Chapter Thirteen

Rhyse

"I guess that answers that," she muttered.

I had to give her credit. She was quicker on the uptake than I'd expected. Unfortunately, I hadn't been prepared for her to come to that realization just yet. Mostly because I was still coping with it myself.

"You were already stuck here," I muttered.

"What?"

"You volunteered to come here, Emma. As terms of the truce between our peoples. I know you can't recall that, but you did."

"According to you," she pointed out.

"You can tell if I'm lying!" I shouted, thrusting my head forward and tapping on the side of it. "Remember? So, you know I'm telling the truth. Stop trying to accuse me of being the bad guy, okay?"

After shaking her arm off me at last, I stormed toward the house, trying not to wonder why I could still feel her fingers on my bicep. It was just a touch, nothing more.

I cursed myself for acting so rashly the day before. I hadn't wanted Emma to stay in the first place. She wanted to go home, and I wanted to send her back. Having her around just messed up everything I'd spent so long building. I'd had a good life. Now it was all being thrown into the blender.

"Wow, how polite of you," Emma called from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder.

She was leaning forward, tapping the side of her head, mocking my earlier action. "Yeah, I can feel all that. I'm glad you want me here so badly."

I rolled my eyes as she marched toward me and then went right past, heading for the door. I let her go. There wasn't anywhere for her to go anyway.

"Because you trapped me here!" she shouted, spinning to point a finger at me. "You made it so I can't leave."

" Hellooo , I was doing this little thing that you may not be aware of. It's called saving your life, you ungrateful …"

"Ungrateful what? Huh? What were you going to say? Bitch?" she hissed.

"It certainly doesn't feel out of place, given how absolutely over the top you've been about it."

"Fine. Then let's take it off. Just let me die. Then you'll be alone, at least. Which is what you want, isn't it?"

"I can't just take it off," I snarled, wondering what the hell had gotten into her. Could she not understand I'd just been trying to do the right thing?

"Sure, I can." Emma reached under her collar, fingers feeling around the scale for an edge.

"Stop," I said, lifting a hand.

"No. I'm taking it off."

"You're being insane. And besides, you can't take it off."

"Watch me," she bit back. "All you have to do is just … get your fingers and then just—"

As her fingers found the edge of the scale, she pulled. Hard.

The world disappeared in a blaze of white pain as my dragon thrashed wildly. I fell to one knee with a grunt. Somewhere nearby, on the edges of my awareness, I became dimly aware of screaming.

"Stop pulling," I managed to get out as the pain refused to subside. "Let it go, Emma! Let it go!"

I pounded the rock beneath me with one fist, gritting my teeth through the pain as it hammered me from all sides. My breathing was shaking and shallow, and I groaned as yet another wave drew razor blades over my brain, raking me with excruciating agony.

Emma collapsed to the hard stony ground, lying on her back, chest heaving in a way that would have been pleasant if it weren't for the halo of agony surrounding us both.

"What … the fuck … was that?" she gasped as we both tried to recover our wits.

"I was trying to tell you," I got it. "You can't take it off."

"I thought you meant I wasn't capable of it. But that's not … what you meant. Is it?" she asked, still puffing.

"No."

"I can't take it off … ever?"

"Ever," I confirmed heavily, avoiding her eyes.

"What … what happens if I do? If I kept pulling."

"You die," I said bluntly.

"Lovely," she muttered, cranking her head around to look at me. "And what the hell happened to you? Why are you taking a knee?"

I lifted my head, meeting her stare, watching her eyes, knowing it wasn't the sky reflected in them but her actual color. I admired the rest of her face, too, even the little mole half hidden by her eyebrow. It gave her a charm that threatened to bring a smile to my face.

"What happens to you," I said, getting to my feet and moving to help her do the same, "happens to me."

Emma was halfway vertical before I felt the mental gasp of surprise. "You'll die, too?"

"Yes," I said, making sure her legs worked before I let her go. I ignored the reluctance of my dragon as I did so. I wasn't listening to it at the moment. The subconscious thoughts of my other half were what had gotten me into this mess to begin with.

"Then why the hell did you do this to me?" she asked, staring at me in shock.

"Are you kidding me?" I shook my head. "Emma. Get this through your head. Whatever you have to do. I was too busy saving your life to care about the consequences. Please try to understand this fact. It will make a lot of things much, much easier."

"Saved my life only to take control of it," she said. "Forcing me to be tied to you forever. Of course you didn't think it through."

I growled with inarticulate rage at her stubbornness. "You're right. I wasn't thinking. I just acted because I wasn't about to let you die! Why must this be some sort of evil plan to you? Why can't you accept it for what it is?"

"Because you're a dragon!" she shouted.

"You don't even have a basis for saying that!" I shouted back. "You can't remember us! You're just making this up."

"Something inside me tells me it's right," she said. "But you're right. I can't remember. I'm very sorry for losing my memories on you. I promise, I won't do it again."

"Whatever," I said, done with humans. "Just watch your step next time you're near water."

Emma got all steamed up, walking toward the edge of the bluffs to get away from me.

"I'll just watch my step now, how's that?" she taunted, staring out to sea. "I wouldn't want to fall, what with my bad footing and all."

I heard her, but I wasn't listening. Not anymore. My attention was on the sky and the rapidly approaching flight of dragons, with a particular orange and black dragon at their center.

Great. Just what I needed right now. More trouble.