by Lola Gabriel
Winter was breathless and lightheaded, her knees feeling weak as she stared, unblinking, at the majestic creatures. Except that it wasn’t merely out of the shock that dragons were real, but the fact that she recognized one of them: light blue scales the same color as a cloudy sky. The sound of the dragon’s wings was isolated in her head, no longer hearing the vicious sounds of fighting—only the flapping of his wings.
Memories of rides on his back in an endless blue sky and land so far down that she could see all of Rome in a single glance overcame her. His smooth scales were warming in the sun, and pressing her cheek to them, his body warmed her while the wind passed over her neck and through her hair. Then the times she would lie with him in his dragon state and have her ear pressed to his chest or neck, hearing his low purr and the methodical beating of his heart. Sounds so soothing that they would lull her to sleep in minutes, never afraid of lying with a beast many times her size.
The elegant and stoic dragon that Winter saw in her visions now looked more like a creature from hell, mouth snarling and deep lines exuding a ruthless kind of rage that only predators ever experienced. Each strike Sebastian made for the navy dragon was deadly in its precision and force. His opponent could only dodge to protect himself, never seeming to land an attack. Fire ignited from him, blistering Sebastian’s scales.
Winter instinctively lurched forward, needing to intervene. Theo caught her arm and tugged her behind him effortlessly. She struggled against him, but it was to no avail.
“That dragon he’s fighting is our grandfather, Osric. He’s the first dragon shifter, and he’s considered to be the most powerful of our kind. At the very least, he’s the most revered and respected.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“If you go out there, he’s going to kill you, and none of us will be able to stop Sebastian,” Theo told her bluntly. The fact seeped into her, the clouds crowding her head growing in pressure, churning into a storm. Winter could hardly hold consciousness, forced to grip onto Theo’s side to keep from collapsing. “If Bash wins,” he said, “big changes to the Kingdom could be coming. He has to finish this.”
Kingdom? Did he mean the company? There were blanks missing in Winter’s mind, and it still wasn’t fully wrapping around the fact that dragons and dragon shifters were real. Winter was positive she had to be in denial, or else she would have been wigging out completely… Right? With how difficult it was to stay present, to not be swept away by the storm, everything was a fleeting thought.
Must watch Sebastian, must make sure he’s okay. Must watch Sebastian, must make sure he’s okay. The fight grew in intensity, blood pouring from gashes and bite marks, scorched flesh left exposed as the two dragons violently fought. What Winter hoped had been a mere disagreement that had gotten out of hand was soon realized to be something much more serious. They want to kill one another.
Winter was slipping in and out of consciousness. The fight before her was mixing into scenes of other fights Sebastian had been in, in both his dragon and human states. The wild, primal look in his eye, the erratic beating in his chest, the gaping of his nostrils as his enemies stopped fighting him and started to fight only to stay alive. It reminded her of the same look he’d had at her apartment.
That wasn’t Sebastian, not the real one, she thought. Something was wrong, and he was trying his best to get out of it without scaring me. The way he had been acting lately was all starting to click into place. Blanks were being filled in at a rapid pace for Winter, still uncertain as to how she was so okay with all of it.
She watched Osric and Sebastian fight through small windows of awareness. Osric managed to overpower Sebastian at one point, but by the time Winter was mentally present again, Sebastian had his grandfather pinned and was hovering above him. The fights playing like a movie in Winter’s head began to show the aftermath of his battles, particularly the grief and guilt Sebastian endured when he finally came to and realized he had gone too far. There were times it had almost destroyed him as a person. The force of his sobs and the sound of his cries resonated in her chest, and it was so painful to hear that Winter used it as a way to snap herself out of it enough to move her body. Her sudden breaking away caught Theo off guard, snatching only air when he tried to catch her.
“Winter, you have to stay back!” he commanded, reaching for her again.
“I have to do this before he makes a mistake,” Winter said with an empty tone, her eyes telling him that she was a million miles away.
