Fire of a Dragon (Fallen Immortals 3) - Paranormal Fairytale Romance (6 page)

Arabella grinned. “I’m pretty sure Lucian will be banging me right up until the moment the baby is born. Something about it being good for the baby’s health.”

“Sure, sure.” Rachel looked thoroughly unconvinced. “At least one of us is getting some action.”

Arabella scowled, but before she could say anything, Cinaed poked his head into the bedroom. Technically, it was the guest room, but it was doubling as her prep room for the ceremony. Lucian didn’t want her leaving the lair any more than necessary.

“Is there anything you need, my lady?” Cinaed asked.

“For the fourth time, Cinaed, I’m fine. Beat it.”

His head disappeared from the crack in the doorway, and the door shut behind him.

“That guy can seriously be a pain in the ass,” Rachel snarled.

“I’m sure it’s not him,” Arabella said, wincing as Rachel tugged another hot roller up tight against her scalp. “It’s Lucian—he’s sending Cinaed in to check on me every five minutes because he knows I’ll just yell at him if he dares poke his head in here. But you know he hates for me to be alone.”

“What the hell am I? Furniture?” Rachel tucked the last of the curlers in and crossed her arms.

Arabella reached up to squeeze her best friend’s hand. “You are awesome. It’s just that you’re not a super strong dragon shifter with foot-long razor-sharp talons.”

“Yes, because that would be useful for curling hair.”

Arabella examined her friend in the mirror as they waited for the curlers to cool. “I keep thinking about Leonidas and Leksander, Lucian’s brothers. How they’re basically doomed and can’t mate.”

Rachel frowned and uncrossed her arms. “I suppose that’s kind of sad. But people can live without having a lifelong lover.”

Arabella was pretty sure Rachel was talking about herself as much as the two dragon shifters. “Maybe. But it’s different for dragons. If they mate, it extends their lives. That’s at least half of why I’m carrying Lucian’s child.” She caressed the baby in her belly who responded with a little wiggle, which in turn sparked a tiny sizzle of magic deep inside her. It was like a little party going on inside her belly all the time with the baby growing so fast.

“You decided to do this death-defying baby thing just to save Lucian’s life?” Rachel asked skeptically. “What about the treaty?”

“Well, there’s that, too. But honestly… it’s mostly because I’m just so damn in love with the guy.” She turned to face Rachel, and the curlers pulled a little painfully at her hair. “If you love a man, and by mating with him you can extend his life—save his life—wouldn’t you do it? Isn’t that what love is?”

Rachel snorted. “As if I know what love is.”

But Arabella wasn’t going to let her get away with that. She put her hand on top of Rachel’s, which was tucked up tight and hidden in her folded arms again. “That’s bullshit, and you know it. You love me.” She scowled at her best friend. “Don’t say you don’t.”

“That’s different.”

“No, it’s really not.” Arabella scanned her friend’s eyes because this was so important, not just for Cinaed, but for her friend too. “If you mate with a dragon, you extend his life. Think about it, Rachel… if you care for Cinaed… if he’s the kind of man you could love…”

Rachel unlocked her arms and leaned back. “Oh no. You’re not talking me into that man’s bed! I’ve got my hands full just trying to take care of you and that baby of yours.” She gestured to Arabella’s belly. The baby seemed to sense the unease and gave a little lurch. An almost painful lurch.

Arabella’s hand automatically went to her tummy. She rubbed it right where a little baby dragon foot was poking her. “Leonidas and Leksander can’t have mates,” Arabella said. “Leonidas has a curse and Leksander is in love with an angeling and, I don’t know, apparently that’s not a thing that happens between angels and dragons. Cinaed’s just an ordinary dragon with none of those issues. And he’s a good man, Rachel. He could be good for you. If you give him a chance.”

