Page 47 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
“This is a wonderful gesture by Dirk,” she said bluntly. “I’m disappointed in you. You’re being rude. And petty.”
I sighed, the callout stinging more because I knew it was true. I was trying to shut down my emotions, to distance myself from it.
Milly wasn’t taking it. “You asked him to do this. You need to give him a chance.”
“That’s the problem,” I said quietly. “I don’t know if I can. If I lead him on and then can’t? He doesn’t deserve that.”
“You don’t know you can’t. You two are fated. Yes, his marks are there,” Milly said, bursting through my argument. “But your dragon had to like it for it to happen. Stop acting like he did this consciously and willingly.”
I couldn’t deny that, recalling the way she had preened for him.
“It’s not that easy,” I protested, looking to Anna for help, but she was just sitting there silently, not taking sides.
“Yes, it is,” Milly said. “It’s not like he bit you or took advantage of you. Is he really that bad?”
“It’s not him!” I shouted, standing up as unwanted memories came to the surface. “It’s me. Okay? I’m the problem. It’s me.”
“Do you want to tell us about it?” Anna asked, speaking up at last.
“No.”
Shame filled me. I wasn’t strong enough. Not for my friends, or Dirk, and most definitely not for myself.
Rushing from the library, I ran back to my room, where yetmoreflowers awaited me on the door. I snatched them up andran inside, tossing them on a table without bothering to read the note. I was sure it was lovely, but I couldn’t. Not now.
I flopped face-first into the bed with a frustrated cry. IknewDirk was being a sweetheart. I could see that he was trying, that he meant well, and that he was sorry for what he’d done. I knew all that. I truly did.
So why was it so damn hard to open up and talk to him? Or even about him?
What would I say? That his kind stole from me, removed any chance I could love someone like him. Ever?
How do you tell your fated mate that you can’t be with them because on the inside there’s only emptiness?
Twenty-Three
Dirk
The journey tothe northern border was long and arduous, and by the time we entered the mountains themselves, all but the strongest were in need of a break. It pained Caz and me, and likely everyone else, to sit idle, but to face the Reds after such a frantic flight would have been disastrous.
It was already going to be a bloodbath.
Now we gathered our strength under the smoke-filled air of Hollow Earth. Florian marched back and forth across the flat plateau, barking orders and encouragement at the fighters who had accompanied us. Few of the Elites on the council had come with, though that wasn’t unexpected.
Most of them are cowards anyway, who would be of little help and just get in the way.
Over forty hard-faced soldiers formed the heart of our counter-attack, veterans all. They would be the anvil. Caz and I would be the hammer.
“It is time, little brother,” rumbled Casimir Dvorak IV, Ice Tyrant. He got to his feet, leading by example.
The others rose with their tyrant, their faces hard, eyes cold and focused. This was their kingdom. Their home that hadbeen invaded. We had all seen the smoke from the burned-out villages. Seen the convoys of refugees streaming southward to the larger cities.
The Reds were going to learn a painful lesson. They were going to pay.
Marching to the edge of the plateau in lockstep with Casimir, we shifted and leapt into the air. Behind us came a veritable wave of ice dragons, all with one single goal—revenge.
“Faster,” Florian urged his men as they winged their way after Casimir and me.
We crossed a mountaintop and were greeted with the sight of a village under attack. Ruby-red dragons wheeled and dove, breathing lines of explosive flames across the buildings and people within.