“If he kills Osric, it isn’t a mistake. It may be for the best.”
“For the Kingdom, or for your brother?” Winter questioned with a snappy tone. Theo’s face fell, obviously never thinking of it that way. With that, he dropped his hand from her. Winter beelined for the scene, approaching with caution and a steady pace so as not to sneak up on Sebastian.
From a distance, Winter had not been able to gauge just how large the dragons were, but her eyes widened more and more the closer she got. Her movements finally captured Sebastian’s attention, and he whipped around and roared in her direction. Winter’s heart was pounding, but from excitement instead of fear. She held up both of her hands with her palms open and facing him, still stepping in his direction.
Sebastian roared again as if to threaten her, standing in a position to pounce with his back legs planted firmly on Osric’s torso. Blood was dripping from his teeth. Nearby trees that had caught fire during their fight were reflecting off the deadly fangs. None of it stopped Winter from pressing forward. When she was just a few feet away, Sebastian lowered his head to her level and snarled in her face, like he was giving her one final warning before he swallowed her whole.
When she outstretched her hand, Sebastian flinched, but Winter stumbled forward and pressed her hand flat against his snout while looking him dead in the eye. His razor-thin slits of pupils stared her down the moment her skin touched him. The primal dullness in his eyes remained, but he was still. Winter, on the other hand, was electrified. The storm turned into a hurricane, and she felt sucked out of the top of her head.
There was silence and emptiness before an explosion of memories. Growing up in the city of Rome, her father a general. Sebastian, captured by her father, and kept in chains because of his lack of morals. She had snuck down in the middle of the night, curious about the Wildman. Only, there was a softness to him that no one seemed to be nurturing or acknowledging. She brought him food, good food, rather than the slop they had been serving him. One night visiting him, a guard had captured her and was attempting to assault her when Sebastian broke free of his chains to rescue her.
The instant fire of passion and love ignited between them, followed by months of paradise, falling in love with him to depths she couldn’t even comprehend. Long talks about life, love, and anger; teaching him to read and seeing that animalistic side to him slowly become more and more tame. By the time he was at a point in literacy where he could read philosophy to her, Sebastian had become a man of peace, wisdom, and understanding. He dug through his memories with her and gained a better awareness of who he was and the world they lived in.
The end of their time together, less than a year into their relationship, was hazy. She had been sick for a week or so, and Sebastian had constantly been by her side to care for her. Around that point, Sebastian’s family had come to Rome, and they were trying to convince him to leave and return to their clan. While of course she didn’t want him to do that, she had wanted him to spend time with his family while they were there. At least, that was what she had told him. She knew how awful her condition was getting and knew that he would need his family. Sebastian had reluctantly left after a lot of hesitance, reminding her how much he loved her. That was the last time she had ever seen him.
Generations of lifetimes ran through Winter. The earliest ones were lives with loveless, arranged marriages before ending violently due to her inability to have children. Then a few lifetimes of nunnery. She was the same person in each life:
the same personality, characteristics, and soul. Each time, though, it was as though she had amnesia. Since the awakening of Women’s Rights, she had lived in solidarity, alone and content, just as Winter had been before meeting Sebastian. The realization brought tears to her eyes. Sebastian was her soulmate. Even in the course of fifteen hundred years, she had never needed anyone but him.
The storm was clearing; her eyes blinked rapidly. Her body was tingling, and all that she had just experienced was settling down. She was awake for the first time in her life. She had been conscious, but never to that state of awareness. She decided that Lucia fit her best in terms of who she felt as a person. She was Winter, but now that she had fifteen hundred years of her life back, that name didn’t feel right.
“Sebastian,” Lucia breathed, tears choking her. Her gentle hands caressed his scaly face, even over the folds and creases of his snarl. “I’ve missed you so much.” It was an all-encompassing message. Those past few days had felt longer than the fifteen hundred years because of all the unknown and worry surrounding him.
