Arkadia’s head turned at the sound of a knock on the door. Still feeling tender in spots, she got up gently and walked over to the door. Bohdan was standing there, his normally wild and uncontrolled hair was tied back, and he had on a very well-fitting black suit which seemed to scream shirt abuse at being stretched to fit his broad and muscular shoulders. Bohdan handed a large bunch of brightly-colored wildflowers to Arkadia. “Wildflowers for my wild woman.” He winked and leaned in to meet her lips with his. His spare hand slid around the back of her neck, and he held her close as he brushed his lips lightly over hers, savoring the scent and taste of his mate.
“Are you ready to go?” Bohdan asked.
Taking the flowers from him, Arkadia nodded. “Just putting these in a vase. Be right back.” She turned and wandered back to the kitchen. Bohdan was here to take her to Violet’s funeral; swallowing past the horrible lump in her throat, she filled a vase and lowered the flowers into it. Another deep breath and she placed both hands on the countertop to steady herself, closing her eyes she took a second to center herself. “You will do this … you can do this … you must do this … for Violet,” she said to herself. Finally ready, she turned and walked back out to where Bohdan was waiting.
She had chosen a simple white dress for the funeral. Arkadia couldn’t bring herself to wear black, it seemed far too depressing, and she had purposely picked the white to represent the purity of a friendship, the purity of their friendship. She had left her hair down, letting the natural curl fall where it felt like. She topped off her outfit with some strappy sandals with serious bling up the sides, a virtual disco ball on her feet. Arkadia knew Violet would have loved the bling, Violet was a shoe addict after all.
Entwining her fingers through Bohdan's she gave his hand a small squeeze. “I’m ready,” she said.
“Your chariot awaits, milady,” he said with a small bow and a twinkle in his eye.
Arkadia shut the door behind her as she mumbled something about being in love with a cheeky dragon.
Chapter Forty-Five
Bohdan could see Arkadia was barely holding on to her emotions as he pulled up to the cemetery. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I am going to be with you the entire time. No one can hurt you, no one will judge you, and it will be fine.” He placed a small kiss to her cheek and got out of the truck to come around to her side. While he was out of the truck, Arkadia had a few seconds to herself. “How can people NOT judge me?” she asked herself. Arkadia’s eyes brimmed with tears as Bohdan opened the door. Launching herself into his loving and safe arms she cried, “Why her? She wanted me. It should have been me.” Her tears flowing freely now, Bohdan just rubbed her back as he held her tight.
When she was able to walk, having calmed down a little, Arkadia and Bohdan walked hand-in-hand over to the gathering. They were greeted with hugs and handshakes as people saw them arriving. Arkadia was engulfed by Cat and Chey, who also wore simple white dresses with blinged-out shoes for Violet. All three of them sobbed openly at the death of their treasured friend.
“Don’t hate me,” Arkadia said to them.
“Hate you?” Both Cat and Chey looked confused through their tear-stained faces.
“I don’t understand?” Cat asked, frowning.
Cheyenne’s head worked it out first. “Oh Hell No! You’re not going to blame yourself for this.” Chey leaned back, hand on her hips, her, ‘Don’t take a shit’ look on her face. If they hadn’t been at a funeral, Arkadia would have been laughing as she mocked her.
“Ivy killed Violet, not you. Ivy did it all. You were a mere puppet for her to control and manipulate.” Chey grabbed Arkadia by the shoulders, making her look into her eyes as she continued, “Violet would hate it if you did this to yourself. This is exactly what she was trying to stop. If you let yourself think this shit, then Ivy wins and Violet’s death was in vain, as if it meant nothing, her years of friendship up in smoke.” Chey was looking deeply into Arkadia’s eyes; she really needed Arkadia to understand what she was saying. Chey wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing Arkadia was blaming herself for this mess. “Arkadia, do you understand?”
Arkadia nodded. “I do understand, it just hurts so bad.”
