Frozen Wolf, Fire Dragon

Chapter 9

The cold started to leave Eve’s body as fire surrounded her.

As her strength waned, her vision blurred as well. She had to try harder and harder to stand straight on her legs as they became weak and wobbly.

Seeing this, the man began to mock her. “Watching you struggle to live... It’s pitiful. It’s no use.”

“I-I—”

“I’m not merciful enough to listen to your last words,” he interrupted coldly.

As if in response to him hearing enough, the fire surrounding them grew bigger and hotter. The massive snow drifts that had built up over many cold years started melting away into nothing. All because of this one powerful man.

It was clear that he assumed Eve had kidnapped Rahel. Hoping desperately to clear up this misunderstanding, Eve did her best to explain quickly.

Using the last of her remaining strength, she said, “Please, you must listen—”

“Don’t try and fight me.”

“Listen to me!”

Eve grabbed his wrist, and the interaction suddenly caused his heat to begin passing into her body. It was at that moment that she thought she really might faint, but unexpectedly, the fire surrounding them instantly disappeared. Even the crimson fire coming from the man was extinguished. It was as if someone had dumped water on them and everything around them.

Surprised, he stared down at Eve. “You...”

“Wait, what?” she mumbled in confusion.

She wanted to knock his head in with an apple so badly, but she couldn’t. She had no energy left to do anything. A biting breeze blew around them and scattered some snowflakes into the dark night. Eve’s vision was blurry as she struggled to talk.

“Your sister... I was... protecting her...”

“What?”

“Is this how... you repay... kindness? You...”

You bastard... Finishing that sentence in her head, Eve’s body finally gave out.

He instinctively grabbed her before she fell and looked down at her in confusion. His fire magic had burned his parents to death. He expected it would be the cause of his own death someday. That is how strong he was, but his magic had been completely wiped away by her mere touch. How was that possible?

He stared at her semi-conscious form in bewilderment.

“Eve!”

From far away, a familiar voice shouted at them. Noelier rose to his feet, holding Eve lightly in his arms. He recognized the voice of Rahel—the sister he’d been searching for for so long.

“Don’t hurt my sister-in-law, you jerk!”

He thought she had come running joyously to see him, but apparently her attention was on someone else. Noelier looked at his sister in disbelief. Rahel, who had been the cause of all this ruckus, must not have recognized him in his cloak. Without hesitation, she came running right up, her eyes full of tears.

Oh, she’s coming to help me. I guess all this was worth the effort... Eve thought hopefully, her mind not having completely faded into unconsciousness yet.

She could faintly hear Rahel shouting still but couldn’t understand what she was saying as her mind went dark.

“Eve!”

That was the last thing she heard as her eyes fell shut.

* * *

Hearing windows rattling, I slowly opened my eyes at the noise. The familiar wooden ceiling told me I was at home.

Am I dreaming?

I blinked, trying to bring my vision into focus.

I’m pretty sure a man was trying to attack me...

I wasn’t sure if what had happened was just a dream.

Oh, yeah! I remember it now!

It was just like in a mystery where the detective has an epiphany scene and all of the puzzle pieces finally fall into place.

That damn dragon!

He wouldn’t have done something to harm the kids, would he? I shot up at the horrible thought, all my mental fog disappearing.

“Eve!”

“Sis!”

Sion and Rahel came running in and plowed into me so forcefully that they knocked the wind out of me.

“Oops, s-sorry! Are you all right?”

“Sis, you’re okay now, right?”

“I-I’m fine... But can you guys get off me, please?” I croaked at them. My babies had grown so big and heavy.

I forced myself to smile as I sat back up. Letting me go, the children leaned against the wooden bed as they looked at me with sad puppy-dog eyes.

“How do you feel?” Rahel asked with a worried face.

“I feel just fine now, thanks.”

“Thank goodness...” Her face relaxed a bit, relieved by my answer.

Heaving a big sigh, Sion’s expression of fear began to change into relief and tears started to form in his big eyes.

“I-I thought you were g-going to die...” said Sion, sniffling. Rahel’s eyes started to well up with tears as well.

“Ack, you dummy, why are you crying? See? I’m all awake now and fine!”

“I-I was s-so scared,” he blubbered.

“Hey! I was scared too...” Rahel whined. Although she was trying to look more composed, she began sniffling as well.

Soon they both had tears streaming down their faces and were sobbing, glancing at each other and realizing how upset they both were. I knew that stopping children from crying like this was nigh impossible once they started, and I started to feel seriously alarmed.

“Hey now, d-don’t cry, okay? I’m really fine.” I scrambled out of bed and opened my arms wide, letting them fall into me so we could all hug.

“I-I thought you’d never wake up,” sobbed Sion.

“I can’t l-lose you before w-we’re family...” hiccupped Rahel.

“Don’t ever leave us...”

“Please don’t leave us!”

What were they talking about? Did they think I was going somewhere or something? The kids continued to babble while pressing their faces against me. Judging by how damp my clothes were getting, they must have been holding back tears for quite some time.

I smiled gently and patted them on the back soothingly. After a little while, the children calmed down and let go of me. Their swollen eyes were so adorable. I couldn’t help but tease them by poking their cheeks.

Sniffling, Sion said, “Oh, that man went outside for a bit. He said he’d be back in a minute.”

“A man?” I asked, doubting I had heard him right.

“Yeah,” Sion responded with a big pouty lip, clearly thinking I hadn’t believed him. Then I realized who he must be talking about.

The Crimson Cloak’s brother. The dragon who was fated to eventually destroy himself because of his inability to control his overpowering magic.

It was the start of the novel drama!

I thought back to what had happened just before I’d passed out. Powerful flames had surrounded me, and I had tried to explain to him that I’d been protecting his sister, but he’d refused to listen and had been about to kill me...

I could vividly recall him looking at me with those eerie red eyes. I shuddered at the memory.

He’d tried to kill me, so I’d grabbed his wrist, and then...

I must have passed out immediately after that.

It felt like he had sucked all the power out of my body.

I gasped. I remembered something more! I quickly touched the top of my head and my butt. Thankfully, nothing was protruding. It seemed like I’d been able to keep my ears and tail hidden still.

Guess he hasn’t found out then...

I had at least gained myself a bit more time before becoming a roast dinner. I sighed in relief, but just then the old door creaked loudly as it was flung open.

“This door is too fragile. It’s practically useless...” The man with black hair and red eyes walked in grumbling.

Shaking off the snow on his shoulders, we made eye contact. My mind went blank. Oh, wow.

“So... you’re awake. I was worried you wouldn’t wake up,” he said, his face showing what looked like genuine concern.

Not knowing how to respond, I stayed silent. The moment my eyes met his, only one thought popped into my head. All I could think was...

Hot damn!

It might have been a rather strong reaction, and one might say, “Really? That’s all you thought?” but that’s genuinely all I could think of after seeing his appearance.

Of course, I had figured that Rahel’s brother would be handsome, considering the fact that Rahel was such a beauty herself, but this was on another level.

Why didn’t anyone mention he was this handsome?

I had often thought northerners were good-looking, but now I knew that had been only because of my lack of knowledge.

This is why people should get out there and explore the world.

All I could do was gawk at him, completely forgetting that he had almost killed me with his own hands.