Touch of Flame

Malachi tried to be as patient as possible with Ravina as they walked back home with her injured leg and a slightly wobbly walk from the little wine she had.

Eventually, she stopped. “I am tired,” she sighed, leaning against the fence of the bridge.

Malachi stopped and waited for her to regain her strength. She watched him with those scientists’ eyes. “You are not losing your patience today,” she pointed.

He leaned against the fence across from her. “Do you want me to?”

“Well, I could use some impatience right now.”

Was she serious?

“Now you act like a princess. Am I your servant?” Telling him no when yes and yes when no.

She smiled with pretentious innocence.

Fine, he was.

He walked over and picked her up. Who was he lying to? He had no complaints about this at all. She wanted him to carry her for God’s sake. She was finally beginning to ask for help, although he suspected it was mostly the wine. Still, she had asked him to place the pins in her hair earlier.

Ravina put her arms around him, hiding a smile. “Why don’t you share what you find so funny, princess.”

“You,” she replied.

“You dare laugh at your king?” He said scoldingly.

“My apologies, Dragon King.” She played along.

He said nothing for the rest of the walk and she remained quiet, her head eventually leaning on his chest. By the time he arrived home, she was half-sleeping, her body turning warm in his hold. She stirred a little as he put her down on her bed, opening her eyes lazily and then closing them again. He took the stick away from her, placing it near the bed.

Disturbed she tried to read for the pins in her head. “Let me,” he said, placing a hand under her neck he lifted her head slightly and removed the pins. Then he put her down on her pillow.

She made a small sound of approval. He then gently removed the bracelets around her arms. His gaze traveled down her body in the dim light, over a rising and falling chest, a small flat waist, and to the belly chain around it. It was already rubbing against her skin, causing redness. He reached down, trying to remove it while touching her as little as possible.

Ravina stirred again, a small chuckle coming from her lips as her body moved away from her his touch. He had already unclocked the chain, his hold tightening around it as she sighed and the smile faded from her lips.

God, he cursed quietly as the dragon in him came to life. Seeing her spread on the bed like a white flower, just within his reach making his hands itch to touch the delicate skin right in front him…

No! He stopped himself. He had gotten control over this. The mating ceremony was messing with his head. No mating right now!

He tried to pull the chain from under her but didn’t want to scratch her skin. She bruised easily, so he put a hand under her back to lift her a little but she already helped him. Pulling the chain quickly he looked at her. Her piercing blue eyes watched him in the darkness. He could hear the change in her heartbeat.

Malachi reached for the blanket to cover her up. “It is hot,” she refused.

He put it back. “Alright. Good night.” He told her.

“Won’t you stay?” She asked.

Quietly he went and sat in the armchair near the bed. Ravina turned to lay sideways and watched him with hooded eyes. “Sleeping in a chair will be difficult?” She said.

He smiled to himself. As if sleeping with her would be any easier. “I am fine.”

She pressed her palms together and placed them under her cheek. She looked like a lamb and he felt like the wolf, waiting.

“Now that I think of it, we are almost like a married couple,” she said more to herself, staring somewhere ahead. Then slowly her eyes returned to him. “I have let you close to me more times than I have let anyone else since my parent’s death.”

A thoughtful silence followed as he gazed back at her. He felt sad hearing this. If this was much then she really kept a distance.

“You know almost everything about me now, or everything. I have told you things I have told no one.” She said. “I don’t know much about you.”

“I am sure you do,” he said.

“That can’t be all. You have lived for so long. You must have seen a lot. Learned a lot. You must have many experiences. Many memories.”

He frowned. His memories were consistently about the same thing. His father, his sister, and destruction.

“I…” he clenched his jaw. “Have created more bad experiences than good ones. Now I am living with the memories of them.”

She frowned a little.

“And even the good memories have become painful because of the bad ones,” he added. “I have ruined many things. I am sure you know.”

“Why?” She asked. “Why did you ruin?”

“I was praised. I had a reputation to uphold. I was next to the throne so I had to be a certain way and I… I just followed.” He said a large lump settling in his throat.

Her face twisted and turn, her eyes glistening with pain, her lips trembling with anger. “You ruined many lives, Malachi,” she whispered.

“I know.”

“Was it worth the praise?”

“No. It was not.”

She looked at him for a long moment. “Does it haunt you?” She asked.

He nodded slowly.

“Good,” she said, nodding with a tear falling from her eyes.

He breathed, feeling a little unburdened. He met her gaze. It was pained and sad, but he did not see what he expected to see.

Hatred. Perhaps tomorrow she would look at him that way. He prepared himself. At least he was able to finally release some of his anxiety.