The Last Dragon King (Kings of Avalier #1)(6)

I wanted my world to spin.

Because my father died so young, I’d been thrust into the life of hunting and wearing trousers and sharpening my blade. Don’t get me wrong: I liked that life, but it made it hard for the other boys to see me as a kissable girl.

I want to be kissed, dammit.

A lump formed in my throat as nervousness built in my stomach. I swallowed it down and leaned forward before I fully lost my nerve. Trailing up his chin with my thumbs, I felt the stubble and sharp jawline of a man that was definitely not Nathanial.

I froze, panicked.

Nathanial still had a baby face, no stubble, and his jaw was chiseled but not that much. Upon feeling this manly wide jaw and stubble, I wondered if I should go for his cheek. I was so set on kissing Nathanial that confronted with proof this wasn’t him, I wanted to back out.

But then his lips were on mine as he made the first move, breaking the cardinal rule of the May Day tent. A small electric spark shocked my skin and I gasped. He did the same—both of us inhaling the other’s surprise. Heat traveled down to my core and I leaned forward, deepening the kiss.

His lips were soft and unsure at first, but then they opened and I slid my tongue inside just like Kendal told me to and it collided with his. A small moan escaped him and my world spun as a grin pulled at the corners of my mouth. His hands at my waist stroked a smooth circle on my hips while his tongue did the same in my mouth.

Holy Maker.

This was the best first kiss a girl could hope for. My stomach burned with heat and my heart grew fluttering wings in my chest. The warm pillowy lips on mine made everything in me scream for more.

“Alright, it’s getting hot in here!” Brenna announced with a laugh. “Take off those blindfolds and meet your match, my young lovebirds!”

All at once he fell away from me, the lips, the hands, the warmth, the butterflies. It was as if I’d been plunged into a frigid ice bath. I reached up, frantically yanking the blindfold down, and came face to face with the back of the white tent.

He was gone.

An ache formed in my chest. My throat tightened as I cleared it, trying not to show emotion but feeling as if I’d just been left at the altar. You didn’t run away from a May Day match unless you thought the kiss was awful and you never wanted to see them again.

I peered to my left and the hole in my chest grew wider. Nathanial was beaming down at a flushed Ruby Ronaldson. Her inky black hair fell in soft waves to her waist, where Nathanial held her hips tightly over her green silk dress. Ruby was a baker. She was feminine and wore dresses and knew how to cook—perfect wife material, and everything I was not.

Tears blurred my vision but I blinked them back. I didn’t want to be here anymore, this was stupid. Turning around, I snuck out of the side opening of the tent and went in search of my mother.

She’d looked so scared earlier, and now I welcomed whatever distraction she was about to throw at me. Anything to forget that world-changing kiss and aching goodbye.





TWO





I stepped into our home and the scent of the boiling cougarin stew made my mouth water. My gaze flicked to my traveling pack leaned up against the wall. It had been cleaned and looked fully stocked and ready to go.

“Mom, you’re scaring me. Why did you pack my bag? I just got back.”

She set my pile of dirty clothes in the washing hamper and then turned to face me with tears in her eyes. “I sent your sister to play with Violet so we have some time to say goodbye privately.”

My eyes nearly fell out of my skull. “Goodbye? Mom, I’m not going anywhere. I just got home from a week on the road.” Not to mention I just got left in the kissing tent and was now mortified. Whoever my world-tilting kisser was, I wanted to avoid him now at all costs. I wanted to go into my room, cry myself to sleep, and then stay in bed for the next two days.

My mom wrung her hands together, shaking her head, which made her dark brown curls fall away from her face. “I’ve kept a dark secret from you your entire life,” she said and I froze.

I reached out and grasped the edge of the chair, not prepared for those words to ever leave my mother’s lips. “What are you talking about?”

My mother stepped closer, picking up my travel bag and handing it to me. “You have to leave before the sniffers find you.”

I took the bag but then let it fall to my feet. Reaching out, I grasped my mother’s shoulders and looked her right in the eyes. “What dark secret?”

It was something you never wanted to hear anyone close to you say. Now I was full-on freaking out. Why did I need to keep the sniffers from finding me? They smelled magic on people and I barely had any. I would be of zero interest to them.

She sighed, and her breath smelled of sage and rosemary, reminding me of my childhood. She loved chewing on the herbs while cooking.

“Your father and I tried for a child for five winters but the healer said there was something wrong with his seed.”

Her words cut right through me, causing chills to break out on my arms. What was she saying?

“You are my child. My daughter,” she growled, reaching out to grasp my forearms as if trying to convince me.

That declaration made me sick. Of course I was her daughter. Why is she telling me I am her daughter?

“But another woman birthed you,” she said, and I dropped my arms, breaking out of her grasp, and collapsed into the chair beneath me. My chest heaved, my breath coming out in ragged gasps.