Chapter 31
Zane ran through the wide opulent halls until he reached the walled-in tapestries where the hidden door was located. This area of the castle was deserted with everyone's focus on the attack at the queen's room, which was probably still burning.
There were no wet spots on the floor in the hall to indicate that Paige or Dean had left the security of the secret room. Zane slipped unseen behind the tapestry of the dragon flying over the lake and saw wet stones that looked like someone had recently stuck their head out, then returned to the hidden room without actually leaving.
He slammed his hand against the stones, calling out, knowing his efforts were futile. There was no way Dean would hear him through the thick wall. His only choice now was to wait for them to come out again.
He sat miserably in the shadows, hidden behind the long thick tapestry, his mind reliving in slow motion what had happened that day. From the moment he entered Lavender's room to when he saw the look of terror on her face.
It was that look that consumed him. The darkness that lived in him had manifested itself with cruel violence right in front of her. He knew she would never be able to see him as anything but a monster.
Balaan was supposed to be the monster, not him. Balaan was supposed to be the one that destroyed lives and hurt people.
How could he have laid a hand on Lavender? Nothing would ever be the same. He couldn't see any way back from this. She would probably never speak to him again, and he wasn't sure if he wanted her to.
But he loved her.
By all that burned, he loved her more than fire.
His heart ached in his chest. He could feel it fracturing as he sat by himself. He felt so alone. Even the spot where he sat was a fortress of solitude. There was no one in the hall, and the ones in the room on the other side of door couldn't hear the moans of pain that escaped his lips.
He wished he could find a way to end this agony, but only those who were dead would be able to escape it. He should have been dead. How many times in the last few weeks had he been on the verge of death? But he was alive right now to discover these betrayals, to endure this pain because she had saved his life. If she'd never saved him, he wouldn't have to feel any of this agony, to relive any of the horrors or know the dark things he was capable of. No one should have to know this about themselves. He hated himself, but most of all, he hated her.
The hatred was like a fast acting poison moving quickly, silently, throughout his whole being. Spreading from the recesses of his mind to the tips of his toes, infecting him until every pore ached. It splintered, weaving its way into his heart, latching onto his life force as if it could fuel him now that his heart was broken.
Paige, he thought her name darkly, like it was a curse.
Before her, his life was good and made sense. He'd never been put in the positions he'd been in since she came along. The way Lavender looked at him, like she couldn't trust him since she found out he'd hit Paige. How she feels knowing her future companion was a dragon that was willing to kill an innocent girl to save his own life.
Lavender had been right. What else would Zane do in the name of stopping Balaan? Where else would he have followed Paige?
If it weren't for Paige, Lavender would have never felt jealous or threatened. She would have never been taken in by Ryder's affections.
Zane's hatred for the Bluescale queen grew with each beat of his heart in those quiet, contemplative moments in the shadows, where he felt more like a lurking phantom than a mighty dragon. When Dean opened the door again, Zane wanted to hear him say that Paige had died in that dark room. So he was not surprised to see the boy's face wet with tears. "Come quick." He beckoned Zane into the hidden space.
Dean had lit a fire and pulled Paige close to its flames. She lay on the floor, still wet, her hair plastered to her face, and a small pool of blood had formed under her body. She was shaking violently from the cold. Zane stood over her, but she didn't open her eyes when his shadow loomed over her face. She was so small, so wet, and so weak.
Putting his hand over her heart, he could just barely make out its faint beat as it struggled to keep her alive. It wouldn't last much longer. He could easily watch her die and no one would be the wiser that he could have gotten help, that he could have saved her. Not even Dean would realize what was happening.
"Paige," Dean cried, picking up her hand. "Please don't die. Look, Zane's here."
But she was too vital. Zane understood this fact outweighed his anger and hatred. She wasn't just vital to Dean, she was vital to the realm, to his life, so he couldn't let her die. Death was not her fate, he knew that. He would seal her fate by picking the dragon that he knew would bring her the most pain, the one that wouldn't allow her memories to distract him from bringing her misery.
Cain's life was too short. Twenty or thirty years of him then she would be free. That was not good enough. Hudson was all talk and would be swayed by her past. He would soften his heart to hers. Randy was the one she wanted, which would defeat the purpose of Zane's intent. Vic would cheat on her, his loyalty was not a guarantee. But would that be enough to bring her the magnitude of pain she deserved? Daynon would bow too easily to her. She was right, she would break him down and he would never want to hurt her.
There was only one dragon who could guarantee her suffering. There was one who wouldn't let the magic of the Desma find sympathy in her past hurts. One that understood she needed to feel the pain she caused others. There was only one choice that could guarantee she would feel the pain of what she'd caused him every day of her life, and she would live a long time.
He would see to that.
In some perverse way, he thought Lavender would be pleased by his actions. The thought brought a feeling of triumph and joy. For some reason, the thought of doing something to make her happy, even after what she'd done to him, was magnificently important.
"Paige," Zane said firmly, shaking her until her eyes opened. She looked back at him, blinking her shifting eyes a few times before she registered what was going on. "Paige, I need you to focus. We are going to exchange hearts. I'm going to save you."
"No, Zane. Not you." She reached for his hand. "Quick...get Whitetail...I can't ask...You don't understand."
