It had been two weeks since my last tryst with Kavryiss and my thoughts were endlessly wrapped up in him. I wondered if he was thinking of me; if he believed in me like he said he did or if he was just placating me.

I stood in the Vorteous wing with the D’Sharr and Athena, who had brought my son to visit by order of the D’Karr. His little treat for me since he hadn’t been able to see me for some time. Too busy with other women.

My son sat before me and played with the Zallu I had brought home. The little golden shifter’s wings popped in and out of his back chasms, little ones being less in control of their abilities. He chased the pink ball of fluff around the room with vigor, laughing through chubby cheeks as the creature continually evaded him.

For its part, the Zallu buzzed and vibrated and seemed equally as amused by my son.

I looked up and watched as the D’Sharr stared out her front window and craned her neck to the sky far, far above the pit.

The human crew had come back to destroy the sun. While we were confined to our quarters, we had heard the mission didn’t go very well.

The sun was damaged by the laser, and now pieces of it fell to Dobromia, making it hotter than ever, with flames bursting to the surface below and creating great pools of lava.

“Where’s Kavryiss?” the D’Sharr asked, looking down at me as I sat cross-legged on her floor. “He hasn’t been by to guard us for some time now. Perhaps he’s off with another conquest. Leaving his post for some fruitless chase, as men seem to do.”

I narrowed my eyes but never made eye-contact with her, trying to stay as respectful as I could. “Perhaps he's just busy with the sun, and all.”

“Do I detect a hint of jealousy?” the D’Sharr burst forth with laughter that was so great it caused the other girls to turn and look at me.

Athena, who had brought my son to me, watched from across the room, sewing slowly and darting her eyes up between myself and Sillevia.

“I have no need to be jealous,” I said confidently. “I am very well taken care of by my love,” I seethed. “And what Kavryiss does with his own time is his business.”

I said it to bother her, of course, I did. The truth was, I wanted to know where Kavryiss was, and if he was with someone else, I thought my heart might break all over again.

The D’Sharr looked at me with a growing fire behind her eyes, her pupils growing small and looking at me with absolute hatred.

She stood before me, and her lip twitched suddenly. “You wanton slut,” she said and lifted her white tail up and slapped it across my face, causing a great crack to sound out and my ears to buzz and echo.

I could feel the burning sting hit my face like salt on a wound and the sheer force of it knocked the wind out of me and sent me flying backward.

The Zallu came rushing forward to the D’Sharr, growling and vibrating as it bared is teeth to her. She let out a thundering roar to the pink creature and whacked it with her tail, sending it tumbling across the floor.

I looked up at her in shock, my head spinning and stars overtaking my vision.

With that, the D’Sharr and her ladies took their leave of us. I watched the white queen leave the room with a misplaced elegance and grace. As soon as the door shut, I crumpled to the ground and raced for the Zallu, picking him up and brushing him lightly with my fingers. His black eyes looked up at me with confusion, and I set him back on the ground where he nuzzled against my leg.

“You need to work on your people skills,” Athena said with a smug smirk as she dropped to her knees and grabbed my shoulders. She tilted my head back and inspected the smack. I could already feel the golf ball sized lump forming on the side of my cheek.

“Coming from you, I must be pretty bad,” I said with a defeated laugh.

The tan soldier looked at me with serious eyes, as she usually did, and pursed her lips for a moment before running to grab a cold cloth. She set the freezing fabric on my cheek and held it there.

“Sorry, I’m not a nurse,” She sucked her lips into her mouth and then gave a shrug. “But I do work with little kids, and they notoriously like to get hurt all the time, so…” She began to laugh. “Besides Plovoeus, of course!”

“Of course,” I mocked and felt a tear spill down the side of my face. I took the cloth from her and pressed it hard into the bruise. “Thank you. I know it doesn't put you in the best position to do that, but it will one day.”

Athena gave a sigh so big that her body seemed to crumple inward from the effort. She looked up at me and shook her head.

“You know, for someone who just did something nice, you aren't a very sweet girl,” I mocked.

