A Dragon's Heart (Book Three in the APK Trilogy)

Chapter 11 | Monstrous

Here you go guys, it's a bit short sorry xx

_____________________________________________________________

CIRCE

I rose from the ocean, standing on the sandy floor only a few hundred meters out from shore with my head just breaking the surface. My eyes found the devastated village that I had last left smouldering in ashes. My heart beat a little faster as I noticed people moving around the still ruined buildings. There were survivors! I could see that all of the fires had been completely extinguished and high up on the hill I could make out the mansion, still standing and apparently unscathed. Maybe that had been where they had escaped to?

From this far away I couldn't make out any specific figures but I knew I had to get closer, just to see ... I felt my heart squeeze tight for a moment and I reached up a hand involuntarily to clutch at my chest. To imagine the alternative ... I shook my head and tried not to think about it.

Suddenly I sensed a large mass approaching from the ocean behind me, it's size was so immense that I momentarily lost my breath, a feeling of fear creeping up and down my spine. My eyes squeezed shut as I felt the form shrink and I forced down the lump that had built in my throat, knowing that it could only be one person. But it was just so hard to accept. I had never felt such power before, in fact I had but only in the presence of one other ... could this really be happening? Had this really happened to him?

He appeared suddenly, his breath lingering on my bare shoulders. He did not speak but I could feel his gaze burning into my back and the heat radiating off his skin enough to bridge the small space that was left between our bodies.

"You could lie to me," I said softly, my eyes still closed. "You could lie to me now; you could tell me that it isn't true."

"But it is true Princess." His voice was harsh. "Before this I was only a monster on the inside, easy enough to hide, but now my body matches my soul and there is no façade left to cover the cracks. It is up to you to decide if one is better than the other, but know that that does not change what I have become."

My eyes opened and I turned around to face him. His face was hard and bitter as he looked down at me, his golden eyes scanning my features. Every now and then his eyes would flicker and take on the lizard like slits that I had seen before, but had just brushed off as a trick of the light.

"I am not worthy of you anymore, not that I was in the first place. You are the beauty and now I am truly a beast." His hand appeared from below the water, his fingers lingering inches away from my face as though there was a barrier there that he could not cross. His eyes flashed again and the moonlight streamed down on his angelic face, highlighting the scar that cut through his skin. "The world is so cruel. I was given a second chance to be with you, but the consequences of such a choice ..." His hand dropped back into the water with a splash.

I felt my emotions rise to the surface as I looked over him in all of his anger. Because he was angry, I could see it in the way that he was standing, in the way that he held himself, even with water coming up to the base of his neck. He was angry, so angry, all the time, even now when we should be happy, he was angry, because he was scared of what had been done to him, scared because he couldn't control this new power yet. I could see it there in his constantly changing eyes, he couldn't control it. He didn't know how. I don't think he had ever really known.

My hands reached for him but he caught my wrists, his face dark. "Do not pity me." He snarled.

Before he could stop me, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. His hands tightened on my wrists for a moment before his grip slackened and he let go, his arms winding around my waist as he pulled me closer to deepen the kiss. I gripped the side of his face as we drew away from each other slightly, our noses brushing as we did and a light blush coloured my cheeks, indistinguishable in the darkness.