Marked Prince - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,40

as she again left.

Jaxx and the other full dragons didn’t consider their nakedness, probably because they spent half their life ripping seams and transforming back to their human forms. It’s not like clothes shifted with them.

Jaxx flung the shirt aside and took the pair of loose pants. He threaded his feet through while keeping his hand on hers and managed to pull them on. Then, crawling over her to the other side, he laid down next to her. The rhythmic rise and fall of her chest held his attention, and he watched over her.

“I should have protected you,” he whispered. “I promised to take care of you, and I failed. I should be the one lying here. I have the death mark. Not you.”

He knew she was safe here. The handheld had healed her wound. She would live. Yet the tightness in his chest did not ease. Had the man’s aim shifted by even a small degree, he would have stabbed her in the heart.

“…it will be the tie that links you to Fiora.”

12

Fiora fought to stay inside the haze of her thoughts. She didn’t want to leave the numb cocoon surrounding her. It felt like childhood when the air was just a little bit too cold, but it didn’t matter because she could burrow beneath a warm, thick blanket. In the fog between dreams and wake, nothing mattered. There was no fear, no pain, only the lingering images from dreams soon to be forgotten.

She half expected to hear her mother’s voice urging her to get out of bed. Any second the smell of morning cakes would tickle her nose. Piera would complain about having the same meal every day. Their father would take one too many, and their mother would scold him for it.

The smell never came, and she realized her blanket cocoon didn’t exist. The warmth came from her side. She was no longer a young girl full of dreams and imagination. Monsters were real, and nightmares were for the living.

A shiver worked along her body at the notion, causing tiny bumps to roll over her flesh like a wave. Even as she feared the sudden rush of timelines that was sure to come, she was relieved with each passing second when they didn’t.

Fiora opened her eyes. She expected to find the white of her cell wall instead she met Jaxx’s green eyes. He laid next to her, his head resting on the crook of his arm. His hand stirred against hers.

“How are you feeling?” His words came out in a rush as if he’d been waiting to say them.

“Doesn’t hurt.” She rolled her shoulder as if to prove her point. In truth she was a little lightheaded and weak. Thankfully she was resting on her back and not expected to move.

“I want to yell at you for running into danger like that, but I am too relieved that you are recovering.” Jaxx’s voice was soft. His hand tightened over hers. “I should have stopped you.”

“From running in front of a blade?” She shook her head slightly. “You couldn’t know what I was doing. My vision sent you into the woods. It would have been my fault if they killed Grace. I had to do something, and there was no time to have a conversation about it.”

“You saved my cousin.” Jaxx’s hand left hers and moved to touch her cheek. He remained next to her on the bed.

“I know.” Fiora let her heavy eyelids close briefly. Since he touched her the visions didn’t come back, but she’d already seen the brother and sister’s futures. When she again opened them, she said, “I saw Grace taking those people along a mountain path. She’s going to help them.”

“Dulla and Brogan,” Jaxx said. “Sister and brother.”

A tear slipped over her cheek. Jaxx brushed it away.

“What is it?” he asked. “Are you in pain?”

“I feel for that mother. Her heart is going to give out in childbirth. Brogan will want to take them, but he can’t provide for two babies on an alien world. He will agree that they should be raised by a kind couple who has been married for many years and has taken in multiple children in need.”

“Mirek and Riona,” Jaxx said. “They lost a child, and she cannot have them. Mirek is my father’s cousin and lives in the Northern Mountains.”

“Grace will carry the guilt of not being able to save her, but there is nothing that can be done,” Fiora said.

“But, if Grace knows, then we’ll send