The Dragon Bond: Heirs of Lyra

Chapter 96

When Elysia's eyes fluttered open, she was aware of three things: the first, it was late morning and she had slept in; the second, underneath the covers she was not wearing any clothing; and the third, Shade was laying behind her curled body, his arm around her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Her cheeks blushed with such ferocity, she thought they might burst.

Last night had exceeded all expectations she had of a wedding night. So much so, that the Princess hadn't even fallen asleep until the first signs of light appeared. Now she was exhausted, but content.

She lifted her arm to pull Shade's closer, bringing his hand in front of her face, inspecting it simply because she could, not because she had any particular reason to. She wanted to know every inch of him, to familiarize herself with his entirety. She observed the callouses on his palms, the faint scars on the backs of his hands, and the way his fingers gently stroked hers as she continued these observations.

"Find anything interesting?" His voice was tired, and Elysia wished he would finally allow himself to sleep. After all, they were married now. He didn't have to do his relaxed consciousness anymore, not if he didn't want to. There were guards outside her doors for that now. He was officially off duty, no longer expected to be her only protection.

She held his hand in both of hers, pointing to the thinly raised mark on the back of his hand. "What's this scar from?"

"Knife fight," he mumbled into her hair. She could picture him closing his eyes, though she knew he would never fall asleep.

"Did you win?"

"Naturally." His tone wasn't arrogant, though to most it would have seemed so.

She let her fingers fall along the length of his forearm, stopping at the fresh scar he received from Henry when they first met up in Niebla. Neither had known who they were fighting, only that they had to defend against an attacker. Fortunately, it hadn't ended worse. Poor Shade, had to sacrifice his arm to defend her against a sword. Now he was left with another scar, another interesting tale to tell.

As she observed the fresh scar, she noticed another small one near it. "And this one?"

Shade let out a breath. "You're not going to ask about each one, are you? I have many scars, my love, most of which I have the faintest recollection of."

The thought of him training so hard at such a young age, and fighting so many people throughout his life, saddened her. His childhood consisted of brutal discipline and his adult life wasn't much better up until this point. Shade had so many scars he could scarcely remember how he got most of them. She couldn't fathom living such a life as that.

"If it helps," he added after she remained lost in silence, "most of the scars are from my childhood. I'm not easily overcome in fights anymore. At least, not until I was assigned to you, that is."

"No, that doesn't help much at all," Elysia mumbled. In fact, the mere thought of him getting hurt as a child was causing her fists to clench. Her stomach churned, knowing his youth was tainted with violence and oppression.

He soothed her seething as he stroked through her hair. "How about a change of topics?"

She rolled over to face him. "Fine. What do we do next, now that you're a prince?"

He puffed out his cheeks and narrowed his eyes at her. "You're terrible at starting conversation."

"We have to face this eventually. I know you don't want the responsibility, but you have it now anyway. So what do we do?"

He stared at her briefly, as if debating whether or not to answer the question, then distracted her with a kiss instead. "Right now, the only responsibility I have is pleasing you."