Beautiful Torment *Book One of the Beautiful series*

26) What do you think?

Lucy lay in the tall grass that bordered the pond some distance from Sabrina's cottage. Her arms were tucked and folded behind her head as she stared at a wispy cloud passing over the sun. Like in the days of her childhood, she tried imagining what sort of creature it looked like--a snake, or perhaps a thin lizard--if only to keep her thoughts from returning to the sorry excuse of a mother back inside, or the even sorrier excuses she had concocted over the years. The ridiculous delusions to ease the obvious guilt she must have felt after leaving Lucy in a bawd house to grow up.

Irritably, Lucy brushed the loose, dark tendrils of her hair from her face. The wind kept stirring them up and it was almost as annoying as her drifting thoughts...the impossible words...

Those thoughts shifted to the prince. If anything Sabrina had said was true, surely it was that dragons were real and Lucy was traveling with one. More than that...she had kissed one, been tempted by the warm lull of his skin, his dark eyes and the flames that danced within them. Looking at it now, she could hardly believe she had not guessed it sooner, all the signs were there and it had to be why she felt such a strange and strong connection to him. Why she craved that unnatural warmth she felt every time they touched. Not the kind of warmth that made him burn hotter than any other human she had met, but the kind that seeped over into her at the slightest brush and bump.

"Copper for your thoughts?"

Lucy was so entranced by her daydreaming she had not heard the prince in question approach her nesting spot.

"May I join you?" He asked with a smile that was surprisingly unsure. Every moment she had known him thus far, he seemed so confident--cool and powerful. Royal to the core. The look of hesitation was more unsettling than her mothers fairytales.

Nodding, Lucy brought her hands out from behind her head as he made himself comfortable on the grassy pond edge beside her. She plucked off a long strand of maiden grass and began shredding it apart over her stomach, if only to keep her hands busy as she waited for him to say something. Her eyes drifted towards him, squinting into the sunlight that reflected off the waters surface.

"Well?" he asked when the silence stretched too thin.

She tilted her head toward him meekly and let her voice soften. "Well what?"

His sigh echoed in the air around them. "Luciana, do not play coy." A stern line formed along his brow as he frowned down at her. "What do you think about what your mother said?"

Sitting up, Lucy dusted the pieces of grass off the front of her dress. She thought long and hard before uttering a single syllable. "I think..." she faltered, reaching again for the right words. "I think she believes what she is saying is true. I think she has convinced herself that the man she fell in love and produced a child with was a god because she cannot face the truth of the awful, selfish thing she did in leaving me behind." She shifted so that her knees were pulled tight to her chest and hugged them. The train of her dress splayed around her like a pool of white water.

"It is the only way she can fathom her choice...by pretending the only way to save me was dumping me in the worst place imaginable." Her eyes trailed back to find him watching her intently, dark gaze brooding but patient. "If...if she really wanted to make a difference, why not hand me over to the dragon I belong to? Would that not have solved everything if she really believes we can stop some evil, dark god?" Lucy shook her head, swallowing hard against the lump of emotion building in the back of her throat. "But no," she said determinedly and balled her fists around her skirts, "real heroes-- those chosen saviors--they only exist in the fables of children."

Alexander stayed silent for a long moment, contemplating her words and waiting to see if she would add any more. When she did not, he cleared his throat and spoke in a deep whisper, "I believe her."