Crush

by Vivienne Savage

  To tell you he’s dead, and that I killed him, Nate thought. His mouth wouldn’t form the words, but Elizabeth saw it in his face. She paled.

  “No,” she breathed. “Tell me you’re here to talk to him again and make up for whatever silly thing you fought over.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m sorry.”

  “No! I won’t believe it! He’s a knight! He told me he wouldn’t die fighting the dragons. He told me he could take them all on!” She screamed the words at him as tears coursed down her cheeks and her stunned son blinked in confusion.

  “Dad’s dead?”

  Nate caught her as she stumbled; then she sobbed against his chest in hysterics. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth.”

  “How did it happen?” she asked.

  Big tears welled in Aaron’s eyes. “Was it a dragon? Which one of them did it? I’ll get them back one day for Dad. I’ll be a tough guy like you and him and take them out!”

  The truth hung on the tip of Nate’s tongue, but he couldn’t force himself to utter the words. He and Astrid together had given Kay the death he deserved.

  “He died for what he believed in, Elizabeth. He came to realize a truce was what we needed, and when he tried to call the entire thing off, he was killed.”

  “A truce?” Her glossy eyes blinked. “I don’t understand.”

  “There’s… something more frightening out there now, Elizabeth, scarier than any dragon. Kay discovered this and gave his life to protect us all from it. He died a hero.” He glanced at Aaron, the little brother he’d always wanted, but never felt he had. He saw the kid’s green eyes gazing up at him with hurt and pain. “You don’t have to avenge him, kid. His soul is already at peace now.”

  He was Sir Galahad. And he never lied.

  Until he was given no choice.

  Nate remained long past dinner with them, chatting with Aaron about the boy’s future. With time, he hoped to unravel the years of emotional damage and manipulation Kay had woven in his son’s head.

  “What about… will there be a funeral?” Elizabeth asked as she walked him to the door.

  “Of course,” Nate said. “I’ll help you arrange it if you’d like.”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Please.”

  The woman, who never claimed to love him in all of his life, hugged him tight and thanked him for his support.

  He drove away praying the circumstances of Kay’s death would be the last lie he ever told.

  Epilogue

  Two Months Later

  The rich scent of pumpkin spice filled the condo, a mouthwatering aroma circulating from the kitchen to satisfy Astrid’s craving. Toni had supplied her grandmother’s best recipe, and since Yasmin had brought a bounty of fresh pumpkins from her mother’s Texas garden, the three women spent the early portion of the afternoon scooping out the slimy insides for sweet pumpkin pie, buttercream-iced pumpkin loafs, and anything else that suited Astrid’s pregnant fancies.

  Holding a squeaky, ragdoll toy in her mouth, Echo padded closer to where the young women sat on the living room floor with magazines and catalogs spread around them in a haphazard mess of designer baby goods.

  “I can’t believe he put the crib together on his own already,” Yasmin said. “Why didn’t he have Mahasti poof it all together for him?”

  Astrid shrugged. “He said something about wanting to enjoy parenthood the normal way. I guess I can see his point of view. As fun as it was to snap my fingers as a kid for every single thing, it was kind of like Fred and George Weasley Apparating all over the Burrow in the Harry Potter books instead of walking from one room to the next. It’s a cool novelty, but it doesn’t replace doing it yourself.”

  Yasmin laughed. “Good point.”

  “I dunno. If I had a genie, I’d probably weigh about a thousand pounds now.”

  “Trust me, you get bored after a while of not doing your stuff anymore. Mom and Dad cook in the kitchen all the time now, and she’s got him doing some of their cleaning.”

  Yasmin cackled. “I’d pay to see your dad bending over to pick up Brandt’s toys.”

  Astrid shot her a dirty look.

  “I meant that in a non-perverted way. So come on. Pick something. You’ve been holding the same catalog page open for like twenty minutes.”

  “I don’t know. I can’t pick.”

  “You have to decide eventually,” Toni pressed. “Unless you plan to let the little tyke snooze beside you and Nate every night.”

  Astrid blew out an exasperated huff. “They’re all pretty bedroom sets, and Nate’s no help with choosing. He just repeats the same thing whenever I ask for his opinion. ‘Baby, whatever you like is fine with me. It’s about making you happy.’ And then he head nods a few times while I describe the options and adds nothing useful.”

  All three women burst into laughter.

