Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Rodrigo.
Now what was his king doing out here when he should be busy at the camp?
Rodrigo swooped over the building once in a lazy circle before backflapping and landing lightly on the cement roof, shifting back into human. He smoothed his hair down with one hand as he walked closer, those sharp blue eyes evaluating Luka with a paternal air.
“Did you come looking for me? Or is this a chance meeting?” Luka’s bet was on the former.
“You are lucky it is not my lovely wife who hunted you down,” Rodrigo responded mildly as he took a seat next to Luka, his legs dangling over the side.
That was all the answer Luka needed.
“What ails you, child?”
The question, spoken in soft tones, almost broke Luka. Where to even begin?
“You ran from Vasily. That alone tells me something is very wrong.”
Even those words felt like an understatement. Catastrophic was the word Luka would’ve used.
He had to stop and think about it. Not because he didn’t know what was wrong, but he had to figure out where to start to explain it all. In the end, he went for the most succinct explanation. Frankly, Luka was afraid his throat would close up and seize before he could get everything out.
“The inevitable happened. I have lost Vasily to Amaru.”
God above, those words felt like acid on his tongue. He had no alcohol on him to ease the pain either, which felt like a travesty just then. For the first time in a long while, Luka desperately wished to get drunk.
Rodrigo put an arm around his shoulders in comfort. “Are you so sure of that?”
The question didn’t make any sense to him. He looked into Rodrigo’s face, trying to riddle out his true meaning.
When Rodrigo held his eyes and he did not see anything else, Luka protested, “Haven’t you seen them together?”
“I have, yes.”
“And isn’t it obvious to you? That they belong together?”
“I have also seen the three of you together and made the same observation. The three of you are picture-perfect together.”
Rodrigo was not a man who wasted effort on pointless optimism. He had always been the type to say things directly without sugarcoating. Luka knew this. He knew, but in this moment, he could not help but question it.
And yet, the small part of Luka that had not given up hope desperately wanted Rodrigo to be right. That hope felt like grasping a burning coal tightly in his fist. Despite the fact that it burned, he could not bring himself to let go of it.
Rodrigo’s expression softened to one of pity. He patted Luka’s shoulder as if comforting a child.
“I’ve never said this aloud to any of you, but there was a time I saw no hope for the clan. In those bleak days after the war, after everything we lost, I did not see how any of us would survive. I did not see how any of us who still had not found their mates would ever be truly fulfilled. My heart broke for all of you, but also for myself.”
It had been something they had all worried about. Luka understood. “Everyone in the clan hoped and prayed you would find your mate first if mages ever showed up again.”
Rodrigo chuckled, the sound so low it could barely be heard. “Well now, that’s damn counterproductive. I was praying everyone else would find theirs first. But the point I’m making is this: In those dark, dark days I did not see hope. I did not see a path forward. But despite the bleakness around us, I chose to create hope. That was one thing I refused to let go of.”
It was because of his hope, because of that drive they had moved to Brazil. Which was one of the better decisions the clan had ever made. They had healed in this land in so many different ways.
Rodrigo’s tone shifted, no longer comforting, but advising. “Hope is a choice and it is work. It’s choosing to rise above your fear and listen to what your heart and dragon are saying without letting fear rule you.”
“I feel…” Luka had to clear his throat and try again. It felt very difficult to speak right now. Honestly, all he wanted to do was curl into Rodrigo’s arms and cry. “I feel there is no hope to be found in the situation.”
“I think the only reason you cannot see hope is because you have the blinders of fear on.”
Luka was arrested in place as surely as if those words had been a spell. Rodrigo meant every word, that was clear from his expression, and it made Luka wonder what he had missed. What had he failed to realize or see because of those blinders fear had put over his senses? Was he jumping to all the wrong conclusions?
That tendril of hope, the one that refused to be snuffed out, wormed its way back through him. This time he grasped it firmly, voice shaking as he asked, “You would not be sitting here talking to me about this unless you knew something for sure, right?”