Bohdan followed slightly behind as the three girls walked over to the graveside ceremony together, arms entwined and holding each other up. Of course, it was Bohdan's first and natural instinct to be there for Arkadia, but he knew, rather he felt, that she needed the power of the sisterhood right now. She kept looking up to see if he was there, and sure enough, he was never more than three steps away. The girls took a seat next to Eloise and Violet’s family, and Bohdan stood behind Arkadia’s chair. He rested his hand gently on her shoulder, and Arkadia leaned her head over to softly rub her cheek against the back of his hand, her eyes closed for a few seconds to enjoy the love and safety those hands gave her.
As the preacher cleared his throat, a blanket of silence fell upon the crowd as the ceremony was ready to begin. The sun broke through the clouds, radiant arms of light from above cascaded down, like many arms from heaven offering support and warmth.
They sat there and listened to family and friends reflect on the life of a young woman tragically cut short, due to her sister being a sandwich short of a full picnic. Violet’s mom talked about the Halloweens of past, Violet’s favorite holiday of the year. Arkadia could never work out if it was the colors of fall, or the candy of Halloween, or perhaps, it was an unhealthy addiction to pumpkin, but it didn’t matter.
Bottom line was, Violet was dead, and Arkadia missed her already.
Chapter Forty-Six
School returned to normal for the next few days. Arkadia felt out of place at first with everyone’s eyes on her as she went through her classes. According to the whispers in the hallways as she passed them, some thought she was normal and carefree, some just thought she was caught in a ‘wrong place wrong time’ situation, but there was always a few who were dead-set convinced that she was a witch, just waiting to steal their hair and cast spells over a bubbling cauldron of terror.
Arkadia didn’t care after a day or two as she had expected it, honestly. The leader of the ‘Arrest Arkadia club’ was no surprises for guessing, but Sebastian. No matter what evidence he was presented with by her, the police, or the lawyers, both he and his father were one hundred percent convinced that Arkadia was responsible for Diane’s death, and also for Sebastian’s sudden interest in lakes, creeks, and little ponds of water. Sebastian and his father were sure something fishy was or is going on when it concerned Arkadia.
Sitting at the lunch table with Bohdan to her left, their fingers entwined together in what was a constant display that they were a couple. Cat and Chey sat opposite them at the table, and then there was Raven, who since Violet’s tragic death, had taken to being near to Arkadia as often as possible. With Arkadia’s eighteenth birthday less than ten days away, the topic of discussion was working out the details on who, where, and when of a party. Eloise had told Arkadia to plan whatever she wanted. She had never had a party before; nobody had cared enough to give her one. She had birthday cake before, but not a true, balloon-bouncing, candy-gobbling party where you ate so much birthday cake that you got a bellyache.
Arkadia thought about her birthday party. She knew she didn’t want anything that involved magic or costumes. Arkadia wanted something simple, casual, and love-filled. After all, it had taken Arkadia this long to find a family who would fight for her, and she certainly wasn’t about to give it up for anything, Arkadia knew in her heart of hearts that this was the beginning of a bright and beautiful future for her, and she couldn’t wait to get started.
The rest of the day flew by. She hardly remembered anything she heard. Too bad if there was an exam tomorrow, she was going to be screwed. Walking out the front door of the school, she saw Bohdan waiting for her, leaning casually against the railings. A devious grin was on his face, and swinging from his fingertips was a blindfold, a long black strip of velvet. Wit
h a cheeky wiggle of his eyebrows, he asked, “Trust me?”
Arkadia laughed as she grabbed the blindfold. “To the ends of the earth, but you better have clearance from Eloise; she’s the one with a friend who bronzes.”
Chuckling, Bohdan replied, “I have Eloise’s approval. Just strap on your blindfold and let’s get going.”
With a cheeky salute, Arkadia did as she was instructed.
More than one group of hands led her to what she assumed was going to be the truck. “I know your giggle, Raven.” Arkadia laughed as she heard Raven giggle again. “Whoever that was that just touched my ass, better not do it again. I have a mean boyfriend, you know,” Arkadia teased and jumped slightly as a set of lips caressed her ear lightly, the hot breath setting her skin alight. “It’s okay. I have your boyfriend’s permission to.” Bohdan chuckled quietly as he gave her ass an extra squeeze for good luck.