“No way. End of discussion. We’re done talking about this.” She took Arabella's shoulders and twisted her back around to face the mirror, then she started to pull out the curlers. None too gently, either. Arabella knew she was just trying to avoid the fact that Cinaed was always around, always taking care of Arabella… and Rachel, too. That he was nothing like all the men who had been assholes in her life before. Her best friend was having to work overtime to pretend like she didn’t have feelings for the good, decent man who was caring for both of them. It was starting to annoy her. No, more than annoy her, it was starting to make her
angry.
Rachel knew how good things were with her and Lucian. Why did she have to be so stubborn and pretend it couldn’t be that way for her and Cinaed?

Then Arabella wouldn’t have to watch her best friend grow old and die while Arabella lived on and on. They were supposed to be best friends
for life…
why wouldn’t Rachel even consider it?

Arabella’s anger was really starting to get under her skin. Her face heated up.

“Ouch,” she said as Rachel pulled a little too hard on the last curler, yanking it free. “You don’t have to be so rough!” Her face suffused with even more heat. Arabella ran a hand across her forehead to wipe away the sweat. She lurched up out of her seat so she could turn around and give Rachel shit for hurting her… but then she was suddenly dizzy and had to grip the chair just to keep from tumbling to the floor.

Alarm lit up Rachel’s face. “Are you okay?” Her hands were on Arabella’s arm, holding her up.

“You just… you shouldn’t pull… so hard.” It was becoming hard for her to breathe, and she was hot—
so hot
. She gasped in air, and it felt like fire backdrafting through her lungs.

Rachel stared at her arm where she had an iron grip on her. “Oh my God, Arabella, you’re on fire!”

“Fire?” Arabella looked dazedly at her dress, trying to find the flames Rachel was talking about. That must be why she was so hot. But how could there be flames on a magical dress? It was pretty but just too hot.
Too hot.
Arabella clawed at the dress, ripping the arms off and pulling the corset down. Her breasts flopped out just like she knew they would.
Fuck.
But it was just too hot… she wrestled with it, trying to get it off.

Rachel swore colorfully and left her alone, running off somewhere to do something that wasn’t being helpful. Arabella staggered into the chair, gripping both arms to sit down and continue to battle the dress. If only she were a dragon and could magic these things away. She kept wrestling with it, half naked, and suddenly Cinaed appeared next to the chair.

“Oh my God!” Arabella flailed to cover her naked breasts. “What you… what you… doing?” For some reason, her mouth wouldn’t work right.

“Oh no,” Cinaed breathed. “Stand back!” he shouted to someone, but Arabella didn’t know who.
Her?
No, she didn’t think so.

Cinaed scooped her up in his arms. “Come with me!” he shouted. Arabella couldn’t understand—why was he yelling at her?

“Where are you taking her!” That was Rachel. Somehow her best friend’s voice seemed both distant and panicked.

Cinaed didn’t answer, he just whisked her away to the bathroom attached to the guest bedroom. He set her on her feet, but Arabella could barely stand. Rachel appeared and held her up while Cinaed waved his hands at the bath. It was suddenly filled with lumpy water. How could water be lumpy? The question ricocheted around in her brain with no answer. Cinaed reached for her filmy dress and basically slashed it off her body.

She shrieked in shock and embarrassment.

Cinaed picked her up again and gently laid her in the bath.

Holy fuck, it was cold!

The cold shocked her system, running through and chasing after the fire that had been raging through her body. Her toes and fingers went numb almost instantly, then the icy coolness slowly seeped deeper and deeper into her system. Her teeth chattered, but her mind cleared. She felt the baby thrashing inside her, burning up in the same heat that was consuming her.

“No, no, no,”
she said as she rocked in the water, sloshing it and waving it across her belly so that the coolness would reach her baby inside. She could barely breathe, much less speak, and all of her focus was on getting the baby cool. It took a long, agonizing minute, but it happened. The baby started to settle, not thrashing the way he was before. She was stark naked in the ice bath, Cinaed kneeling at her side and Rachel standing over her with clenched fists and a look of terror on her face.

“I’m okay,” Arabella chattered out between clenched teeth, mostly for Rachel’s benefit. “I’m okay, okay.”