“You need to learn to keep your mouth shut!” she said with widened eyes. “Even if you end up being the queen, or whatever, it doesn't help for you to shout it all around, especially not to Sillevia.”

I raised my brows and shrugged her off. “Have you seen your sister yet?”

“No,” she said forcefully.

“I hear they have some grand plan to destroy the sun. One of them anyway,” I offered, and she looked absolutely floored. “Oh, come on, you probably heard from Vaikrand or someone?”

“No...” She let the silence overtake her; eyes elsewhere. “Nobody told me.”

“Why won't you see her? You really feel like she betrayed you or...?”

She breathed and looked at the ground; twisting a dry cloth and wrapping it around her fingers so hard that they turned blue. “I waited and waited...”

I swallowed. “In the tower?”

She nodded. “The truth is, I don't know if I don't want to see her because I don't know who she is anymore, or if I don't know who I am. Happy?”

“Yeah,” I coughed and motioned toward my swollen face. “Can’t you see me doing my happy dance?”

Athena breathed a laugh through her nose, and the silence filled the room like a cold sting. Finally, I piped up, “Or you don't want her to see who you've become now?”

The girl raised her brows as though she were considering my answer and then twirled her hand as if to say, ‘There you have it.’

“This place does things to you,” I said solemnly. I looked down at Plovoeus and patted his bum, sending him off to play with the rest of the children. “I never wanted to be this person. Believe it or not.”

“Not,” she laughed. “You seem to have sunk into the role pretty happily.”

“I don’t like to go kicking and screaming, unlike some,” I mocked. “And now that I’m here, I want to do something with it: with any power I get here.”

Athena stared off into the distance, completely lost in thought. “Then maybe you will,” she said absent-mindedly. “It isn't enough to get by here. They need... help.”

“We need an alliance. We need a terra-formation project, spearheaded by Earth.”

Athena blew air from her lips and nodded slowly. “I'd back it. As long as... they don't come back to Earth. We have to bring the project to Dobromia.”

“Are you being serious right now, or are you mocking me? I’m not used to you being nice, so I honestly can’t tell,” I laughed.

“I’m being serious,” she chuckled.

“Wow,” I breathed. “My first supporter. Boy, do I feel proud.”

“Geez, it's almost like we're having a moment or something.”

I ran my hand through my hair bashfully and grinned wryly. “I know, I feel disgusting.”

The blonde laughed and set her hands on her thighs, looking down at the floor and avoiding my gaze. She was so shut off to friendship, to a real life here.

I swallowed hard and set my hand on hers to get her attention. With a quick sigh, I said, “I have to tell you something.”

“Oh no,” she blanched playfully. “This means we're actually friends, doesn't it? I confided in you; you're about to confide in me.”

I paused for a moment that felt like hours, sure that her eyes were reading the truth in mine already. When she said nothing, I looked around the room and then blurted out, “I slept with Kavryiss...”

“Ugh,” she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose with annoyance. “Are you crazy? Or just plain stupid? These shifters need to keep their dicks in their pants. This shit can't keep happening.”

I bared my teeth nervously and said, “I take it you're having Marina flashbacks?”

“I'm having a 'what the hell is wrong with you' moment, yeah. So? What the hell is wrong with you?”

With a slippery shrug, I smiled and said, “He sort of, it just h—”

She cut me off. “Please don’t say 'it just happened' because that's basically the worst excuse for anything. Ever. Steps were taken. One decision after another. Then he was screwing you. That's not an impulse buy. He isn't gum!”

My eyes went wide with embarrassment, and I laughed, “Geez! Point proven! Look...”

“What?”

I swallowed, but it was my pride this time as I said, “Boradrith has other mistresses.”

“Huh,” she said.

I watched the girl’s large blue eyes take on something of a shocked expression, and I felt even worse then. Even Athena was expecting the D’Karr to be faithful to me—the biggest pessimist in the world.

“That's it?” I frowned. “Huh?”

“Well, I don't know! I guess I find it hard to believe I don't think I've ever seen someone so in love with someone else since the two of you got together. He parades you around like...”

