it impossible to think about food. He left after he finished his sandwich and glass of milk.
I closed my eyes when the fire started to die, and looked at the clock next to my bed which read three.
I dozed off and my eyes shot open again as my bed dented with someone else’s weight. I hadn’t even heard the door open. I froze knowing that Cheng was inside my room. I didn’t mind before as he’d wanted to make sure that I was fine, but whatever it was he wanted this time, I sure didn’t feel the same for him.
I turned around when his arm wrapped around my waist to tell him exactly how I felt and found Lucian.
Without thinking, my arms grabbed him around the neck and my lips found his. The tears flowed again. I’d missed him so much; I missed Cara and the emptiness inside of me was unbearable. My body shook again and I broke the kiss, trying my best to swallow my stupid tears. Who knows how long we had this time?
“Shhhh,” he said into my hair. “I take it that you finally found all your answers.”
I forgot about that. I forgot who I was and I forgot what it was I had to do. The image of Blake filled my mind. How much I hated him right now. “I can’t claim him Lucian.”
“Elena, you have no choice.”
“He wants nothing to do with me, and to be honest neither do I.”
“That’s not true and you know it. He’s not the type to show his true feelings Elena. He guards them, now even more than when we were younger. Did you know that he woke up the exact moment you entered Paegeia?”
“Yes, he said it was my dragon.”
“He’s lying. If he wanted nothing to do with you, he would never have saved your life, twice. Just think about that.”
“It will never be like that.”
Lucian chuckled. “Don’t fool yourself, Elena. It will be exactly like that. You’re made for one another. Your love has been foretold for centuries…” A sadness filled his eyes.
Foretold for centuries….what the hell is he talking about?The first foretelling, the one on the very first page of the Book of Shadows.
“I’m glad I died.”
I shot him a glare. “You don’t mean that.”
“Oh, but I do princess. I told you before, the Blake I know will love you better than any human ever could, including me.”
“I don’t love him.”
“You will, more than you ever loved me.”
“That can never be.”
“Shhh, I’ve made peace with that. I would die a thousand deaths for you. I don’t regret anything that happened, because I know what I died for. You will free the people of Etan and Paegeia will finally live in peace because the two of you will fight for it. I struggled with that, but now I can see clearly.”
“You met my mom?”
He laughed. “You’re a lot like her, Elena. She begged me to tell you how much she loved you.”
I shook my head. “Everyone is saying that, but it’s not how I feel.”
“I know, it’s hard to understand. Maybe one day when you have a little one of your own, you will grasp how hard it was for her to give you up.” He kissed me on the forehead and I buried my face in his chest again. His cologne filled my nostrils, but I knew it didn’t matter how many sniffs I took, I would never be able to hold on to it. It would disappear the minute I woke up. “You need to claim Blake. I promise you, you won’t regret it. I love you, princess.”
I woke up and found myself hugging my pillow.
He didn’t understand how much I hated Blake. I said I would find a way to help someone else claim him, now it turned out that I was that someone. It was so unfair, and what the hell did he mean by “foretold for centuries.”
HE NEXT I found Cheng by the breakfast table downstairs. Two other groups of men wearing hunting gear sat at a huge table a couple of rows in front of us. They were loud and annoying.
A woman wearing tavern clothes placed a plate filled with eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast in front of me. I wasn’t hungry, but at the same time I was starving.
“Eat, you’re going to need it,” Cheng said.
“For what?”
“Elena, you know what needs to be done.”
“I told you I can’t do that. I won’t claim him,” I hissed at him.
“You’ve got