Dragons Don't Cry by Suzie Ivy

Bastian wasn’t speaking and neither was I.
    He swooped down until I could see the blue
water of a large lake. He’d brought me here before. His talons
released me when we were about five feet above the water, leaving
me no time to even take a breath. I came up sputtering, moving my
plastered wet hair from my face. Bastian turned around and headed
back. He made a nosedive and at the last possible moment shifted to
human form before entering the water. If I wasn’t so angry, I would
appreciate the show. I dove under and propelled myself away from
where he entered.
    It didn’t matter; he came up from below and
captured my waist in his hands, bringing me to the surface.
    “Have you cooled down?” he said while
nuzzling my ear.
    “I hate you.”
    “I know, but you love me too. I’m sorry.”
His arms squeezed around me while we tread water.
    I was glad I faced away from him. “It hurts,
Bastian. Even knowing Jonathan will be well and live a long life,
it hurts.”
    His chin rested on my shoulder and I let him
hold me. After a long while, I finally shivered from the cool
water, and Bastian began kicking his feet and moving us toward the
shore. Water dripped from my clothing making me cold and
uncomfortable. Bastian wasted no time removing my garments. He
wrung them out, laying them on a large rock a few feet away from
the water’s edge. He took my hand and pulled me higher up the bank
so we could rest in the grass. He gathered me close, his warm body
stopping my chills.
    I looked into his beautiful dark eyes. It
was past time we had this talk. “Why have you never had
children?”
    He looked off in the distance. “I think it
was an unintended gift from the goddess when she cursed us. It
takes two dragons to produce dragon offspring. If our brides could
have children, they would be human and we would watch them die as
we do our brides. It’s hard to think of never having children as a
gift, but I don’t think I could survive it. The human parents are
much stronger than I am.”
    I would never have a child. It hurt deep
inside me, but my pain for Bastian was more intense. I held him
tightly. “I am sorry. It was very hard to see Jonathan taken from
his parents and I wish I hadn’t, but I would not want you to go
through it alone. Love me, dragon, so we may both forget.”

Chapter Seventeen
     
    Bastian
    Months passed and we settled into our life.
Acasia was my blessing and I cherished our time. It hurt me when I
felt her sadness. She would offer a smile, but I knew the sadness
was there. Often, making love would take the feeling away, but
sometimes she went into a melancholy that lasted days. It
frustrated me because my other brides rarely did this once they
settled. Acasia was different. She loved deeper than any human I’d
ever met.
    I flew to my bedroom perch and shifted to
human form. I could hear her in the library, her soft breathing an
ever present part of me. I showered and changed into jeans and a
t-shirt because I liked the look in her eyes when she saw me
thus.
    I needed to speak to her about a raid I had
planned with Laryn. The dragon’s foul moods were too much for me,
and I wanted to take his mind elsewhere. I could not bring Acasia
with me, and dreaded her being alone. This was not a conversation I
looked forward to.
    She sat at the end of the table at the back
of the library engrossed in a book. I walked closer, and my heart
stopped beating. It was my book of sketches. I noticed the ladder
from the corner of my eye and its placement at the space where my
book should reside.
    Acasia looked up. “These are your
brides?”
    I could garner nothing from the look on her
face and it worried me. My brides did not like speaking of those
who came before them and neither did I.
    “Yes.”
    “You drew these?” She flipped the pages
gently.
    “Yes.”
    “Why have you never shown me?”
    This was not what I expected from her, but
that was what I loved so much about Acasia. She was different.
    “It hurts