Chapter 38 38
Kaelen's POV:
I couldn't stop thinking about Marcus standing across the street from the bookstore, watching us through the window while Annabeth laughed with her head against my shoulder. That was three days ago and the image kept playing on repeat in my head every time I closed my eyes, every time I looked at her and saw that smile that made my chest ache.
He'd been there in broad daylight, not even trying to hide, just observing his daughter like some kind of ghost who couldn't quite cross over into the world of the living.
The secret was eating me alive.
Every time she texted me, every time we kissed, every time she looked at me with those eyes that turned red when her dragon nature surfaced, I felt the lie sitting in my throat like broken glass. I knew I needed to tell her. Knew the longer I waited the worse it would be when she found out. But I kept telling myself just a little longer, just one more day, one more perfect moment before everything got complicated again.
I was a coward and I knew it.
But today I wanted to do something that had nothing to do with dragons or bonds or secrets that could destroy everything. Something normal. Something real that was just about us, about who we were when we weren't worrying about the Order or training or destiny.
I waited for her outside the science building after her last class, leaning against the brick wall and trying not to look as nervous as I felt. When she came out she spotted me immediately and her whole face lit up in a way that made my heart do that stupid thing where it forgot how to beat properly.
"Hey," she said, walking over and going up on her toes to kiss me. "What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting later for training."
"Change of plans. I want to show you something."
"Show me what?"
"You'll see. Come on."
I took her hand and we walked across campus toward the woods, taking the same path we always used but going deeper this time, past the clearing where we trained. She didn't ask where we were going, just walked beside me with her fingers threaded through mine and trusted me to take her somewhere good.
The place was exactly how I remembered it, hidden deep enough in the woods that no hiking trail came close. I'd found it by accident a few days after we'd arrived in Emberdale, wandering through the forest at night when I couldn't sleep, and I'd never told anyone about it. Not even my siblings.
It was the remains of an old stone well, maybe colonial era, surrounded by the crumbling foundation of whatever building had once stood there. Ivy crawled up the weathered stones and wildflowers had claimed the space inside the broken walls. This time of year, the goldenrod was in full bloom, waves of yellow-gold flowers catching the afternoon light until the whole clearing seemed to glow.
"Oh," Annabeth breathed when she saw it. "Kaelen, this is beautiful."
"I found it when we first moved here. Before I met you." I led her through the gap in the stones where a door used to be. "I used to come here when everything felt like too much. It was the only place that felt... I don't know. Safe, I guess."
"And you never showed anyone?"
"No. Just you."
She looked at me with something soft and overwhelming in her eyes, and I knew she understood what that meant. This wasn't just a pretty spot in the woods. This was me letting her into the one place I'd kept completely to myself.
We sat on the edge of the old well, the stones warm from the sun, golden flowers swaying around us in the breeze.
My hands were sweating and I wiped them on my jeans, which she noticed immediately because she noticed everything.
"Are you nervous?" she asked, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "You're nervous. Why are you nervous?"
"I'm not nervous."
"You're a terrible liar."
If only she knew how true that was in ways she didn't even realize yet.
"Okay, maybe I'm a little nervous," I admitted. "I want to ask you something and I don't want to screw it up."
Her smile faded and she went still beside me, her hand tightening on mine. "Is this about the bond? Because I'm still not ready for that conversation yet, I need more time to—"
"No. God, no, it's not about the bond." I turned to face her properly. "This has nothing to do with dragons or soul bonds or any of that supernatural bullshit. This is just... this is just me asking you something normal."
"Oh." She relaxed slightly. "Okay. What is it?"
I took a breath and just said it before I could overthink it any more than I already had: "I want you to be my girlfriend. Officially. Like, the human way, the normal way, where I ask and you say yes or no and we figure out what that means together without any destiny or permanent connections involved."
She stared at me for a long moment and I couldn't read her expression. Then she started laughing, this genuine delighted sound that made me both relieved and confused.
"What's funny?" I asked.
"I thought we already were," she said, still smiling. "Like, officially. We've been dating for days, we said we care for each other, we've kissed, we've almost done... well, other things. I just assumed we were already boyfriend and girlfriend."
"I know, but I wanted to make it official. Wanted to actually ask instead of just assuming." I reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I wanted you to know that I'd choose you even if there wasn't a bond between us. That this isn't just about destiny or dragon nature or any of that. It's about you, Annabeth. Just you."
Her eyes got that bright look they got when she was trying not to cry, and she leaned forward and kissed me before I could say anything else.
I kissed her back and tried to memorize everything about this moment, the way the afternoon light filtered through the broken walls around us, the smell of wildflowers and her coconut shampoo, the sound of her breathing that matched mine.
When we broke apart she was smiling again, that smile that made everything else fade into background noise.
"Yes," she said. "Obviously yes. I want to be your girlfriend, Kaelen. I want all of it, the normal human relationship stuff and the complicated dragon stuff and everything in between."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
I pulled her against me and she came willingly, curling into my side with her head on my shoulder and her arm around my waist. We sat there on the warm stones surrounded by golden flowers, and I felt happy and guilty in equal measure, the two emotions warring in my chest until I couldn't tell which one was winning.
This perfect moment, this normal beautiful thing we'd just created, was built on lies. On secrets I was keeping and truths I was avoiding. Marcus was out there somewhere watching, the Order was closing in, and I was sitting here pretending we could have something simple when everything about us was impossibly complicated.
"What are you thinking about?" Annabeth asked quietly. "You got all tense."
"Nothing. Just... I'm really happy right now. That's all."
"Me too." She pressed closer. "This is nice. Being normal for once. I could get used to it."
God, I hoped we'd have the chance. Hoped that when the truth came out, when she found out I'd been lying to her about her father being alive, she'd understand why I did it. Hoped she'd forgive me.
But hope was a dangerous thing and I'd learned not to trust it too much.
"So as my official girlfriend," I said, trying to push the dark thoughts away, "what do you want to do? We could go to dinner, or see a movie, or just hang out and be boring."
"Boring sounds perfect actually. I'm so tired of everything being dramatic and intense. Let's just go to your place and watch TV and order pizza like normal people."
"My siblings will be there."
"I know. I like your siblings."
"Marlen's gonna be insufferable about this. She's been waiting for me to officially ask you out for weeks."
"She's thirteen. She's supposed to be insufferable." Annabeth tilted her head up to look at me. "Is this okay? Me being around your family more? I don't want to intrude or make things weird."
"You're not intruding. You're..." I searched for the right words. "You're part of this now. Part of us. They already love you, probably more than they love me at this point."
She laughed and kissed my jaw. "That's not true."
"It's a little true."
We stayed there for a while longer, just sitting together in the fading afternoon light, the goldenrod glowing around us like we were inside a painting. I tried to burn it into my memory. This moment of peace before everything inevitably went to hell. Because it would go to hell, I knew that with absolute certainty. Secrets always came out eventually and lies always had consequences.
I just hoped that when it all came crashing down, she'd remember this moment. Remember that I loved her, that I chose her, that everything I did was to protect her even if it was the wrong choice.
But for now, right now, I had this. I had her hand in mine and her smile against my shoulder and the title of boyfriend that I'd been wanting for weeks.
It would have to be enough.