I wrinkled my nose and filled in the blanks. “Like his one true happiness?”

“Eww,” she said quickly. “Well, not so cheesy but, yeah. Still... you sure chose a hell of a dangerous guy to cheat on.”

“It's not...”

“What?” she laughed. “It's not cheating? Sorry, sugar, but unless he assaulted you, then it is. And you know one of the biggest reasons people get caught with affairs?”

I shrugged.

“Because people don't keep their mouths shut. So, I suggest that you and ole purple do exactly that!”

The tears streamed down fluidly now, an endless stream of solemn tears. My chin trembled under the weight of my emotion, and I grabbed her hand into mine like a desperate child. “You're the only person I have in the world. Do you know what that's like?”

“In fact, I do.”

I licked my lips. “Nobody here believes in me. I have no one to talk to. The only person I had was Boradrith, and he doesn't love me.”

She breathed carefully, “So you slept with Kavryiss?”

I shook my head and lay it down on her thigh, still holding the cold towel to my cheek. “T-that's not what I meant.”

“What is it then?” Athena asked as she rubbed her hand along my arm. I didn’t think there was anything maternal in her, but it turned out there was, and it was everything I needed. “Is this like... a full-blown affair, as in, you care about him?”

“No, of course not,” I cried and then my heart fluttered. “I don’t think.” I shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought it was just sex.”

“Right,” she paused and seemed to think about the sentence before she gave a small laugh and said, “With Kavryiss, really? How was it?”

I looked up at her and laughed through my cries. “Good. Sweet. He's sweet.”

The blonde blinked: deadpanned. “Kavryiss?”

Another laugh. “Deep. Deep down.”

“Way down,” she added with a grin.

“I think I care about him,” I said with a drawn-out sigh. I hadn’t even thought the words until now. “He seems to…” I paused. “Don’t laugh. But he seems to believe in me.”

“How does he feel about you?”

“Oh,” I waved her off. “He hates me, but I guess that’s the theme of my life on Dobromia.”

“I doubt it,” she soothed quietly, suddenly comforting once more. “Kavryiss is a warrior, that's all. They don't express like they should. Actually, that goes for most shifters. They're all alphas. He doesn't hate you, he just... likes to fight against you.”

“Boradrith didn't,” I argued. It was all I knew here.

“Boradrith... is a D’Karr. He has the means to impress and spoil you.”

“If I were you... No, forget it!”

“No, please!” I insisted. “Tell me!”

“Keep going to Boradrith like you do... If you really have a plan for Earth to make an alliance or to help then, just continue as things are. But stop boning Kavryiss. If Boradrith is still parading you around like his grand prize then... I say run with it. If you really have aspirations to change the world? Do it. Don't let him stand in your way.”

“Really?”

She smiled. “I believe in you. That's one in a million. Don't let it be for nothing.”

I nodded to her and picked myself up off the floor, asking her to take my son back to safety. Without another word, I left the D’Sharr’s quarters.

Finding my way through the passages of the underground pit had become increasingly easy the longer I stayed on the planet. Maneuvering the quickest routes to the D’Karr’s bedroom became as easy as walking through my own house.

I stood at the bottom of a long staircase in front of Boradrith’s door and stared at the doorknob. Athena encouraged me to pursue the relationship for political gain.

It was a good plan.

Yet, as I stared at the knob, I couldn’t force myself to turn it. With the crack of sun chipped off, the world had gone into complete darkness. There were guard’s everywhere now.

I thought about sleeping with Boradrith, getting pregnant to appease him. I thought about how high he had built me up politically and all my visions for Dobromia’s future. He made these a reality for me. Yet, thinking about stepping into his room filled me with nothing but guilt and disgust.

My mind flicked unwillingly over to Kavryiss, and my body erupted with butterflies. If he was really sleeping with someone else, as Sillevia suggested, then I wanted him dead. I wasn’t about to let another Weredragon break my heart.

And it was just then that I realized my heart was with him after all. That was it. I wanted him.