Sebastian’s eyes were locked onto hers, and Lucia’s heart broke to see the animal they had conquered together. Then, as she continued to pet him in soothing strokes and looking him in the eye, it was like he finally saw her, too. Sebastian’s pupils widened to black circles. Carefully, Lucia moved down below the base of his head and wrapped her arms about his neck. The same deep purr that had lulled her to sleep on restless summers nights was still there.
Ever so slowly, Sebastian’s head lowered even more and rested lightly on the top of her head. She petted the back of his neck and closed her eyes, focusing on relaxing herself in hopes that he could feel her energy through their bond. A huff of relaxation sounded from him, and she could feel his body relax. After several minutes, his body began to morph, his dragon features returning to the hidden compartments within his human form. She never let go of him, and as soon as he had human arms, they were wrapped around her.
“I’m here,” Lucia whispered to him.
Sebastian was shaking like a leaf as he brought her face away from his chest to get a good look at her. He looked deep into her eyes, and Lucia smiled up at him while trying her best not to weep. He could see the look that she was no longer Winter, but her entire self, which included the parts of Winter that made her who she was.
“Lu… Lucia?” he asked hoarsely. When she nodded her head, Sebastian scooped her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Her body cried out for his, dominating the kiss and deepening it with her tongue. There had been moments of bliss in both the Lucia and Winter chapters of her life, but none quite as sweet as this one. She had a full understanding of Sebastian and possibly herself. There was no more need for angst or loneliness. They could be together at last.
13
Sebastian never wanted his hands nor his lips to leave Lucia. He felt such desperation that it was almost as primal as his anger. He wanted to show her in the most intimate of ways how much he had missed and loved her. There was so much he wanted to ask and so much he wanted to tell her, but for the time being, he couldn’t get his mouth to leave hers. When her pelvis unknowingly pressed into his stomach, it took Sebastian all the strength he had not to lower her to the ground right then and shower her with the love and affection she so deserved.
It was the same feeling he had experienced two weeks ago in her apartment. It was too cardinal, too biological, and it appealed to his dragon side far too much. He broke away from the kiss and rested his forehead against hers as he sat her down on the ground.
“I can’t believe you remember… You have no idea how badly I’ve been wanting to tell you,” he whispered, nuzzling his nose against hers.
“I had to come to the realization on my own. It was building for a long time, but honestly, I—” Lucia shook her head, drawing shapes on his bare chest. She laughed a bit. “I don’t know. It’s hard to put into words. Feeling like two people but being one at the same time. Knowing both are real people. But none of that matters now that–”
“What the hell is going on here?!” a voice boomed nearby. Their heads ripped away from their intense connection to see Carlyle marching in their direction. Based on instinct, Sebastian pushed Winter behind him and out of Carlyle’s sight. His father charged and only stopped a few feet away from him. Carlyle’s eyes took in the sight of Osric’s broken and beaten form, though he was still breathing. “What in God’s name have you done, son?! He’s your grandfather! The first of our kind! He’s—”
“A power-hungry prick just like you,” Sebastian snapped. “Let me guess, those rebels Osric and I were hunting—they weren’t actual rebels, were they?” Sebastian had been suspicious since the beginning, but since men had been attacking them back and Osric was involved, it seemed like enough to make it legitimate. The realization that the entire operation had been a rouse had come with Osric’s speech about expanding the Kingdom and exterminating witches. Sebastian laughed bitterly at himself. “You guys always find new and exciting ways to mess with your children’s lives.”
“You’re the ones idiotic enough to fall for it,” Carlyle hissed.
“Because we love our family and want to protect it. Every time, we somehow find it within ourselves to trust that you are telling the truth. You, I would have never trusted, but Grandfather—”
A twisted, sinister laugh came from Carlyle. “Whose idea do you think it was? His? I’m the King, and I’m the one that makes the decisions, not him.”
Sebastian held up a hand. “It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving.”
