7. Kadia

Kaida whipped herself around and found Esen standing behind her. Her stomach somersaulted at the sight of him but twisted instantly when she realized she was alone with him. Kaida would not be naive enough to think that they were on good terms just because Esen defended her. Far too much had happened for her to make that mistake.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked her as he put his hands into his pockets.

Kaida wasn’t sure if that meant he was trying to show her that he had come in peace or if he was nervous to be around her now. Her dragon’s magic alone was more powerful than his Breeze magic. Considering his dragon bowed to Kaida’s as well, Esen must know that.

"Sure." Her voice sounded more confident than she felt.

Esen threaded his fingers through his hair as he looked off toward the outlook over the water. Kaida shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot as Esen found the words he wanted to say. He wouldn’t look at her, opened his mouth a few times, quickly closed it, and scratched the back of his head.

"Are you okay?" she asked him and frowned.

Esen straightened his back, looked right into her eyes, and nodded. "Yeah. I’m good. I was hoping you could forgive me for my past behavior towards you."

His words almost gave her whiplash. It was the last thing she had expected to come out of his mouth. There was emotion in his voice that had never been present before during any of their previous interactions. She couldn’t even pinpoint what the emotion could be. As he waited for her answer, Kaida could see beads of sweat on his forehead.

Nervous. Esen ISnervous! I didn’t know I could make any of the princes nervous.

Why wouldn’t he be nervous? He is in the presence of a powerful dragon who could annihilate him at any moment.

I don’t think that is why he is nervous.

I would be.

"I know I have been a royal asshole to you since you came here. I wish I could come up with a reason why I could behave that way so easily, but... nothing is coming to mind."

Kaida scoffed, "Really? Nothing comes to mind. I can think of a red-headed dick that could have influenced that."

Esen frowned. "He is a good guy. He just doesn’t have a handle on his temper."

Kaida scrunched up her face and raised her hand, flat and palm-out, toward him, "Don’t. I don’t think there is anything you can say that will make everything he did better."

"What about me?"

Kaida cocked an eyebrow at him. "What about you?"

Esen stepped closer to her, but Kaida took a step back. She didn’t want him any closer than he already was to her. Even though he apologized, she didn’t trust him yet. Esen’s shoulders sagged when he noticed her step back and licked his lips.

"Is there anything I can say or do to make everything I did better?"

That was a tough question to answer. She thought about it for a minute, but nothing came to mind. Even though Esen was following commands from Blaze, he still participated in trying to kill her. On the other hand, he wanted to try at least to make up for what he did.

I don’t know. What should I do? Kaida asked her dragon.

Kaida had to smile at herself for being able to ask her dragon anything now. It was becoming a reflex to just talk to her dragon when, before, there was nothing but an empty space in her mind and soul.

There is something about this one. I can feel it. He is remorseful. Her dragon responded and made a rumbling sound inside her mind. Keep him at arm’s length for now. But we can see if he is telling the truth in the meantime.

Okay. I can do that.

"I don’t know what you can say or do to make up for your past behavior, Esen. That is a hard question to answer."

Esen frowned, but he bowed his head, and nodded. Kaida had to smile as he accepted the answer and began to walk away. It was cute because she wasn’t finished, but it was like he hadn’t expected her to say anything different, so there was no point in waiting for further disappointment..

"I can, however, say that I can at least give you a chance to try."

He turned back around, and it was as if she had turned on a light inside of him with how bright his eyes got at her response. Kaida gave him a smile and waited for him to say something. This time, when he sighed, it just seemed to be in relief.

"Thank you, Kaida, for giving me a chance to fix things."

"You’re welcome."

Kaida’s voice came off confused, but Esen ignored it. He turned around and started walking back toward the house. She watched him get smaller and smaller as he ascended up the hill, and the further he got from her, the more Kaida felt a tightening in her chest. She had thoughts of running off after him. Various scenarios of her asking what he meant by this conversation, and even a moment of him showing her exactly what he wanted that he didn’t want to say, had Kaida rubbing her legs together from the tingling that started.

I already have a mate. I can barely handle the fact I have him in my life. Let’s not add to that and overload my brain.

I wouldn’t say it would be overloading your brain...

What?

Well... I’d say it would be overloading another area. Probably wouldn’t be that bad, actually.

The dragon had a point. Images of Beckett and Esen pleasuring her at the same time flooded her thoughts. Beckett would use his water magic to cool his lips as he devours her, and Esen could use his air magic to suspend her in the air to give Beckett better access. That was the first one that came to mind. The tingle turned to throbbing as the thought continued with both of them kissing and touching her at the same time. Kaida fanned herself down and leaned onto a tree.

"What has you all hot and bothered?"

