24. Lore

As Bella slept peacefully beside me, I was consumed by grief and indecision. I had intended to use her to break this curse once I realized she was my fated mate. Only now, I wanted nothing more than to lie back down with her and spend an eternity between her pretty thighs.

Pushing her away had not spared me the agony I knew was coming. To free my kingdom and people, I must sacrifice the one joy fate had granted me in endless centuries of pain. The moon goddess was merciless in her vengeance.

My dragon raged within, desperate to take Bella far away and keep her forever. Though our minds were sundered, I sensed fragments of his emotions. He cared deeply for her. Yet lately, I felt a growing disconnect, lost in an impenetrable fog that filled me with foreboding.

The goddess had never decreed an end to her bitter curse. I had assumed it was everlasting until the wheel of fate brought me face-to-face with my fated mate. What vicious irony that it should come to this, only to lose all at the bitter end.

The decaying thorns, my dragon”s distress, and Bella”s whispered fears all heralded the approaching climax. Time grew short, yet I wavered. Could I sacrifice the one ray of light that had pierced my endless darkness to save those already condemned? Was the greater good worth such a devastating price?

I gazed upon Bella”s sleeping form, my fractured heart splintering anew. My dragon”s frantic denial screamed within me. ”I will burn the world for her.”

Perhaps we both would if that was what it took to defy the curse. Either way, I feared the coming dawn would see one or both of us consumed by fire. It would not be her who paid the price of my sins.

Bella stirred fitfully, her lips forming my name in slumber. Gently, I brushed a strand of moon-pale hair from her lovely face, awed that one so pure and good despite her heritage and upbringing could be fated as the mate to a monster like me. She deserved a man unstained by centuries of violence and fury, not a dragon cursed to shadow.

Yet our souls were inextricably entwined, our fates woven past all unraveling. I had thought of remaining detached, denying love to spare us both. It was far too late for that. Against all reason, this stubborn woman had claimed my heart utterly.

So I would gladly embrace the fire and ash to save her, even if it meant defying the bitter prophecy written in her blood. Some prices were too steep, even for freedom from endless torment. If my defiance only damned us further, then so be it. We would face the end hand in hand, the cursed beast and his beauty. No power on this earth would take her from me.

With a tortured sigh, I turned away from Bella, clinging to this last shred of peace that remained in her sleeping, beautiful face. Tomorrow, blood and flame awaited us both. Tonight, my dragon called to me, and I could not force the pull of the change to stop. I would revel in the memory of her embrace one final time. Let the dawn scatter our ashes.

No, I would save her. I would find a way, no matter what.

I moved out into the nearly night sky and met it with anticipation, the feeling of the shift taking me on. Just as I felt the transformation, my dragon whispered to me before it was devoured in a hazy mist.

I will burn the world for her.

And then there was nothing.