Crimson Rebirth

Part 16

 A dragon's head was the first thing Genevieve saw, his nose following the peculiar scent in the air. One of roses.

  And death.

 Gene looked up at the dragon, and the familiarity of the dragon's red eyes drew a name to her mind.

 Kaiju.

 Her jaw dropped slightly, but she noticed how he focused on the rather..... Large rose bush, tilting his head from one side to the other, then peering carefully at her to explain.

 "J-Jaxton." Gene breathed, her throat still aching in protest of speech.  "He----He found me........ Then said that he was going to go for the kids."

 She realized that their mother was nowhere in sight, Kaiju must've sent whoever it was inside through the front door. 

 Kaiju thrummed in understanding. God and Goddess he was massive! Black as the night sky above, yet his belly red as hot coals. Long and coiling in a manner like snakes yet ever tender footing, trying to mind his plantation and his house. His claws grazed the earth, earning a slight scowl and a grumble. He shook his head, making his entire body ripple from his Eastern-like head, down his back in a cascade of onyx, and feathered at the tip of his tail that fluttered at his feet.

 He had massive horns, two that branched back and held the moon between his antlers, and a second pair that bowed around his spined yet bearded jowls. His chin was sharp, thickly bearded, but there were spines that teased from under the curtain of silk.

 His equinesque head lowered to Gene. He had to mind the height difference, since she was but an ant to his massive talons. But yet...the amount of care he took, his rose red eyes glancing over her, and the radiation of concern that warmed those irises showed more than what he could say alone.

 He chuffed at the rosebush, but an attempt of mouthing it only made him recoil. His head leered back as he chuffed and pawed his muzzle adorably. Nope, too spiny! His thrumming sounded like a whine to Gene; what was he supposed to do with a now blood soaked rose bush?

 "Honestly....... I don't know." Gene said, rubbing her throat. She knew he was a dragon, otherwise he wouldn't be called the Dragon King, but Heavenly Goddess, she didn't think he'd be quite so large! "Addy wanted to plant the seeds a few days back and then tonight while looking........ And checking on the animals........ Showed up and yeah. I think you can guess what happened after."

 She swallowed hard, not even able to look at the rose bush. "I can at least make it less thorny........ The thorns served their purpose, though I'm not sure how...."  

 Kaiju hummed in understanding, his throat and chest thrumming with it. He then nestled to lay in the field, tucking his front claws under his chest very much like a cat, while the rest arched sideways. He lowered his head to her, trying his best to nuzzle, but still, VERY TINY HUMAN. Very delicate! His nose managed to reach her head. He inhaled slowly as his eyes closed as well.  

  She gently snuggled against the side of his nose, trembling with tears burning in her eyes, absolutely terrified of what she did, of what happened. She scared herself more than anything else.
 
She scared herself.
 
Her right wrist once again let off a pale golden glow, and she glanced to it, closing her eyes for a moment.
 
"Te nol." She mumbled.
  
The dead body of Jaxton Nightwing changed. Instead of flesh, it was rose petals. Instead of blood, water.
 
A gust of wind fluttered past, carrying away the petals. To where, she couldn't say, but as the petals vanished, the rose bush went back to a normal bush, the thorns a normal size. As though it hadn't been used to kill anyone at all.  

  Kaiju thrummed. His form, as if all of the sudden, became a whirlwind of smoke and ash until it compacted and solidified to a human body...

 ...a tall and handsomely toned one at that.  

  She didn't notice him shift back to his human form, but she did notice two war-scarred muscular arms that rippled from years of working the field and carrying swords and shields time and again wrap around her . From his arms to his rounded shoulders, her eyes traced the hardened, chiseled chest that slowly rooted its way to a thick neck.

 It was his face that met her eyes then. A sharp jaw and a square chin was carpeted with a bristle of trimmed ebony, some strands of white among them of his age. His sharp nose trailed to a pair of knit brows, a face of constant concern, ever watchful, ever vigilant. His ebony hair was tied back in a half ponytail, once again strands of silver shining through from the steady glow of sunrise.

 It was his eyes that held her, rooted her, like a divine rose planted by the Sun God and watered by the Moon Goddess, a warm shade of velvety red. No, maybe not a rose at all, but an ember of a winter fire, lazily glowing yet ever ready to spark alive with a flame of a soul so pure, so bent to protect the woman who he rescued.

 Rescued? Was it even so? The longer their gazes held the more it seemed as though there was a hidden fondness in those eyes. A fondness only he revealed so easily to her and to her alone.

 It was easy to see the man was in love with her, and there were no words needed to say it as such. His callous but well intended gestures said it all, his home, and the reluctance to let her go for even a moment, even this moment of small comfort. 

 He watched her eyes, two emerald jewels plucked from the heart of the Emerald Wood and dripped with liquid gold, watched how they betrayed the overthinking she was doing. Tears pooled at the edges, but something held them back, more than an act of willpower. With her eyes on his, she found that she couldn't look away, even if she had wanted to.

 God and Goddess knew she didn't want to.

 Her mind slowed down, or at least it felt like it did. Instead, she focused on the feeling of warmth that started blooming in her chest from being in his arms, the feeling of safety.

 And love.

It was a thought that blew into her mind like the crisp autumn night wind carried it there, as she found herself lost in his eyes.

 I love you. Her heart sang out, as though having pointed directly at him and saying 'This one. I choose this one.'

 I love you.

For a single moment that stretched into many, it was as though nothing else existed in the world, aside from the man with two rose red eyes who couldn't help but lean in.

 And kiss her.

 A gust of wind could've easily broken it, the kiss so light and hesitant. He didn't want to scare her, after all, he had only known her for a few weeks, after all!

 The kiss caught Genevieve by surprise, her eyes widened by a rather sudden, flawless first kiss. In naught but a few moments, she practically melted, her eyes closing as she savored the moment. Every thought that had been running rampant in her head stopped entirely, as though slamming into a wall. A wall that held her in his arms, a wall that had a heartbeat she could feel with the hand that she gently placed above his heart. A wall that in one, single inexplicable moment, she knew she loved.

  Kaiju pulled back and watched the woman. There was no hiding the apprehension in his eyes, the number of questions that ran through them, questions about her, how she felt about him, the equivalent of a mutt Dragon in all of Terralis, but a powerful and massive one compared to the Elder Dragons of storybooks.  

 She blinked those pretty green and gold eyes once he pulled away, like the sunlight breaking through the canopy of a forest in the midst of summer.
 
For a moment, she said nor did anything.
 
Right before she rose on her toes and kissed him, a kiss that tasted of flowers, of honey, of every wild place. If the whimsical scent of the forest had a flavor, her lips tasted like it.  

 It was but a confirmation, that little kiss. The kiss that spoke more words than they could share, and the start of a true love that would be tested time and again.