Verath the Red (Dragonwall Series #3)

Chapter 51 - A Time for Healing

Kastali Dun

Verath strode through the keep at a brisk pace, deep in thought. He nodded absentmindedly to those who passed. Usually he found himself brooding over Desaree. Claire had departed two days ago and he hadn't seen Desaree since. She was avoiding him. The obviousness irked him. But what irked him more was that a mere human had the power to get under his skin—that a mere human controlled his emotions this much. Shouldn't the Drengr race be above such things?

He snorted, earning a startled look from a pair of servants who passed. He offered them a nod. Both females blushed and took flight like frightened birds. He kept walking.

Today he was focused on the future. On Dallin. It was mid-morning. They'd just finished training. Dallin showed promise—filled with the energy of youth. It was almost too much for his aging bones. Dallin's swordsmanship needed work, true. No argument there. But he never complained. He followed orders. He listened with a lack of arrogance that older Drengr often displayed.

Talon was right. Dallin was pliable. Perhaps their ranks would benefit from him after all. Even though he hated the idea of replacing Cyrus. Even though it was necessary and inevitable.

At least Claire liked the lad. There was that.

His mind jumped to his future queen. His future queen! He had to repeat the words a few times because the sound of them was so foreign. After hundreds of years it was nearly too much. And he wasn't the only one struck with disbelief. They had all been shocked. Things were changing. Times were changing.

The thought of Claire gallivanting off to the forest made him uneasy. Filled him with a sense of duty—a need to protect. And she'd been sent with Koldis, no less. Koldis! Gods! Better him than Jovari, though, or the both of them together, which would have been even worse.

The Sprites. Manipulative tree-lovers! People who ate no meat and cared nothing for the hunt.

He gnawed on the inside of his cheek. Would she be safe with them?

He strode into his quarters, unbelting his Sverak, and tossed it on the table.

"Verath?"

He froze, arm outstretched, and blinked. "Desaree? What are you doing here?"

"I..." She blushed and pushed off the wall where she'd been lurking.

"I mean—" He stepped forward but stopped himself. His thoughts jumbled together at the sudden sight of her. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm just surprised to see you."

"You're right. I...I shouldn't have intruded." She scrambled for his door.

"No!" He lunged for her, wrapping his hands about her waist, catching her. She stilled beneath his touch. Almost as quickly, he released her, afraid to overstep his bounds. "Please." The desperation in his voice was embarrassing. "I don't want you to leave. Tell me what you came for."

She faced him. "I..." Emotions played out, crossing her features, one after another. "I miss you," she said at last, turning an even darker shade of red.

He stifled a cry of relief and pulled her into his arms, enveloping her, burying his face in her hair. Slowly, she brought her arms around him and he sighed.

"I miss you too," he murmured. "I do not like what is happening to us. And for that matter, what is happening to us, Des?" The question had eaten at him long enough, since their break. She told him she needed time to think things through. Space away from him. He gave it to her. It should have been easy to let her go, but he couldn't stop having flashes of Kendra and how he'd let her go, too.