The bumping along of the truck was putting her at ease; she trusted Bohdan with all that she was, and Arkadia had given up trying to keep the directions in check a while ago, and just decided to enjoy the surprise. What seemed like hours, which in all seriousness was about thirty minutes, the truck came to a stop. Arkadia listened to Bohdan get out of his truck, shut the door, and come around to her side. She was fascinated by how much detail she could hear when her eyes were taken away. Arkadia knew she could remove the blindfold at anytime, her hands weren’t bound, but there was no fun in that.
Her door opened, and in wafted Bohdan's scent. Her stomach flipped with excitement; it was crazy how much she loved him. In the short time they had known each other, her life had been in serious jeopardy twice, and he had saved her both times. In her book, that made him a keeper.
He helped her out of the truck, and she heard the beep beep of him locking it behind her. Arkadia could smell the forest around her, so earthy, and she loved it. Arkadia must have been distracted a few minutes longer than she thought, because the next thing she knew, she was she was being nudged by dragon.
“Oh dragon, I was hoping to see you.” She wrapped her hands around dragon’s neck and held him tight, placing soft kisses against his smooth scales. A soft purring grumbled up from dragon’s belly. “I am assuming we are traveling dragon airlines, and I am to board now?” She heard dragon grunt. “Aren’t you going to give me the safety talk and show me where the exits are?” Arkadia teased, as dragon nudged her firmly with a snort. “Okay, okay, okay, don’t get your flames in a fizzer.” She climbed up on his back by feel, rubbing her hands over him and making sure she was centered on his backbit was a lot harder than she would have thought without sight. “Are you sure this isn’t just some whacked-out excuse to get me to rub myself all over you, dragon?” Arkadia laughed. A quick flap of dragon’s wings, and Arkadia barely had time to wrap her arms around his neck, and they were off. “Smooth move, Sparky, smooth move.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Feeling dragon put his weight on the ground and tuck up his wings, Arkadia knew they had landed. By the scent of the trees and the sound of the trickling waterfall, she knew they were at Bohdan’s special spot; it felt like home. Sliding off his back, she took a step forward, raised her arms out wide, and breathed deeply. She wanted to acknowledge every sound and every scent as important; she could feel the warmth of her Goddess surrounding her again, like a mother’s warm embrace. It felt like love.
Strong arms encased her, she was pulled back tight against Bohdan’s chest, and he buried his face into her neck. Sharing a few deep breaths together, Arkadia turned in his arms, and extended her arms to wrap around his neck. “I would kiss you, but I don’t seem to be able to SEE where your lips are.” Arkadia teased him, licking her full lips, and placing some kisses in the air like she was looking for him. Bohdan's one hand reached up to slide the blindfold back off her head as his lips found hers in a deep, passionate kiss. A rumble of pleasure came up from his dragon as his tongue invaded her mouth, and a dance of passion ensued. Twisting and looping around each other, her fingers embedded into Bohdan's hair as she climbed up his chest, wrapping her legs around his hips. Bohdan's hands immediately dropped to cup her full, round butt, holding her tight against his growing passion.
Pulling back, Bohdan said, “Plenty of time, my queen. First, I have a surprise for you.”
Arkadia’s emerald green eyes sparkled with excitement. “Alright, but don’t put me down, I like this too much.” As she wiggled against his dragonhood, Bohdan growled deep and low.
“I won’t put you down, but if you wiggle like that again, your surprise will be delayed, for hours, and HOURS!!!” Bohdan grinned as he gave her butt a playful smack. “Ready?”
Arkadia nodded. “Ready.” Bohdan, still carrying Arkadia, walked up to the cave entrance, the sky darkening quickly in the soon to be winter’s evening.
Arkadia let a little gasp escape her mouth; the entire cave was alight with candles. There must have been over one hundred different candles, varying sizes and widths, all of their flames dancing and flickering in the light breezes of the early night. It made the cave appear alive with movement. Bohdan put her down on her feet. He turned her to face him, cupping her cheeks in his hands. “I made this cave come to life by adding some light. You have made me come to life by adding your light. I love you, Arkadia.” As Bohdan spoke these words from his heart, he lowered his lips to hers, firstly brushing lightly across the surface, savoring her scent and flavor, and then increasing the pressure as his lips and tongue invaded her, tasted her, and devoured her.
