***
The instant his hungry lips found hers it awoke something in her. A deep, vast hunger that she had never before known rose up and enveloped her, guiding her closer to him with unerring precision. Her hands wrapped around his neck, pulling the man she didn’t know closer to her.
What is going on? Why am I doing this?
It wasn’t like her to throw herself out there for men she just met. Not in these circumstances at least. But with Ferrovax, it was like she had always wanted to, but had never before found the right man for her. Now she all but flung herself at him, pulling him in tight to her as their lips pressed against each other fiercely.
His tongue gently pushed apart her lips, and she opened her mouth to meet him, letting him explore her. Her hands roamed across his muscular back as he leaned over her, careful not to disturb her leg.
In the end, it was she who ruined the moment, by forgetting about that same injury. She bumped her leg against the ground and the jolt of pain that shot up her leg hit her brain like a shock of electricity. She pushed him back just far enough that she could look into his eyes again. Even as she watched, the intense glow faded and he returned to normal. The transition made her shiver with barely contained delight, for a reason she could not define.
“Who... what are you?” she whispered. “Wait!” she protested as he pulled away from her. Her hands snapped out, grabbing the collar of his dark shirt and holding him tight.
He gave her an odd look, before relaxing in his efforts to put distance between them.
“I’m not afraid,” she told him. She wasn’t. Confused and unsure, yes. But not afraid. Not of him. “I just don’t understand. So much has happened in the past few hours. I feel like my head is about to explode.” She gave him her best reassuring smile. “I need a few answers.”
He nodded. “Did you want to go find somewhere to stay for the night?”
“I would,” she told him, shrugging her shoulders. “But I don’t think it would be the easiest idea right now.” She glanced knowingly at her leg.
“Right, sorry,” he said, looking slightly ashamed at having forgotten about it so soon.
She patted him lightly on the shoulder. “It’s okay.”
“I know you want some answers,” he began, “but do you mind if I have one first?”
Still amazed at the easy way she was touching him, Ana didn’t reply at first. It was only after he moved his head to put it right in her line of sight that she nodded jerkily. His tone wasn’t serious enough to indicate he wanted some big answers. If he wasn’t going to ask about her and who she was, what was it?
“What is your name?” he asked, looking embarrassed at having waited so long to find out.
She laughed. It was a low chuckle so as not to carry the noise any farther than necessary, but it felt good. Much of the stress of the evening was lifted as well.
“My name is Ana,” she said, not concerned about giving him her shortened name.
“Ana,” he repeated.
Goose bumps broke out down her arms at the sound of her name upon his lips.
“And you are Ferrovax,” she stated, trying to stay focused.
“Ferro, if you please,” he told her. “I prefer a little more informality. All too often there are those who will…go over the top with titles and names. It is wearying,” he explained.
“Who are you?” she asked bluntly. “Your name sounds so tantalizingly familiar. I feel like I’ve heard it before, but I can’t remember.”
“I would be impressed if you had heard it,” he said gently. “I have not involved myself in the wider world of politics in a long time.”
She snorted. “You’re clearly not a youngling, Ferro, but believe it or not, I’ve been around for a while myself.”
His eyes fixated on her, the silver flaring briefly as the bright orbs bore into her soul. “Yes,” he said slowly. “Yes I do believe you have. Though not as much as I.”
“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that,” she said, though her tone was more hushed at his look. “But I know, or know of, most of your kind who are older than me. I know the names of the Dragon Council, and the two who have perished.”
“Three.”
She looked up sharply. “What?”
“Well, it may be more now. But before the Order revealed themselves, there were fifteen dragons who made up the Council. Do you know the history?”
Ana nodded. She knew it. Fifteen dragons, the First Dragons, had formed the Dragon Council, keeping their brethren in check as their numbers expanded. Over time, two of them had tried to upset the Council, to do things differently. In the end, they had been struck down by the combined might of the rest of the Council.
“Who is the third?” she asked slowly. This was news to her.
“Luthor.”
“When?”
“Less than a month ago,” he stated. “It is why I have come searching for the Council. They let him run rampant, and I needed answers.” He grimaced. “I seem to have found some, though more questions have arisen as well.”
“How did he die?” she asked. It wasn’t every day that a dragon died, let alone one of the First Dragons. With the three more deaths today—and by the sounds of it more in the clash between the Council and the Order—it had not been a good year for dragonkind.
“I killed him.” Ferro’s blunt statement came as a surprise.
“You. You killed him?” she asked skeptically. “Luthor was one of the most powerful dragons in the world,” she explained. “He was one of the oldest members of the Council as well. You don’t just ‘kill him.’”
Ferro’s eyes had been downcast, but they came up now at the disbelief in her voice.
“I am aware of who he was,” he said stonily.
She backed away slightly at the sudden change in his attitude.
The silver-gray eyes saw that, and his expression crumpled, his entire body sagging. “I know who he was,” he said again, this time his voice a ghost of a whisper.
“Who was he?” she asked, sensing there was more to it than that.
“He was my son,” Ferro told her.
The anguish in his voice broke her heart, and at the same time she gasped, the realization dawning on her just who it was she was holding.