Anilyia (2 page)

Her fingers traced the scar trailing the
left side of his face from above the ear to the center of his chin.
He whimpered as she did and Liselle leaned down to kiss him.
Vevin’s lips turned to a light smile at the kiss and his breathing
came easier.

The battles in the caverns had taken a lot
out of him. She knew Vevin was regaining energy, but he was
sleeping a lot. For that matter, she was too. The amount of magic
she expended in the caverns had drained her. The ordeal she had
gone through was even worse.

In her mind, Liselle could still see the
disfigured face of the hhorrj named Krraa. At the time, all she had
known was that Krraa wanted her ‘glow’. Every night since then, she
had woken up crying from nightmares about it. Each time she did,
Vevin would wake up and hold her tight, kissing her cheek until she
was able to stop.

Liselle had literally died in that horrible
place. She had never told anyone that the flower in her hair wasn’t
actually a pin, but a living entity that had been with her ever
since she could remember. When Krraa had begun torturing her, the
flower told her to how to die. Liselle followed the instructions
and her soul traveled inside a ruby set in a magical ring on her
finger. While keeping her safe, the ring used a purifying fire to
destroy Krraa and the room where he held Liselle.

She looked at the ring while running her
hand along Vevin’s muscular arm. One of the two original rubies
remained, as did the diamond in the center. Liselle believed it
meant she could die one more time.

Vevin stretched in his sleep and she knew he
would wake up soon. Liselle ran her hand down his side, admiring
the creamy, purple-tinted tone. She loved the color of his skin,
both in his human and in his scaly, dragon form.

Vevin stretched again, his eyes opening.
Upon seeing her watching him, he smiled. His sharp, white teeth
would intimidate just about anyone if he were baring them in anger.
Liselle wasn’t even a little intimidated and she kissed the warm
lips. Vevin responded enthusiastically, pulling her on top of him.
She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

They paused for a moment as she looked into
the molten eyes that swirled in pleasure. They were like pools of
liquid silver that Liselle could swim in for the rest of her
life.

“Hello, my darling Liselle,” he said with a
happy smile. “I’m so glad you’re still here.”

She traced the edge of his ear with a
finger. “And where else would I be, my ferocious lover?”

He frowned. “I don’t know. I worry about it
in my dreams and when I’m away from you.”

Liselle rose and fell with each breath Vevin
took. She touched a finger to his nose. “We haven’t been apart
since you rescued me, my toothy carnivore. So how could you know
that you worry when you’re away from me?”

“I don’t know. I just know that I would hate
it if we were apart.” His eyes swirled sadly at the thought.

Liselle rolled on her back and stared at the
ceiling. “I would too, dearest. In fact, I’ve been giving that a
lot of thought.”

“Oh?” Vevin turned toward her and propped
his head on his right hand. His left hand caressed her stomach.
“You don’t want to leave me, do you?”

Liselle loved the way it felt when he
touched her. “No, but we can’t stay next to each other
all
the time you know.”

“Why not?” he asked with a frown. “I think
it’d be wonderful for us to be together all the time.”

She closed her eyes in pleasure as he
caressed her. “Mmm . . .” Liselle opened her eyes and re-focused.
“It’s just not possible. We can live together and be together, but
two people don’t spend every moment of every day together.”

“Why not? I’ll stay by your side every
moment of every day and night.”

She looked at him firmly. “No, you won’t.
Everyone needs a moment away now and then. Right now, I want to be
with you all the time too.” She traced her fingers along his jaw.
“I want to spend my life with you. However, I told you that you
mustn’t try to keep me as treasure.”

“Oh . . . I remember that.” He gazed into
her eyes. “I’ll do whatever you wish of me even if it means I must
part from you for a time. I only ask that . . .”

“I know.” Blue flames of passion ghosted
behind the whites of Liselle’s eyes. Neither of them wished to be
alone. “I love you, Vevin.”

“I love you too, Liselle.” Vevin leaned down
to kiss her.

She pulled him close and their bodies
entwined in passion.