“The fuck you are!” Rachel knelt down to feel Arabella’s hands and then her arms and finally pressing the backs of her fingers against Arabella’s cheeks. She was cold enough that even Rachel’s fingers felt warm.

“S-s-see?” Arabella said. “The baby’s okay too. I can feel it.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”
Rachel turned an accusatory eye to Cinaed. “What the hell was that?”

He just shook his head. “I don’t know.” He stood, frowning. “If my lady is all right for the moment, I’ll summon the prince—”

“No!”
Arabella thrust a hand out to stop him, even though she couldn’t reach him. “Don’t tell Lucian. He’ll only worry.”

Cinaed face twisted up as if she’d suggested lopping off his own arm. “My lady,” he gasped in pain. “Do not ask me to lie about this.”

“If you love your prince, do
not
tell him that his lady love almost just died.” Her voice shook, and she couldn’t tell if it was more from anger or the cold. Or perhaps fear. “It was just a hot flash. Just a… a passing thing. It’s gone now.” She didn’t know what she was saying. She didn’t know anything about dragonlings or pregnancies or what could really go wrong. But she knew for certain that if she told Lucian about it, he would never let her out of his sight again, even though there was nothing he could do about it, no more than Cinaed could. And the worry would weigh him down with darkness. She didn’t want anything to make him think she was Cara—
she wasn’t.
She was going to survive this.

Cinaed’s level of distress was epic.

Arabella couldn’t do anything about that while she was naked in an ice bath. And she had to stay there until she was sure the last of the heat had died away, and her baby was okay.

“Rachel.”
Arabella’s teeth chattered again. “Tell him.”

Rachel recovered from her frozen look of horror and panic and jumped to her feet, whirling on Cinaed. “Don’t you breathe a word!” She jabbed a finger at him. “You swore your allegiance to her, too!”

Cinaed’s face crumpled at that. He returned his gaze to stare helplessly at Arabella.

“And quit staring at her!” Rachel was venting all her fears on Cinaed, Arabella could tell. But she couldn’t worry about that right now. Her best friend scooped up the tattered remains of her dress and shoved it at Cinaed. “Make yourself useful and magic up another dress for her.”

He reluctantly tore his worried gaze from Arabella and trained an angry look on Rachel. “You
will
call me if she begins to heat again.
Immediately.”
The force of his gaze was enough to shock even Rachel out of her anger.

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

With a last look for Arabella, he stalked from the bathroom, taking the dress with him.

A full-body shudder gripped Arabella and seemed to travel straight through to the baby in her belly. He twitched as well, but the fire was completely gone now.

Arabella grabbed the side of the tub and tried to find her feet—they were so numb, she could barely feel them. “Help me up,” she said to Rachel.

Her friend’s hands were toasty warm on her chilled skin.

“Holy fuck,”
Rachel hissed as she helped Arabella up. “You scared the shit out of me with that.”

“Me too.” With Rachel’s help, Arabella managed to climb out of the bath. Just the warm air of the bathroom felt like a relief. “But I’m okay. Promise.”

Rachel didn’t look convinced.

“You’ll have to fix my hair again, though. The king and queen are waiting for me.”

Rachel just pursed her lips and hurried over to the towel rack to get one for her.

Arabella pulled in a deep breath and let it out slow. She was fine. The baby was fine. If it happened again, she knew to get to an ice bath super fast. Not stand around wondering what the hell was happening.

But it spooked her something awful, and she could see the shadow of fear in Rachel’s tight expression, too. But there was nothing to do about it now.

She just had to keep marching forward.

Three more weeks…

Arabella was overdue to the throne room,
and it was making Lucian’s runes twitch.

He had reached out with his fae senses not ten minutes ago, but she was fine. Still in the guest room of his lair, probably nervous about making her debut in front of the entire House. There was no cause for alarm, but he couldn’t help his worry.

“She’s fine, my brother,” Leonidas said, standing next to Lucian and adjusting the cuffs on his jacket. “I’ve sensed her in the hallways. She’ll be here momentarily.”