“We will meet soon, and this will change everything. Just remember, I will make you remember,” the girls voice whispers to me, but everything feels icy cold, and I can’t open my eyes. I don’t want to move, I don’t want to speak, but I manage one word.

“Remember?” I whisper.

“So, you can save us all, Isola. Now rest,” she whispers back, and everything slowly fades away into darkness once more.

“Should we tell her what we did?” I hear Dagan question angrily, and a hand tightens around mine. I can’t move or open my eyes, as I feel exhausted. Even though I can hear them, everything sounds as if it is getting further away.

“No, she can never know. No one can. This is a secret between us five now, no one will ever know,” my uncle commands.

“It’s not fair not to tell her,” Elias demands, his voice terrifying.

“The world isn’t fair and if she knew what happened, you all know the price she would pay. You saved her life, just deal with it and move on,” my uncle says, his voice leaving no room for argument.

“He is right, no one can know,” Thorne’s voice says, and then everything goes hazy again.

* * *

“Naughty princess, I could do with seeing those crystal blue eyes of yours pop open and stare at me in that sexy way of yours right about now,” the deep husky voice of Elias fills my ears, and I blink my eyes open to see him sitting on a chair next to me. His blue eyes lock with mine, both of us silent as we stare at each other for a long time.

“Eli,” I whisper, my voice crackling slightly with hurt as I remember Lisa all over him and then the dagger. I try to roll away, so he doesn’t see me cry, and I howl out in pain from my stomach.

“Hey doll, take it easy. No moving for a little bit while your dragon healing does its job,” Korbin says, and I turn to see him smiling at me from his seat on my other side. I take a deep breathe, calming myself down a little.

“Who was the man that did this?” I ask, my voice breaking as I rub my tongue over my dry lips.

“Kitty cat, have some water, and let us sit you up a little,” Dagan says from near the end of the bed. Korbin gets up, picking a pillow up from the floor and helping me sit forward. He slides it behind me, every movement sending sharp pains through my stomach. I look down at my vest top, lifting it to see the bandaged cut on my stomach. I pull it back down again as Dagan offers me a bottle of water with a straw in it. I take it off him with a small smile, drinking it as he sits on the end of the bed.

“We don’t know who he was, but he had a badge with the fire rebellion symbol on his cloak,” Dagan explains, and for the first time in a while, I feel frightened. They are everywhere, always out to get me. How can I ever be safe?

“He is dead now, you don’t have to be frightened,” Elias says, picking up on my emotions somehow.

“I’m not frightened of that man, I remember you killing him, Elias,” I say, avoiding the point that I’m more frightened of all the other members of the fire rebellion who seem like they will never stop trying to kill me, not until they succeed. I search for my dragon in my mind, feeling her pain as she purrs against me, not strong enough yet to make that connection with me.

“You’re awake?” Thorne asks as he walks into the small infirmary room and shuts the open door behind him. Thorne looks as tired as the rest of them do. They all look like they need a long sleep and a shower. I kind of hate that despite the fact it’s clear they haven’t slept or showered in ages, they still look hot. I bet I don’t look hot. I bet I look more like a hot mess that smells.

“Hey,” I say and he smirks, wiping his hands over his face.

“Hey Issy,” he replies gently.

“Are you tired? Do you need anything?” Korbin asks after there’s an awkward silence between us all.

“No, but how long have I been asleep? Is anyone looking after Bee?” I ask, and Korbin takes the bottle of water off me and puts in on the cabinet by the bed.

“You’ve been asleep three days, and no one can get into your room because Bee has put a ward up. I tried to tell her you’re not well, but she glared at me like I’m an idiot or something,” Dagan explains, huffing.

“There is plenty of food in there, and she knows where it is,” I comment, not so worried about her now. She clearly knows how to look after herself.

“I don’t think she is strong enough to heal this,” Dagan comments, and then explains himself as we all stare. “She struggled to heal your arm, and you passed out from that. I think she needs to be older to wield enough magic to heal something like this.”

“Makes sense,” I say, yawning.

“I came in for a reason. There was an attack on the left side of the forest. We should check it out with the other guards,” Thorne says.

“I will stay with Isola, we need to talk,” Elias quickly says.

“No, we don’t. You can go,” I bite out.

“We do, because assuming things and ignoring others clearly isn’t working out well for us,” he says, and I just stare at him as I hear the other guys walk out the room. When the door shuts, Elias moves closer, scooting to sit on the bed next to me. He places his hands on either side of my head.

“What you saw with me and Lisa–,” he starts off.

“–I don’t want to know,” I interrupt him, and he chuckles humourlessly.

“You do, don’t lie to me. You know I don’t like it when you lie to me.”

“Eli, I can’t want to know. I can’t do any of this. I can’t because it’s impossible for us,” I whisper, and he shakes his head.

“Nothing is impossible,” he tells me, and I hold my breath as he starts to lean forward. Gently brushing his lips against mine at the start, Elias suddenly deepens the kiss as I let him take control. He slides his hand into my hair as pleasure shoots through me with every brush of his lips against mine until I can’t think of anything other than Eli. Eli kisses me like he demands every part of my soul, and won’t stop until it is his, and I don’t want to fight him. I moan a little when he pulls back, getting off the bed and sitting back in his chair.

“Eli,” I whisper.

“You need to rest, but that was real. That is what is between us...chemistry, magic, and fuck knows what else, but I want to find out. What Lisa was trying to do wasn’t real, and I wouldn’t have let it go further. I’m done letting rules fuck with my mind when it comes to you, the rules of this damn curse."

“You can’t, we can't,” I say, thinking of the curse. I couldn’t let him lose his dragon over me. That would destroy everything between us, it would destroy him.

“Things have changed, and I will explain them one day, naughty princess,” he smirks, while I’m just confused.

“What changed?” I say, trying not to yawn, and he looks up,

“Everything,” he says, and I close my eyes, drifting off to sleep with the taste of Eli’s lips on mine and his smoky scent filling my senses.