“Leaving? After what you just did to him?” Carlyle was about to go into a rant when he realized Sebastian’s wording. “I’m sorry, ‘we’?”
Slowly and gently, Sebastian guided Lucia to his side to show her it was okay to move. His arm wrapped around her waist and held her close. “Anyone who tries to stop us will be in the infirmary with Osric.”
The moment Carlyle’s eyes landed on Lucia, he turned as pale as a ghost and recoiled. “H-how… how…” His eyes brows furrowed in confusion. Back during Lucia’s time, she had never met Carlyle. Even then, he was a little unhinged, and Sebastian didn’t want him anywhere near his soulmate.
“You!” Lucia gasped. Sebastian’s eyes were wild as she pointed him out.
“You know him?” he inquired. His first assumption was that, perhaps during her days as Winter, she had seen him in a magazine article or perhaps by chance in the city. It was unlikely, though. When his family had come for Sebastian in Rome, he had only ever introduced his siblings to Lucia. Even then, Carlyle had been untrustworthy.
“I saw him… in the market in Rome. He was always staring at me with those strange eyes,” Lucia murmured.
Sebastian looked to his father, and a sudden darkness came over him. “You knew who Lucia was?”
Carlyle tried to seem composed, but he couldn’t hide the sweat on his face or the dilation of his pupils. “The girl is playing you for a fool. There is no possible way that is Lucia.”
“She is, and I know because I can feel it,” Sebastian snapped.
“Okay, even if she is, so what? How could she place a face that she spotted in a crowded market more than a thousand years ago?”
“I’ve always been suspicious of you, old man,” Sebastian growled, picking his father up by the collar. “All this time, I had wondered just how it was that she started getting sick just around the time you showed up. Since you didn’t know who she was or what she looked like, I never had evidence to base it from. Not to mention, never would I have thought that my own father would hurt his son’s soulmate!” He shook his father violently, causing his head to whip back and forth like a doll. “Tell me what you did!”
Carlyle’s chuckle was slowly building. “I did nothing, my dear boy. You’re only paranoid. We came to get you back, just like I said back then. We needed your strength and size out there in the terrain to fight with the other clans. Then we left when you humbly declined. But I did learn a thing or two
during my stay in Rome. One being a little hemlock goes a long way.” He was laughing so deliriously that he slumped in Sebastian’s hold.
Snarling, Sebastian flung his father into a nearby tree, the trunk splintering on impact. He charged after him, and as Sebastian plucked him up from the base of the tree, Carlyle was still laughing like a maniac. Pinning him against the tree, Sebastian sprung a fist back.
Before he could strike his father, Lucia’s sweet voice called to him, “Sebastian, don’t do this!”
“Don’t do this?” he scoffed, glancing at her from over his shoulder. “He’s the reason we haven’t had one another for fifteen hundred years! The reason I’ve been in pain and mourning!”
“Even if it might not seem that way, no, he isn’t,” she tried to convince him. “Think about it! I would have died in what? Five or ten years? People died so young back then. I know it’s twisted, but it already happened! Let’s just be thankful for what we have now.”
“He needs to learn a lesson,” Sebastian mused. “He’ll continue to be the way he always has been if we don’t.”
“Oh, he’ll have his lesson,” Lucia assured him. “He’ll have plenty of time to reflect once you’re in power.” Both Tallant men looked at her with wild and confused expressions. “Well, all of those men just saw Sebastian nearly kill the first dragon shifter, his grandfather, only to be stopped by the love he has for his soulmate. Word spreads around, and the news that Sebastian, despite being a peaceful man, really is the most powerful dragon will, too. Pair that with all of the pre-existing doubts and distrust your people must have in you…”
Sebastian was grinning at her, knowing that she only meant those words as an attack on Carlyle. It wasn’t like Sebastian wanted power, and Lucia knew that. When he turned back to his father, Carlyle was wild with panic and fear.