Andrea wanted to open her eyes, but it felt like her brain couldn’t quite send the command to her lids. She tried to move her hand, to raise it to her face and rub at the stubborn pieces of flesh that simply didn’t want to cooperate, but she could barely move her fingers. Panic made her muscles tense, but that only caused physical pain, not movement. She took a couple of deep breaths and tried to relax. She felt as if she was in a strange state between sleep and wakefulness, as if her mind was slowly waking up, but her body was still trapped in sleep paralysis. She had read about sleep paralysis out of curiosity a while ago, but this was the first time she was experiencing it. It was scary.
“Andrea?”
The voice came from far away. It sounded very familiar to her, but she couldn’t quite remember the name of the man who had just called her. Nonetheless, hearing her own name stirred something inside of her. Her heart started beating faster, and her stomach tightened in apprehension. Something bad was about to happen. No, it had already happened, and Andrea could do nothing about it. She wanted to go back in time and change everything, even though right now she couldn’t quite tell what that “everything” was. For a moment, she slipped into unconsciousness, and life felt easier, happier, brighter.
“Please wake up, my love.”
That voice again. She furrowed her brows. This man, whomever he was, was pulling out of her dream. It was nice there, comfortable… She didn’t want to come back to reality.
“Andrea, please. I don’t care what happened. We’ll figure it out. Just don’t leave me.”
That feeling of sleep paralysis again. This time, however, it seemed like her body was pushing through it, her muscles waking up little by little. Soon, she could move her fingers, then raise her arm. She placed her hand on her chest, although she didn’t know why. It hurt inside, like there was an open wound there, and she was trying to soothe it by gently massaging the spot right between her breasts. She made an effort and managed to open her eyes. She found herself staring at the ceiling. She knew this room.
“Oh, thank God! You’re awake!”
The man sitting in a chair beside her bed took her hand into his, lifted it to his lips, and placed heated kisses all over her knuckles.
Andrea moaned and raised her other hand, still free from the man’s passionate attack, to her chest. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she had to keep pressure on her open wound. Except… her fingers found nothing that resembled a wound. There was only white, smooth skin between her breasts. No blood, no torn flesh… nothing. Maybe the wound was inside?
“Look at me, my love. Can you look at me?”
Slowly, Andrea turned her head to the right. Her blurry eyes focused on a face she knew very well. When she saw his golden eyes, his long, silver hair, and his huge, bulky frame bent over her, the wound in her chest widened. Calder. She shook her head, and a tear slipped down from the corner of her eye, making its way to her temple, and then disappearing in her black hair. It was the first of many to come.
“It’s okay,” Calder said. “You woke up, and that’s all that matters. I asked Jared to bring a doctor.”
“I…” Her voice came out weak and croaked. She realized she could barely pronounce the words. “I don’t want a doctor.”
What was wrong with her tongue? Why did it feel so heavy, almost swollen? Then, she started remembering. All the questions that were running through her head were beginning to receive answers as her memories came back to her. She had tried to steal from the vault. She had injured Sylvia badly. Calder, Kaden, and Jared had stopped her just as she had been trying to escape, and, in an attempt to avoid the horrible consequences, she had drunk the second bottle of mandrake poison.
Well, she was still alive. She felt awful, but it didn’t seem like the poison had done much harm to her, yet. Maybe it needed more time to employ all its effects on Andrea’s young, strong body? Time would tell.
“I don’t care what you want, Andrea.” Calder’s voice was firm. “A doctor will see you soon, and we’ll do everything in our power to make you better.”
“We?”
“If conventional medicine fails, I intend to heal you with my dragon venom.”
Andrea’s eyes widened. She knew exactly what Calder’s solution implied. If he bit her, then his shifter venom would enter her bloodstream and heal her from the inside in a matter of minutes. But then, she had only two options left: let the venom do its whole thing and turn her into a dragon-shifter, or take the antidote and become a hybrid. Turning a human into a shifter was illegal, and Calder would have to face the Council of the Six Factions if that happened. The fact that he was one of the Councilors would mean nothing in this case. He would lose his position the second the Council found out he had turned his bride into a dragon-shifter. So, really, Andrea would be left with only one option, not two.
“No, you can’t do that,” she whispered. She was doing her best to pronounce the words clearly and loudly enough. It was a good thing Calder was a shifter and he could hear her. She was barely moving her lips. “Let me be, Calder.”
He shook his head vigorously.
“Don’t talk like that. I don’t know why you did what you did, but I also don’t care right now. I don’t want to lose you, and I won’t lose you.”
Andrea closed her eyes and breathed in and out a couple of times. What did she have to tell him to convince him to leave her alone so she could, hopefully, die in peace? Her life was ruined. She had ruined it, and she had done a pretty damn good job, too. It was over. She just wanted to sleep. It was such a shame humans couldn’t hibernate for a few hundred years, and then wake up and get a fresh start.
“I’ll tell you why I did what I did,” she said, her eyes still closed. It was hard for her to keep them open, but she didn’t have the strength to look into Calder’s eyes, either. “And I doubt you’ll still want me then.”