  “Men.” Toni rolled her eyes. “So glad I don’t have that problem. Anyway, I like this one.”

  “It’s pink.”

  “What’s wrong with pink? Look, it’s carousel horses and everything.”

  “Maybe the fact that I’m having a boy?”

  Toni laughed. “True, true. You know, pink is a color for anyone these days. Abolish those gender stereotypes.”

  Astrid tried to picture King Arthur growing up with rose-colored bed sheets and flowers painted on the walls. She giggled at the imagery.

  “Isn’t Nate due back soon to take you to your ultrasound?” Yasmin checked her watch.

  As if summoned by the mention of his name, Nate stepped through the front door and dropped his travel bag on the floor. He stopped short, raised his brows at the three sets of eyes that turned on him, and took one small step back.

  “Maybe I should come back.”

  “Don’t be a dummy, dummy,” Toni called over. “Come look at all the stuff we picked out.”

  “I’m not sure I want to know how much my bank account is going to suffer.”

  “Our bank account will be fine, Mr. Drakenstone.”

  “I still can’t believe you made him take your last name,” Yasmin said.

  “She didn’t have to make me do anything. I was glad to be rid of Kirkpatrick,” Nate said with a shrug, though he seemed well over the pain inflicted by his father’s betrayal.

  Abandoning her friends, Astrid crossed the room and wrapped her arms around her husband. “You’re still my Nate, regardless of the last name.”

  He met her halfway, lowering his mouth to her lips. Kissing him never changed—it remained some magical, rejuvenating force able to set her soul aflame every time.

  Toni booed and hissed. “Come on you two. Get a room.”

  “This is the room,” Yasmin stage whispered.

  “Ugh. Fine. We’ll let you two lovebirds have space, but we’ll see you both tomorrow for the baby shower. Svetlana will have all our heads if we don’t get you there on time. That girl is scary.”

  “See you tomorrow. Mom’s totally digging this new spell she perfected, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me.” Yasmin squinted at Nate. “You better be good to her or else. You never know when I might appear.”

  “Hopefully not inside my house. I’m not responsible for what you see if you materialize at random,” Astrid said.

  Yasmin stuck out her tongue and crushed a gemstone ampoule between her fingers. A colorful fog seeped from within it and swept her away to Texas on swirls of magic crafted by her mother.

  “Damn, that is awesome.” Toni stared at the spot where Yasmin had been. “Guess I’ll make my exit the old-fashioned way. Later you two.”

  Astrid waved without releasing Nate. The door closed behind her friend, granting them time and privacy to unwind.

  “How was your day?” Astrid asked as she pushed his jacket back from his shoulders. He made a quiet groan of relief. “That bad?”

  “Tired. Lots of training to do. This two job business is harsh.”

  She slid her palms up and down his chest, then walked her fingers around his sides to his back t
o discover a mass of tension and knots from his waist to his shoulders. “Let me get you into the shower then. You smell like man and hard work.”

  “Ha ha. Funny.”

  While Nate wolfed down the plate of leftover lunch she’d set aside for him, Astrid started a hot shower. Pregnancy hadn’t dulled her craving for him. If anything, it had amplified her libido, so she joined him to scrub his back. And his front.

  “I think I pulled something lifting weights. Mind giving me a touch?”

  “Already working on it,” she assured him.

  By the time the hour for her appointment approached, she had him in working order again. He rolled one shoulder then the other, exhaling a blissful sigh.

  Her poor husband. Ever since the eve of Kay’s final demise, he and the other knights faithful to Merlin’s cause had their work cut out for them. The knighthood was in shambles, and with the help of Percivale and his closer friends, Nate had taken the reins until Arthur’s return.

  Astrid didn’t know how to feel about it yet, raising a future king. She stroked the curve of her stomach and imagined a little boy with Nate’s green eyes.

  Would he have Nate’s green eyes? Or would they be the eyes of a man who would despise her once he reached adulthood, a man with a soul older than his mother and a memory spanning centuries into the past.

  Nate assured her Arthur would love her as much as he did. She hoped so.

  “I love you, little guy,” she whispered to her tummy while Nate dressed across the room.

  “What’s that?”

  “Oh, nothing.” She turned and flashed him a smile as he approached, pulling a T-shirt down over his abs.

  “Everything go okay in Nevada?”