Beckett’s voice had Kaida’s eyes bugging out of her skull. She gulped at his sly smile that told her he could smell her arousal. Her cheeks flushed as she tried to cover her face with her hair.

"Nothing. Just thinking about us from the other night."

She could hear the chuckle inside of his chest as his form was suddenly in front of her. Kaida looked up to find Beckett grinning down at her with his arms cornering her against the tree. The throbbing returned, and Kaida bit her lip. Beckett’s chest rumbled with a growl as his eyes found her lips. She could feel his own arousal through their bond for her, making Kaida smile.

Feels nice to feel wanted again.

Kaida studied Beckett’s face and realized a few thin lines across his face seemed to be healing. Kaida gasped and straightened herself to get a closer look at it. Beckett stood straighter and shot her a questioning look. A lightbulb seemed to go off, and he sighed.

"It’s nothing. Blaze lost a bit of his control is all. Everything is fine."

Kaida frowned, "All because of me. Again."

"I wouldn’t say ‘again’. He didn’t attack us the last time he lost his cool."

"Was that to make me feel better? If so, that didn’t work at all."

Beckett chuckled. "I guess that is a bit of a crummy way to make you feel better. Let me say it this way, then. I think he is losing his cool because he thinks he is going to lose me now that I’ve found my mate. We had a buddy growing up who found his mate the day his dragon emerged. That guy is now happily mated and has a couple of kids already. I think he was even invited back to Dragaal due to his welding skills with his magic. Blaze hasn’t really recovered from that. They were both Ember dragons and were almost closer than the four of us because they were of the same kind. Left a scar, I guess." Beckett paused for a moment and looked off in the distance. "I think he just needs time to adjust. This all happened fast. He waits for me to walk away but doesn’t realize he is pushing me. He also doesn’t realize that I am not budging."

Kaida thought about Beckett’s story for a moment. It was nice to hear that Blaze was an ass because of heartache and not because that was who he was as a person. On the other hand, it was still annoying that he seemed to use that as an excuse for his obnoxious behavior.

"Okay. I can understand him being afraid of losing another friend. However, I want to know this. Did he try to get to know that mate? Or was he so jealous that his friend found a mate that he pushed that friend away, too?"

It was Beckett’s turn to frown. Kaida knew she had him there. That frown said it all. Blaze didn’t try then and lost his friend. Instead of changing his behavior, he repeated it.

"I know what you are thinking. You’re wrong. He did try. She didn’t. She hated Blaze. As I am sure you can see, it is hard not to want to be around your mate or be on their side. So, our friend chose his mate."

"I get it. He lost a friend. But he hated me before we got together. For a stupid reason, too. It’s all because I was born in Dragaal. I don’t even know how that is a reason to hate someone! Clearly, the kingdom doesn’t care about me since they allow people to drop off their unwanted mates here, even if that unwanted mate was considered royalty. It was going to be something I was going to change when I ascended to the throne."

Beckett grinned at her. "You were actually going to change laws like that?"

"Yes. It was something that crossed my mind when I was thinking about what kind of Queen I wanted to be."

Beckett leaned in again. "What kind of queen did you settle on?"

Kaida looked away for a moment, smiling as Beckett pushed his new arousal through their bond. It was silly to be giddy about Beckett finding her talking about being queen sexy.

"I just wanted to be one that made a difference. It sounded like something we needed in the kingdom–to break the wheel of following tradition and begin a new generation of accepting people. It isn’t amazing over there. If you weren’t from one of the powerful families, you would be looked at like scum. I watched the other daughters from those families treat a woman who sold chocolate like absolute shit because they were better than her. Meanwhile, they were the best chocolates I’d ever had."

"Sounds like the Great Dragon really does know what they are doing. They wanted to give you the chance to be on the throne so you could make a difference. Too bad your dumbass mate thought the Great Dragon was wrong."

A twang of pain hit her in the chest at the mention of Enzo. Even though she had moved on, it still hurt to be reminded that he had been so easily able to reject her. Kaida rubbed her chest where the pain settled, and Beckett’s face fell when he realized what he had done.

"Shit. Sorry. Keep forgetting what a severed bond can do. I’m punching that guy the moment I see him for being stupid. You are clearly Queen material." Beckett smiled wickedly. "Which is why I will laugh hysterically when we figure out how to remove that damn barrier and take over Dragaal. I will put you on that throne where you belong."

Kaida laughed at his remark, but his smile remained. Oh my. Beckett is serious.

As he should be. That is, indeed, where we belong.

I don’t think they realize it will not be that easy. The Storm Dragons do have an army and a sizable one at that. I don’t think they will be able just to destroy the barrier and then roll the entire kingdom over like they think they will.

Ah, but you are forgetting something.

What’s that?

The kingdom’s army will not know a Plasma Dragon is fighting on the princes’ side.