The fact that she didn't want him to be the one to enter the Desma with her only solidified his resolve. "There's no time. Besides, she doesn't love me the way I love her. I've lost her." The look on Lavender's face flashed in his mind. She'd never see him as anything but a monster. He knew there was no going back from what he'd done.
And it's entirely your fault.
"No, Zane." There was something sad in her eyes that would have softened his will toward her before. Now he just saw her as weak, and he could control the weak. Not only would he control her, he would possess her. Her knowledge of Balaan's world, his language, her dual-nature, her wealth, it would all be his. Once she understood what she'd done and felt it the way he did, she would give him all she possessed whether he had to take it from her by force or not.
"Trust me, I want to do this."
"Thank you," she said, nodding.
Zane smiled darkly, thankful she wasn't using her abilities on him and that her perceptions didn't extend to mind reading. If she had, she would only see pain, anger, and hatred. She would think it was all to do with Lavender and Ryder. She would not see that she was the source of his agony. She wouldn't see what he had in store for her.
"Paige, wake up!" Zane shouted, shaking her roughly. Her eyes slowly slid open. "We need to say the spell."
She nodded as she struggled to sit up on her own.
Zane took both of her hands in his, gripping her tightly to prevent her from falling over as she swayed slightly. "Do you know the words?"
"Blood and heart combine," she started in a weak voice. "Bind my heart and life to this dragon, Zane Blackskin. Make him see the heart I freely give. Protect him from my sorrows. Give him the strength that runs in my blood.
"Blood and heart combine," Zane said the words too. "Bind my heart and life to this dragon, Paige Bluescale. Make her see the heart I freely give. Protect her from my sorrows. Give her the strength that runs in my blood.
"Together we will share one heart, one life." These words they said together, then repeated "One heart, one life," seven times.
"We need to make her transform," he told Dean once they finished the incantation. Zane's voice was hard with determination, his head throbbing from the cut that still dripped blood onto the floor. But he didn't want to waste the time to heal himself when Paige was so pathetically weak she could die at any moment.
"How?" Dean asked.
"There's a spell." Zane repositioned Paige so that she was lying flat on the smooth silver floor before transforming into his dragon form. Then, using his iron strong claws, he gouged out a circle around her. He carved in the symbols for the Fire Gods before he blew fire into the groove that created the circle. He returned to his mortal form, watching as Paige lay peacefully in a ring of fire. The last moment of peace she would ever know.
He started the chant to force her transformation. After the last verse, Paige started to glow slightly as her inner fire was brought to the surface, then she was no longer a girl but an exquisite gold and blue dragon. Her wings beat awkwardly against the floor as she tried to move. She was weak, even as a dragon. Zane transformed back into a dragon, positioning himself in front of her so he could help her stand on her hind legs.
One of his many duties as a royal was to officiate the Desma's of the higher ranked commoners in his kingdom. Every royal knew the spell to complete a proper Desma ritual.
Zane went about carving the symbols for the Desma into the silver floor, drawing the memory runes, then the binding runes, followed by the symbol for the Blackskin line and the one for Bluescale. He worked quickly as the silver gave easily under his sharp talons.
Just as he was starting on the rune to invoke the blessings of the Gods on the union, the one that would seal them together in an unbreakable bond, Paige fell forward, her claws digging into the soft silver. Zane slammed his paw down on hers, stopping her claws from damaging the symbols he'd already drawn to represent their royal lines. As he did, his quick aggressive movement caused his claw marks to cross hers. Luckily, neither of them disturbed the runes for the Desma.
Once he finished the spell, he helped to positon Paige in the center of the circle with him. Slowly, she raised her clawed paw to his chest. She was so weak he had to help her press hard enough to break through his thick hide and the hard scales that protected his heart. The pain was minimal compared to how badly his heart was aching at the moment. He did the same to her, plunging his strong black claw into her chest, slicing her hide to reveal a heart that was almost as hard as stone and on the verge of stopping forever. Something Zane couldn't allow to happen, he wanted her to live.
He carved out half of her heart and helped her to carve out half of his own. He guided her movements to place his heart in her chest, replacing his strong heart with her poisoned one. His half heart was strong and started to overtake her dying one immediately. She opened her eyes wide to stare at him, watching as he shoved her damaged heart into his chest.
Instantly, her memories started to flood his mind as he watched Paige's life play out in an unstoppable panoramic of images, sights, sounds, and feelings. For a time, he was consumed by her life.
He thought he was prepared for the pain he would feel when he took on her heart. He thought her past was something he could endure with ease. He'd expected it to be similar to his own pain that he'd felt when his mother died.
Based on what Dean had told him, he thought he knew what was in store for him. He never dreamt that it could be as bad as the boy made it sound. He thought her threat to tell him what she was dreaming about had been a defense mechanism, to make it sound worse than it was in order to keep others from getting too close.
He'd underestimated how much pain she was really in.
Unfortunately I found that Wattpad is not my style. Between working full time and real life and trying to continue with my writing I just don't have the time this site needs to gain traction. That said I know there are still people who find Zane and Paige and want to know what happens to them. I have published the next two books on Amazon, book 2 is DESMA and book 3 is SILVERFANG. They are also under kindle unlimited so if you have a subscription you can read them for free. I hope you enjoy my stories and will seek them out. (I republished Dragon Blood under the Heir Of Bluescle. its the same story just a different name)