Calder placed both his elbows on the mattress, leaning in and burying his face in her hot, sweaty palm. It was obvious she was having a fever. Deep down, he wanted to know who Andrea really was. He wanted to know why she had tried to trick him and, most importantly, why she had poisoned herself. He couldn’t help but think it might have been his fault, too. At least, up to a certain point. However, he knew she was in pain. It probably hurt her to speak, and she couldn’t even keep her eyes open.
“No. We’ll have all the time in the world once you’re healed.”
She shook her head.
“I want to tell you now. I don’t want you to bring a doctor, or try to heal me yourself. I want you to listen. Will you listen?”
Calder nodded gently. He was about to learn the truth. Was he ready for it?
Slowly, moving her lips as little as possible, Andrea told him everything. She told him what she had told Jade before leaving Alma Venus: about her messed up childhood, about her poor parents who were only good at complaining, about her job as a waitress, how she could barely make a living and keep her beat-up car, and about her failed relationships with losers who only wanted to live off her back. She didn’t leave anything out. She tried to be as honest and direct as possible, and not find excuses for what she had done. It had been different with Jade. Back then, Andrea had blamed the world, and especially shape-shifters, for all her troubles. The fact that she was poor gave her the right to play games, fool a shifter, then steal from him what she thought he didn’t need anyway. Now, she was done with all that. It had been a dangerous game to play, and it had bitten her in the ass. It was time to face up to her mistakes and tell Calder who she really was. He had always been good and fair to her. He deserved that much.
When Andrea finished her story, Calder needed time to process it all. He felt like he was about to explode, but he wasn’t sure why. He stood up, went to the tall windows and opened them wide. He leaned over the windowsill and looked down at the beautiful gardens surrounding the palace. It was already morning, around 8 AM, and the bright sun was announcing a lovely day. But Calder couldn’t bring himself to care about the fine weather when there was nothing lovely about the situation he was in.
He had stayed with Andrea because she had been asleep and he didn’t want to lose her. He hadn’t even gone to see Sylvia, yet. He knew his daughter would heal, although it could take some time. By noon, he was sure she would be perfectly fine. Worst case scenario, she would be left with a few scars, but those would also heal in a couple of months. Kaden had dropped by earlier, and he had told Calder the mandrake spray wasn’t that poisonous for dragon-shifters, after all. He believed the plant had probably been dissolved in too much water, so it wouldn’t cause permanent damage. That was the only good piece of news Calder had received in the past couple of hours.
“Now you know,” said Andrea. She was falling asleep again. Her eyes were closed, and her entire body felt weak under the heavy covers. She knew she was burning hot, as she could feel drops of sweat making her way down her forehead. “I don’t deserve you, Calder. I don’t deserve your children, your clan, your home. I don’t deserve any of this. And I knew that. I knew it the day I set foot in the palace.”
He turned to her.
“You seemed to like it here. You seemed to like… me?”
Andrea chuckled, but them regretted it. Her throat was so dry, but she didn’t have the power to ask for water. And if Calder had brought her water, she knew she wouldn’t be able to sit up to drink it. She did her best to ignore her thirst. Soon, she would be asleep, and she wouldn’t have to worry about any of this. If she was lucky, she would remain asleep.
“I did,” she whispered. “I do. I love you.”
Calder’s heart jumped at her words. It was as if that simple “I love you” had just pumped life back into his whole being. He ran to her side.
“Then, why? Why didn’t you change your mind? Why didn’t you give up on that messed-up plan of yours? You could have simply forgotten all about it, pretended like you hadn’t thought about it in the first place, and lived here, with me. You wanted to change your life. You changed it the moment you became a mail-order bride and I picked you. There was no need for you to do anything else, except for… just being here, with me, with Clan Grimmr.”
“You don’t understand. I don’t belong here. You’re so good to me, and I’m so selfish and self-centered. Even if I stayed… I would still take advantage of you and your fortune, don’t you see? It’s almost the same thing.”
“It’s not the same thing. Because you love me, and I love you. Everything I have is yours. You don’t have to work for anything, anymore. You don’t have to fight.”
“If I don’t fight, then what’s left for me to do?”
“Accept that life can be good and easy. You’ve been through enough, and now you’re being rewarded. You can do anything you want, Andrea. If you want to go to college and study Political Sciences, then you can do it. You can fill your days with any kind of activity you enjoy. There are no limits. And it might be hard to adapt to this new way of life at first, but you’ll get used to it. You just have to trust me, and trust yourself. Trust that being here, with me and my family, is your destiny. It’s not what you imagined, but it is your destiny.”
Andrea shook her head. She parted her lips, but then let them close again. She had no more strength left. It was over.
“My love, please let me heal you,” Calder said. He pressed his lips to her burning forehead. “Please, let me heal you and finally mark you as my mate. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t imagine my life without you. Together, we can put all this behind us and start a new life.”
“No.”
That was the last word she managed to mumble before she fell in a deep, dreamless sleep.