As though he could read my mind, the amethyst dragon approached me, his footsteps echoing through the metallic halls. He wore a large leather overcoat lined with thick furs. He looked handsome and sexy, and it was all I could do not to rip it off of him.

Instead, I crossed my arms and gave a calculated smile. “If it isn't my friend Kavryiss,” I said seductively.

“Friend,” he repeated as though he were testing the word in opposition.

I raised a brow. “Or whatever we are.”

He smirked. “I'm open to your interpretation.”

“Well, you sleep with me and then go screw some shifters, so... if I knew what that meant, I guess I would know more about my standing with Boradrith, too.”

He went to speak but then thought better of it. He narrowed his eyes and watched me carefully. Finally, he said, “I'm not sleeping with anybody.”

“Uh huh.”

“Who told you that?” he demanded.

“You know,” I said smugly; wistfully, “if I'm going to be with a cheat, then I'll at least stay with the one who makes me feel like a queen; not the one who talks down to me.”

“I haven't been with anyone else,” he insisted and walked up to me, grabbing my arm and turning me to him.

“Leave me alone,” I said and jerked away from his touch.

His eyes were fiery and full of determination. He set his jaw and gripped my arm harder, pulling me toward him and kissing me. “I came looking for you,” he said forcefully.

“Kavryiss,” my voice was thick with fury and fear as I pulled away from him and looked around the hallway. On any given night, it should have been crawling with the D’Karr’s warriors. “Look at where we are,” I seethed under my breath and enunciated, “Let me go.”

“I want you,” he whispered with a husky breath.

“Too bad,” I said scornfully.

The dark shifter grabbed my waist and pulled me close to him, moving the hair away from my neck and licking and nipping at it lustfully. I could feel his dick harden and instinctively reached for it.

“I need you,” he whispered.

I scowled, stroking him with my hand. “No, you don't.”

His eyes flicked back and forth between mine, and there was a sincerity there that I couldn’t read. “I can't stop thinking about you,” he said, casting lusty breaths into my ear as I worked the length of him in my hand.

He grabbed my waist and pulled my skirt above my hips. He tested me with his finger and then all at once fixed himself inside me, filling me from wall to wall with a thick mass. I gasped at the intrusion and shook my head, trying to push him away from me.

“Not here,” I begged, looking around frantically for anyone who might be watching from the halls. “Don’t do this; not here. Not while people can walk up.”

“Diana,” he said, thrusting hard into me. “I can’t stop thinking about what it might be like for us…”

“You can't stand me,” I said with a deep frown and wrapped my arms around his neck to steady myself before eagerly riding him, giving into the new emotions welling up in me.

“I was with Tredorphen,” he said through his breaths, pulsing powerfully into my wetness.

I watched him with lust and fear and wasn’t sure what the hell we were doing anymore. Did he want to come, or did he just need to possess me? Did he just want to feel me around him? Why was he talking so much?

“Him and Marina, you should see it,” he said quickly.

“This is really weird dirty talk,” I said with a confused smile and grinding against him.

“I want that,” he said firmly. “All I want is what they have, with you.”

“...I missed you,” I said in a quiet panic, breathing hard into his ear.

He pulled his neck away to get a better view of me, and he smiled. “I love you,” he said, and I felt as though a seed was planted inside me: a flower bursting forth into life. A new love.

I stared into his wide-set eyes and brushed his brows with my thumbs. With my best throaty, dismissive laugh I said, “No, you don't.”

“No,” he said, almost humorously disgusted with himself, burying himself deep inside me. “I do.”

“Well, I don't love you,” I whispered.

“I think you do.”

I thought about it and couldn’t rightly give him an answer. The sight of him filled my whole body with butterflies. When I saw his tall stature and thick wings, I wanted to be wrapped up in them, completely enveloped by his warmth and safety and beliefs. But I couldn’t be sure whether I loved him, or simply loved the way he made me feel.

My lips grabbed his for one last sticky kiss, and I shrugged and said, “You can think what you like.”

He went silent then and continued thrusting into me as we made love standing up in the hall of the Weredragon king’s quarters.