***

They dozed until first light broke the sky.
Vevin always kept the window open so he could see the light of the
dawn. It was important to him for reasons he hadn’t explained to
her yet, but promised he would someday. Liselle had always gotten
up at first light as well, so it didn’t bother her. Being in the
Rojuun caverns had been difficult for them both because they
couldn’t see the sky. Most mornings, they had woken up when first
light would have shown anyway.

Vevin got out of bed and moved to the
window. Liselle watched him with a smile, admiring the muscles
moving in his thin frame. Vevin was skinny for a dragon and it
showed in his human form as well. He was over five hundred years
old in reality, but that was young for a dragon. In human years, he
would have been about eighteen, the same age as Liselle.

Liselle slipped on a robe made for her by a
Rojuun girl. It was white with black and grey highlights that
matched her hair and eyes. She loved the clean smell and softness
of the fresh-laundered material.

While unweaving the flower from her hair,
Liselle watched Vevin do his morning dance. Vevin had a dance for
everything. Usually he did a happy dance or some variation of it,
but there were many others as well. He moved his dance back into
the room while washing up and getting dressed.

After brushing her hair and reweaving the
flower in, Liselle walked over to the window. The sky was clear and
the chirping of birds mixed with sounds of people getting ready for
the day. “It looks like it’ll be a beautiful day,” Vevin said,
coming up behind her. She felt his arms wrap around her waist.

“It’ll be hot, I think.” She turned around
to look him over. He also wore a robe made by the Rojuun. His was
green with silver threads and patterns that highlighted his eyes.
The robe went well with his purple hair. “You look nice, dearest,”
she told him with a smile.

“Thank you.” He smiled back. “You look
lovely as always and I don’t mind warm days. They feel good against
the scales.”

“Yes, but you aren’t wearing your scales.
You’re wearing skin,” Liselle pointed out.

He grinned. “True, but it still feels good.”
He leaned her over for a deep kiss.

She gasped, but returned the kiss, giggling
when they straightened. Then she rested her head against his
shoulder. The two of them swayed together for a bit.

“What do we do now, Liselle?” Vevin asked
her quietly. “I mean you and me. What are we going to do together
with our lives?”

Liselle took a step back to look at him
thoughtfully. “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. What do
you
want to
do?” Vevin was doing a new, slow dance, probably a ‘what do you
want to do?’ dance.

“I don’t think we’re getting anywhere,
dearest.” Liselle stepped toward the window and looked at the teal
wings of the building across from the inn. She contemplated the
question for a moment. When she turned around, Vevin was still
doing his dance. “Alright. I know what I want to do.”

Vevin’s dance picked up a bit. “Go
ahead.”

“I want to spend our lives together running
naked through green fields while slapping the sky and giggling
wildly,” Liselle said with a straight face.

The dance stopped while Vevin’s face twisted
in thought. He took a deep breath and nodded decisively. “Then
that’s what we’ll do.”

Liselle’s mouth twisted in a restrained grin
before she burst into laughter. Vevin stared at her in confusion.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Oh, my dearest Vevin, I’ve
fallen madly in love with you.”

“I love you too,” he said with hurt in his
voice. “I don’t understand why you’re laughing at me. I agreed to
do what you wanted.”

She stepped back, keeping her hands on his
shoulders. His eyes were swirling and his body was slumped. “I’m so
sorry, Vevin. I wasn’t laughing at you,” she said. That wasn’t
entirely true. She
had
been laughing at him. “I’m really
sorry.” Tears started to well in her eyes.

“I just don’t understand, dearest.” Vevin
spread his arms out. “First you laugh at me then I make you cry.
What did I do wrong?”

“Oh, Vevin. You didn’t do anything wrong. I
didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Liselle said tearfully. “I was
just playing around and making a joke. Then when I saw that I hurt
your feelings, I was afraid you wouldn’t . . .”

“Wouldn’t what?” he asked in confusion.

“I . . . I was afraid you wouldn’t forgive
me or love me anymore. I know it’s silly, but . . . I . . .”
Liselle had never in her life wanted someone to love and like her
so much. She didn’t understand why she felt so weak or why her
knees where shaking.