Arkadia pulled back slightly to say something, but Bohdan placed his finger across her wet lips. “I haven’t finished, my queen, if you will allow my brashness to continue.” Arkadia nodded. “It is your eighteenth birthday in mere days, and I wanted to give you my gift now; something personal, something I hope you will love,” Bohdan said and walked her over to the pillows set up on the floor. He motioned for Arkadia to sit, and he sat next to her. Reaching behind her, he pulled out a small black box, dressed up with an emerald green bow on top.
“Bohdan, you shouldn’t have. You are all I need.” Arkadia blushed at such a beautiful box; never had someone cared so much to put a bow on a gift, and the small details were making Arkadia’s heart swell.
“Oh hush, little witch, and open the box,” he said eagerly.
Arkadia removed the beautiful bow. She glanced up at Bohdan, the lights dancing around him made him look godly, and the love she saw in his eyes was humbling. Taking the top of the box off, she whispered, “Oh my.” Inside, resting on a pure white pillow was a diamond pendant. The pendant was heart-shaped and jet black. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked up at Bohdan. “It’s beautiful. I adore it,” she whispered.
“May I?” He motioned to her that he wished to put it on her. Arkadia nodded and turned her back to him, sliding her hair over to the side for him to do up the gorgeous silver chain. “This is my heart, Arkadia. I had it made for you. I cut some of my hair, and then they used the carbon in my hair to create this black diamond. When I said its part of me, I meant it very literally, so where ever you are, my heart is always near to your heart.”
“It’s made from your hair?” Arkadia turned back around, holding the diamond in her hand, gazing at it. “That’s amazing. It’s sooo beautiful and it’s black just like dragon.”
Bohdan nodded. “That was his only request. I wanted to give you something special, and so I am giving you me, forever. Happy birthday, my queen, my love.”
“I have a picnic packed for dinner, if you’re hungry?” Bohdan asked.
Arkadia got a devilish look into her eye and said, “Oh, I am hungry Bohdan. I am STARVING, but not for food.” She launched herself at him, wrapping herself around him, as together they fell back onto the pillows, a soft chuckle escaping Bohdan. Instantly, they devoured each other completely until they fell asleep in each other’s arms in the small hours of the morning.
A beep woke Arkadia early in the morning; it was her phone with a text message notification.
Yawning she reached over to grab her phone and check the message.
Eloise: Urgent Fam meeting, 1 hour. At house. No excuses
Arkadia sighed and rolled back over to a sleepy Bohdan. “I am needed at home, and even you, my amazing boyfriend, will not be an acceptable excuse to miss it.” She placed a kiss to Bohdan's lips lightly.
“I love it when you call me your boyfriend,” he murmured sleepily.
“Well, I thought husband might be jumping the gun a bit,” Arkadia teased as she dressed, walked around the cave, and blew out the few remaining candles that hadn’t burnt themselves out during the night. Suddenly, a still naked Bohdan grabbed her and pulled her tight against him as he playfully growled, “It’s only a matter of time. My heart is already yours. The rest is mere details. Now are you ready for your return flight on dragon airways?”
Arkadia snickered as she said, “I am always ready to ride your dragon.” She playfully slapped his butt as they made their way home.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Arkadia got out of Bohdan's truck once they pulled up at her house, her hand reaching to touch her dragon heart as she called it, for the umpteenth time to check it was still there. Bohdan asked, “You want me to go? Or stay?”
Arkadia turned to shut the door and replied, “Stay please, for everything that concerns me is now also your problem, so, sucks to be you right now, huh?” She laughed and entwined her fingers into his and they walked together up to the house.
Raven opened the door with a frustrated look on her face. “What’s up, Rav?” Arkadia asked.
“You are never going to believe what’s going on. This house doesn’t need any more shit, and yet, here we go again.” Raven turned and glided back into the house silently.
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