Reaver

Chapter 7

Counting down the days I slept while healing was hard as they blurred into weeks. There wasn't much I could do, and I never left the small section of the palace I had been brought to. Itching to explore I was denied, being told to rest more instead.

When I was awake he didn't go far from me though and told me the tales of the once great empire created and ruled by his mother. How she had crafted each of the Seven Kingdoms with her own hands over many years, expanding the dragons territory on this continent. How she had taken a harem of her favored males and had each one a king of a different kingdom. Over the years as she rotated her visits she had many children from them all. These being his brothers and a single sister.

Most of them seemed happy memories, but he didn't talk about his captivity much or what really lead up to it.

Slowly we were getting to the part of how he came to end up in that dark cave, but the more he told of his story, the more distant he became, seeming sometimes to not even be here mentally.

I could tell the past weighted on him and I got the sense he himself had gaps in the understanding of what really happened. To me, thru his story telling the world he had lived in went from peaceful days to civil war overnight. So many plots were going on and so many had different controlling factors.

One night the moon was so high in the sky, its silver rays painted the entire palace in gossamer webs of fractured light. Many nights ended like this, creating a fantasy world one could have only dreamed of. It seemed so surreal.

Looking out to the lake I saw the prince dipping his fingers into the water off a set of steps leading into the water from where he sat.

"Why do you do this?" I asked quietly walking up to him, bare feet padding on the smooth stone.

It wasn't my first time seeing him like this either, he sat here almost every night in silence. It was as if he longed for the water but could not bear to be in it.

He almost startled into the water at my sudden appearance, but I caught him about his waist with both hands, firmly clasped, before he could fall in. I refused to let go as I hauled him backwards where he stumbled and both of us went down.

"So full of questions, are you not?" he asked aggrieved, shoving hair out of his face.

He ran a hand through his long hair. Most of which had been put into one long braid that trailed the ground as he walked, but a few strands had come loose and were now teasing his face.

I wanted to reach up and tuck them behind his ear. My own hair was a tussled mess from where I laid on the ground with him on top of me. He was a lot heavier then his slender frame looked, but then again he was very tall.

"Young one, I am a water dragon like you are a fire dragon, however if I am not near water I will die. I must have contact with me element frequently."

"Then take a swim, it won't hurt you," I said out of breath from beneath him. "Or you could just stay where you are. I don't mind. Truly."

The grin in my voice seemed to draw his attention directly back to me and how we were laying, limbs intertwined, faces close together, sharing breath.

His whole body went stiff as a rock, ridged and unmoving.

I squirmed under him to make him feel more uncomfortable, finding this situation very much to my liking. Teasing him had become very fun.

Shooting to him feet, he stumbled away from me, face red not looking in my direction at all.

I laughed softly, pushing myself up to my elbows. "Are you sure? You seem to long for the water."