  “Oh yeah, we cleared the last of the equipment out of the compound and returned a ton of shit to the government. Merlin collected most of his old artifacts from Disney and settled in at our old headquarters in Temecula. He and Loki spent the morning laying down new spells.”

  “Percivale still going to live there, too?”

  “Yeah. They’re best buds again. He’s made it his personal mission to catch Merlin up on everything he’s missed, and with Lancelot living not too far away, and us, it should be educational.”

  “Any word on Bedivere?”

  Nate raised a brow at her. “You’re full of questions, but no, not yet. He’s gone to ground.” Her husband shrugged. “One of the other knights based out of Britain never answered our call to duty, so we have to assume he’s defected and joined Bedivere.”

  “They can’t hide forever, but this means we’ll still be looking over our shoulders,” Astrid grumbled.

  “They’ll take their time licking their wounds. But enough of that, let’s get you to the doctor and meet our baby.”

  At the clinic, a sociable nurse in pink scrubs escorted them to the examination room where Astrid endured the usual vitals checks and frowned at the scale.

  “I’ve gained more weight,” she whined. “I’m going to be a whale by the time this baby is ready to be born.”

  “What? Baby, your weight doesn’t matter as long as you and this child grow to be healthy and happy over the next months.” He placed his hands over the meager hint of a bump curving her belly, her stomach muscles no less defined, but rounded at the bottom.

  “All right, are you two ready to take a little peek?” The doctor greeted them with a smile and stepped inside the modest examination room. “Astrid, your vitals are looking good. Anything you need to discuss or should we get right to it?”

  “I’m fine, Dr. Rourke, thanks. Anxious to know if I’ll be decorating in pink or blue.”

  “I’m partial to greens and yellows. You’ll find they’re wonderfully neutral,” the woman said. She winked and settled down on the stool beside the bed. “Okay, same as last time, this will be a little cold, but hopefully, that will get the little one moving around some.”

  “It tickles.” Astrid giggled and tried not to wiggle on the table. Nate grinned beside her.

  “Wuss,” he teased.

  “According to the measurements I’ve taken and the data I received from Dr. Thompson, if this is a standard, eleven-month dragon pregnancy, you’re due to deliver in June. That means your little one was conceived in early July, give or take a couple weeks. Does that sound about right?”

  Astrid glanced up at Nate. “I did take that morning after pill, you know.”

  “Those dosages are calculated for human women,” Dr. Rourke said. “It doesn’t surprise me that it was ineffective.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “Me, too.” Nate lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Let’s leave out the protection and have a dozen after this one.”

  “Let’s not get hasty,” Astrid muttered.

  “Now that we have the measurements out of the way, let’s get to the good part, eh?” Dr. Rourke moved the probe across her belly and applied light pressure. “Shy little thing, but, aha!”

  “Ready?” Nate asked in a quiet voice. “Bet you a back rub that it’s a boy.”

  She swatted him. “Cheater.” Then her eyes softened and her vision blurred with unshed tears. Knowing the outcome didn’t dull the emotional effect of the momentous occasion. “We’re ready,” she said to the doctor.

  “Then congratulations are in order, Mr. and Mrs. Drakenstone. It’s a boy!” The doctor printed out a copy of the sonogram picture. “Do you have a name picked out for your little bean yet?”

  Astrid’s eyes darted up to Nate’s face. “Arthur,” she whispered as her husband smiled down at her. “His name is Arthur.”

  King Arthur would enter his next life as a dragon, and there would be no shortage of affection, respect, and good friends whether they soared on feathered wings or gleamed in shining armor.

  Her baby was proof that two sides could do more than coexist. They could love.

  Author Note: This is my favorite of the dragon novels so far. I had an incredibly fun time writing it, but most of all, I couldn’t help but try to sneak in a message about love at the end. I truly hope you enjoyed this story, and that if you did, you’ll take a few seconds of your time to leave a review wherever you bought this e-book.

  Thank you for all that you’ve done. For reading my books, for spreading word of mouth recommendations to others. Thank you.

  Loki’s story is currently in the writing phase and may release this spring.

  Join my newsletter at http://www.viviennesavage.com/newsletter to keep up with developments or hit up my fan group to chat about books and upcoming work. By the way, Dominique Kristine is my high fantasy and urban fantasy pen. The sex is less explicit and the plot is more story-focused, but I invite you to try it out.

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