“I still love you and I . . .” He stopped
with a frown. “What am I forgiving you for?”

“For being silly and making a joke and
making you feel bad and hurting your feelings and . . . and . . . I
don’t know!” she wailed, breaking into tears and hiding her face in
her hands.

Vevin wrapped his arms around her shoulders
and held her without understanding why she was crying. He opened
his mouth a few times, but didn’t know what to say to comfort her.
After a while, the sobs stopped.

“Mmssrr,” she mumbled.

He didn’t understand that. “Umm . . .
huh?”

Liselle straightened. “I’m sorry.” She
looked up at him with timid eyes and sniffled.

“I forgive you,” Vevin said immediately. He
didn’t want her to start crying again. He caressed her back, hoping
it would help. “I love you.”

“I love you too. I don’t know what came over
me or why I started crying.” Liselle took the handkerchief he
offered her. He made it appear out of thin air with a shake of his
hand, but she hadn’t been paying attention. “Everything is just so
different since . . .” Fresh sobs wracked her body.

Something was upsetting her. “Since . . .
the tunnels?” he guessed.

“No. Since mommy and daddy died.” Liselle
cried harder than she had ever done before. Vevin held her and ran
fingers through her hair because he knew she liked that.

Liselle didn’t remember how long it had been
since the attack. Tathan had come home one morning and everyone was
happy to see him. The next day, desert warriors of the Iynath
Empire attacked, killing her parents and uncle as well as Tathan’s
mother.

Now that Liselle stood crying in her lover’s
arms, she realized that she had never fully dealt with the loss.
Her heart ached as she remembered the terrible way in which they
died. Tathan had tried to save them, but he wasn’t fast enough to
fend off the thirty warriors.

She couldn’t help but think that if Vevin
had been there instead of Tathan, her family wouldn’t have died. At
the same time, if the event hadn’t happened, Liselle never would
have traveled and met Vevin. The conflicting feelings confused
her.

“It’s terrible that you suffered the loss of
your parents, darling.” Vevin’s eyes were swirling with concern as
he wiped away her tears with another handkerchief. “And it’s
perfectly natural to mourn them. Let the grief wash through you and
flow into the universe to be dealt with there.”

Vevin cared for her and loved her. As long
as he was around, Liselle didn’t care where the two of them
traveled or what they did with their lives.

“So . . .” Vevin began. “Does this mean you
don’t
want to spend our lives running naked through green
fields while slapping the sky and giggling wildly?”

Laughter burst forth from Liselle once more.
Just as abruptly as it started, it stopped. “No, my dearest Vevin.
I don’t want to giggle through green fields or anything like
that.”

The mood changes were confusing the poor
dragon. “Oh . . . alright. So . . . what do you want to do?” he
asked. It seemed very important for him to have clarity on the
matter.

“I don’t know.” Liselle walked over to
splash water on her face and refresh herself after all the crying.
“I haven’t thought about it a great deal. So far I’ve traveled with
Tathan, letting him lead.”

Vevin watched as she dried her face with a
towel. “Oh yes, Tathan’s a good leader. Shall we keep following
him?”

“He does seem to be a good leader,” Liselle
agreed cautiously. “But I think there are things in his past that
haunt him, and I worry.”

“Yes. He jumps at shadows,” Vevin agreed.
“He attacks the air around him a lot as well. I’ve never seen
anyone hold such a terrible grudge against air.”

Liselle giggled. “He
is
hostile
toward air. I wonder sometimes what terrible thing happened to
him.” She stretched all the way to her tiptoes, loosening the
muscles in her body while Vevin watched appreciatively. “I think
our plan for now should be to travel with Tathan. I’m sure he’ll
find plenty of adventure and trouble for us. When we’re ready, we
can settle down in your home in Aaltdiin.”

“Oh yes!” Vevin did his happy dance. “That
would be wonderful. There’s always treasure at the end of adventure
and trouble. We can put it in the vault and live happily ever
after.”

Liselle laughed as he danced her around the
room. They danced their way out the door and down to their usual
table in the common room, ignoring disapproving looks from the few
patrons having breakfast.