Prince of Dragons

Chapter Fifty-One

I should have known chaos would ensue, once I caved in to the snowy fun. Not a bad kind of chaos though. Gods, I honestly felt like I was a kid again as I dodged snowball, after snowball—the rush of adrenaline hot through my veins. It was...exhilarating.

Not once did I think of my problems, or anything that had plagued me for months. Evander didn't matter in this moment. Nor did the world my little group had found ourselves in, oh so many months ago. I didn't think about my death, or the second chance I had been graced. My anxiety wasn't flaring, and though I did think of how my family would enjoy this...I was sure they were finding their own ways to enjoy themselves.

For once, my mind was blissfully blank as I ducked behind one of the shacks that held most of our stored produce, my heart racing quickly in my chest.

I peeked around the corner, watching out for my current opponent, only to jump and laugh as a snowball hit me from behind, hearing Narvi giggling when I whipped around and chucked my own snowball towards him—the moon dragon easily dodging out of the way with a grace I kind of envied.

"Hey, that's not fair," I commented, smile on my lips. "I'm not as agile as you, Narvi!"

Narvi appeared beside me, nearly causing me to jump with surprise. When did he get there?

Narvi raised a brow. "I lived in a forest. I had to adapt, you know."

I pursed my lips, ready to apologize for bringing up what was no doubt painful memories for him, but before I could even get a word out of my mouth, Narvi suddenly slammed into me as a massive boulder of snow came crashing against his back, causing the both of us to stumble to the ground from the force.

My breath was knocked out of me, and for a moment, I was confused as to what happened, when Alaban's voice came through my ringing ears. "Oh, sorry, went a little strong with that one. My bad."

He sounded more amused than actually sorry, and I looked at Narvi—the moon dragon having landed on top of me. He pushed himself up, hair pooling around his face as he scrunched his nose and opened his eyes, his light blue gaze locking with mine.

I...I would be a liar if I said Narvi wasn't gorgeous...because he was. The way his hair framed his pinkened face, his pale blue eyes staring curiously at me as my face warmed in embarrassment and...something else.

I awkwardly cleared my throat, ignoring the way Narvi's leg sat in between mine, or the way his hand was splayed on my chest. He was much warmer than I thought he would be, given that he had been out here in the cold for hours now, and after a moment of awkwardly staring at one another in silence, I cleared my throat again, and turned my gaze away.

"Ah, a-are you ok, Narvi?"

Narvi nodded, and gently brushed aside a few strands of my hair that had fallen into my face. This caused my heartrate to pick up, and in turn, my cheeks to darken—as he no doubt could feel the way it suddenly picked up speed. "I'm ok. Are you ok?" He retorted, his fingers now lightly tracing the contours of my face.

I-I wasn't fully sure what was happening here...but I-I didn't...I didn't mind it. I was cold, and Narvi was...warm, and though I was embarrassed with our predicament, I-I...

I nearly jumped when Alaban appeared in my vision—standing above us with an amused smile on his face. "You alright, Drakell?" He asked, helping Narvi stand up before dipping low to help me. I grabbed his arm, gaze firmly on him as I cleared my throat for a third time and brushed the snow off my backside. "I didn't think my spell would be that powerful, I was trying for something a little smaller."

I waved him off, nibbling at my bottom lip. "Just a bit winded, to be honest, but I'm fine. Did you chuck a massive snowball at us? That thing had to be as tall as me."

Alaban chuckled and nodded his head. "I was trying to make a bunch of tiny ones to toss one after another, but ah....it didn't quite work to my advantage." His gaze then dropped and his amused smile turned mischievous. His amber gaze flickered up to meet mine, and confused, my brows pinched before I looked to where he had—sheer embarrassment flooding me when I realized I was...well...you know.

It seemed that Navi falling on me caused a spark to ignite within my body and now I was thoroughly red in the face as I quickly covered myself with a bright red face. I couldn't look at either man as I began walking backwards, stammering like a bumbling idiot.

"I-I-I...I'm going to...u-um, y-you know, go....elsewhere...gods." I muttered the last part under my breath and all but darted to my little cabin, my heart racing wildly in my chest. I rushed to my room and closed the door behind me before leaning against it, trying to calm myself. I then glared down at my current problem, trying to will it to go away.

"Seriously," I muttered to myself, bumping the back of my head against the door. "Of all times, really? Gods, this is so embarrassing." I dragged a hand through my hair—jumping in fright when a knock sounded from behind me.

"You need any help in there, Drakell?" Alaban asked, voice still laced with amusement.

Inhaling, I turned and opened the door, peeking at the other man as those amber eyes peered back. "I hope no one else saw that, Al. Gods, I'm so embarrassed right now."

Alaban chuckled and brushed past me into the room, before sitting on the edge of the bed. "Don't be embarrassed, that kind of thing happens all the time to us men." He tilted his head, gaze reading mine before he gently patted the spot next to him—enticing me to begrudgingly go over and sit. "If it makes you feel better, I had a similar incident happen to me. Except there was a whole gathering of people to witness it."

I glanced at him, intrigued. "Oh really?"

Alaban nodded and shifted his body towards me. "Yeah. We were celebrating...you know I honestly don't remember what we were having a party about, but everyone was in the center of the village, dancing and enjoying themselves. I was...at the cusp of manhood, and we both know how that can be," he chuckled and shook his head. "A boy asked me to dance with him. He was a year older than I was, but I agreed and danced around the fire for quite a while. We had been dancing pretty close, and having such a warm body against mine...well, I'm sure you can guess what happened."

I snorted, feeling a bit less embarrassed now that I knew Alaban experienced the same. "Did anyone see?"

Alaban's cheeks darkened slightly, and he looked away for a moment. "Oh, you know...Aerylin and Evander's parents. And the boy I had been dancing with. He's the one who noticed first, and of course, being young at the time he pointed it out, which in turn caused me to notice, and when I began freaking out, Evander's parents came over to help, as well as Aerylin and...let's just say none of them have let me live it down." He went silent for a moment. "Aerylin likes to remind me of that sometimes—though, all in good fun now."

I felt indefinitely better now, though I felt like I would feel embarrassed if I looked at Narvi again—though that was all on me, not him. Did he feel awkward now? Because of how my body responded to him?

It was hard to read the man sometimes...but maybe he didn't care? Or, if he did would he say something to me? Keep his distance now? Gods, my body was irritating sometimes.

I blinked when Alaban poked the space between my furrowed brows, one of his raised as he watched me. "All that worrying is going to give you wrinkles, dear." He pressed a kiss against my neck, just under my ear, causing a shiver to dart up my spine. "Besides, you weren't the only one affected by Narvi."

I blinked, and slowly turned to look at him. "You?"

Alaban chuckled and shook his head. "Me? I mean obviously, but I'm talking about Narvi." He pressed his lips against the shell of my ear—his breath warm against my cooled off skin. "He was affected by you too."

A/N: Heheheheheheheheheh