true order if you have to.”
A laughter barked out of me. “I don’t enjoy doing that either.”
“Well, he is hiding things from you.” She giggled like a lady with her lips closed and got up from her haunches and walked back to the room.
I washed my face and decided that tomorrow was a new day to speak to Blake.
That night, the four of us actually had a great time in the room. Becky and Sammy got to know Tabitha better, and Sammy actually laughed with her, not backbiting the way she usually did. They even questioned where Blake was, and I told them he wasn’t my shadow. Getting into this with Sammy wasn’t the right thing, as he was her brother.
We went to bed late, and I struggled to sleep wondering what he was doing. We were fighting more and more and in intervals.
I drifted away and woke up the next morning. His scent wasn’t even on my pillow, meaning he didn’t sneak in last night.
I tried not to look for him this morning. What he had said yesterday still hurt a crap lot.
But he plopped down in the chair next to me and spoke like nothing major had happened yesterday.
My body betrayed me with its dose of butterflies every time he touched me. The only thing that I could think of were his words from yesterday. It confused the living crap out of me. I thought about the Vastech and wondered if the magic of it didn’t somehow change him a bit. He knew it was forever, and when people knew something like that, that was when they took everything for granted.
It was hard not to speak to anyone about it. Mom was too far, and my friends would lose it big time when they discovered I’d married him. I was way too young, and this was what I’d feared, not being emotionally ready to take on the role of a wife.
What if the honeymoon stage was over and we were creeping to the normal stage?
“You okay?” Blake whispered.
I nodded, fearing that we might fight about something stupid again. He kissed me on my shoulder. I’d missed his affectionate side.
I sighed as I pushed a piece of toast into my mouth, hoping that the dry bread would push down the sob that threatened to push through my lips.
Give it time, marriage wasn’t sunshine and roses, or that was how the saying went.
