When Fire Meets Ice: The Lovers

Choices

How could Leilani react in such an awful manner? Jura wanted to throw something hard at Leilani as she stormed away. Childish antics weren’t Leilani’s usual behavior, but Jura understood the game as well as her sister. William stopped her from hauling after her sister. “It’s a dragon’s prerogative to be angry over nothing,” he said. She turned to look at him, but as his hand gripped her arm, his eyes lingered on Leilani’s retreating form.

“Why did you ask about her friend?” Jura hissed. She glanced at the tall, muscular man trailing after Leilani. His dark hair moved over his shoulders in the breeze, caressing the red scales on his neck. He had dark skin and flaming eyes like Damocles, but Jura had never seen a red dragon. The scales trailing from his neck to his collarbone matched the color of blood. His hands looked stained with dried blood and scarred. She tried not to think about the armor he wore. Armor matching to the hard, black clothing her sister often donned to come into the human world.

“Curiosity, I suppose,” William answered, but he eyes didn’t meet hers. “You directed me to ask her questions, remember?” His grip on her arms loosened with each spoken word.

“He didn’t matter,” Jura remarked. Her sister called his name, but Jura recollected nothing of hearing the word in their conversations.

‘I came, Jura, to offer an invitation to meet your siblings, to stand face to face with Father for once.’ Those were Leilani’s words, but she had never spoken of siblings. Their father refused to meet Jura, but she might stand before him in a fortnight.

William’s gaze finally met hers as Leilani and her brother faded into the night. His fingers brushed a patch of bare skin that her shawl missed. The skin he touched burned with both fury and passion. She hated him for the heat moving in her veins.

Jura snatched herself away from him. “You want to know me, but you want her too. What if I asked you to decide between the two of us? Which sister would you choose, human or dragon?”

The late afternoon sun peaked in the sky. Somera agreed to let the workday finish. Jura pulled her dark curls into a bun. The midday heat was intense and sweltering. She returned to the well and drew herself a glass of water.

“I thought I would find you here.” his playful tone filled her ears. She sipped from her mug of water before turning to him.

“What do you want now, Slayer?” She asked, annoyance overwhelmed her tone. Her shoulders dropped in defeat before she attempted to rid herself of his arrogant ignorance.

“To offer an apology,” he said as his smile faltered. His voice grew tense as it had when he spoke threats to Leilani. “I shouldn’t have asked questions about your sister when you are obviously the more interesting of the two.”

Jura forced her mouth to stay in place. No one called her interesting, nor compared to Leilani. “Your silver tongue will get you no answers,” she retorted. The breeze graced her flushed face as she slipped passed him.

“Walk with me, and we shall discuss nothing more than you. We shall do whatever your mind conjures up for us.” William’s gray eyes fell on her, for a moment Jura couldn’t catch her breath.

“All right, but I will not talk about my family.” She crossed her arms over her chest as he made his way to her side.

“I will tell you of mine.” He smiled and took her arm, leading her into the cooler shade.

“Tell me, William, who would you choose!” She demanded his words, but none came. Jura scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Why did you speak to me this afternoon?”

“I told you,” William said, “you are more interesting.”

“Don’t try to feed me such lies!” She turned her back on the man. “You need to leave now, William. I have missed starting my evening chores because of you.”

“But I…” He squirmed for words, for excuses, but Jura wanted none of it.

“Leave, Slayer, leave now before you make matters worse!” Her words were like ice, cutting through him. She saw it in his eyes, in the way he scrunched his brow. The anguish of wanting to speak but not having the words to say echoed in his eyes, and she didn’t care. Jura didn’t want to play the foolish girl. The girl who fell for every handsome boy’s batting eyelashes. Although, he was too handsome to ignore, she forced herself too.

William made no great effort to move. Jura threw her hands up, turned toward her door, and opened it. “Don’t come find me again, don’t bother my family. If you dare show your hide here, you will face something more dangerous than a dragon.” Jura said in a low tone before she slammed the door behind her.

Her words echoed in her mind her blood boiled. “Who would you choose, human or dragon?”



Leilani growled to herself for the umpteenth time. She hated being angry in her human shell. How was she supposed to release her anger? She didn’t have the magic to build walls of ice or freeze small lakes. The scream pushed itself out and bounced off the walls. A snarling chuckle left in her frustrations wake made it worse.

Glowing red circles engulfed Damocles before he limped forward. His arm hung awkwardly at his side, and the black bruise on his shoulder was visible. He pushed the pain out of his face, but she recognized his struggled. “Human form does not suit your condition,” she hissed at him.

“Childish frustration does nothing for your beauty either, Love, but we do things to help others occasionally.” He stopped lumbering when he reached her side. His breaths came in great strides.

“What happened to you this morning?” Leilani asked with a little concern. Damocles wasn’t one for war stories, but this wasn’t an accident.

“How is Jura?” He leaned against an old ice sculpture, drawing a new crack in its surface. The ice began to melt under his heat.

Leilani sighed heavily as more stressful weight pushed her shoulders down further. “She accepted the company of that awful slayer. How could she be so careless? After what he did to my mother!”

He shook his head, grunting with each movement. “Think of what your mother tried to do to his family. If your mother knew that Eis took on a human lover, she would have killed Jura and her mother. She should be curious about a family she has never known.”

Leilani crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed. She slumped in a chair across from the sculpture Damocles leaned on and glared. “Why would you agree with her?”

“I never spoke of agreement, Lei!” He grimaced. “Understanding is not the same as agreeing.”

“She refused my invitation,” Leilani spat.

“Did you give her time to answer?” He raised a questioning brow. The ice sculpture cracked again.

“I gave her plenty of time and a place; I told her in a fortnight we shall gather. She simply asked where you were while the slayer wanted Kaian’s information.”

Damocles smiled and nodded before hobbling toward her. She stood from her chair to keep him from bending to her eye level. “My dear Pagos, she has neither accepted nor denied you. If I understand anything about your Jura, I know this; she will be there with open arms for her family. She wants nothing more than her family, and you have offered her father and her siblings.”

“Do you think she might bring the slayer here? She cannot be that foolish, right?” Her eyes pleaded for a truth that Damocles couldn’t answer. He refused to lie to her, and the truth was…

“We shall wait, Love, because Jura may surprise you. I promise he will never harm the Pagos clan as long as Kaian and I breathe.”