took me a bit longer than expected to come up with this, I got busy IRL, personal problems, overworking, social obligations... But let's not talk about my life =3

second chapter of the second season, I hope you'll appreciate it. Seems like things are turning bad again for the lovely couple... but I'll let you discover how^^ enjoy your reading, I hope to release the 3rd chapter soon. (I know, I say it every time >-<)

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Despite the calm and the emptiness of the hall, Amaria couldn’t help but glance everywhere while she waited in front of the door.

She would never forget their look… All these humans, staring at her…

What shocked her was how they all seemed to share the same feeling. Although she tended to experience difficult to read humans’ facial expressions, she had learnt to recognize some during all the time she had spent with hers.

This was no fear… This was no hate… This was… confusion. They all looked at her like they were simply surprised to see them walking in the city. No one spoke a word, no one screamed, no one even walked away. And for some reasons, she had the feeling they were more focused on the unconscious human rather than on the dragoness carrying him.

One year ago, her human had faked his death so he could be with her, free from his former life. She had always kept in mind that no other human should ever know, but only now she was measuring how delicate the situation was.

Most of what they had lived together was a secret to humans. She never minded them knowing, but it was her lover’s first concern. He always feared that they could know, because he feared their reactions. She used to think he was exaggerating, but she had then witnessed how aggressive humans could be when they considered new things.

Now that she had brought him back here, they might get interested to him… and not in a good way. He had fooled them all, promising them many things… Dead, all his promises were gone. But now… they would probably try to know the truth… every truth…

Fortunately, while she started to feel some bad looks turned toward them, a big human had run to meet her. He was familiar, probably the only one Amaria could sort of trust. Bolner… Last time she went here, he had just become the head of the city, and he had turned out to be nicer than he looked.

He was bigger than average humans, with muscles that left no doubt on his nature of warrior. But despite his tough appearance, Bolner had shown sympathy and interest to her. Actually, it had been difficult to remain calm, because he kind of represented a potential prey she would have loved to feast on, in her predatory mind. But with the control she had acquired when it came to deal with humans, she now considered him as a trustable friend.

Bolner hadn’t even seized the opportunity to interrogate her like other humans would have. He had rushed her toward the local hospital, a building where humans healed their injured ones. He had called another human to get the healing done, and since then, the two of them were locked in a room with her mate, while she waited outside.

It was so long… minutes felt like hours… And the hardest was the recurrent question she kept asking herself: Will her human make it? Nothing ever stressed her, except when it came to his life… She didn’t know what she would become without him by her side…

Finally ending her mental torture, a mechanic sound from the door announced that the humans were done with their healing. She got up on her legs and faced the door, shaking from worries. One she didn’t know, probably the healer, showed up at the door and had a jolt when he saw her.

“Everything’s fine, Schenert, Amaria is a friend” Bolner smiled at him, putting his big hand on his shoulder. “There’s nothing to fear…”

“If you say so…” The healer replied, visibly unconvinced. He got passed the door, and rapidly walked away in the hall, looking over his shoulder every three steps.

“You have to excuse him, some men have troubles changing their mind about you.” The huge human apologized.

“I don’t mind. Actually, I’m more comfortable when they don’t look too confident…”

In her words were hidden bad memories of a mean fat human who had tried everything to take her and her lover down. He was always confident looking, and that used to give her chills because it felt like he was up to really bad things. A feeling that turned out to be right most of the time… Her human had always told her he would never be troubles anymore, and she now wondered what this evil man had become since… Bolner was probably unaware of this part of her story; he didn’t seem to get the reference.

“Yeah, a dragon probably feels like it’s more natural for humans to fear them. Changing minds takes time…”

“So, how is he?” She asked, unwilling to talk about any human but hers. She had to know if he was still in danger.

Bolner closed the door, like he didn’t want her lover to hear what he had to tell about him.

“The doctor says it’s hard to tell, but he thinks he should be fine. He hasn’t woken up yet. Rest is good for him. Amaria… I have to ask… What happened?”

Here it was… that question she prepared for… She felt like she could trust Bolner, but what if he wasn’t actually trustworthy? Her human had taught her to be careful with what she said of did with his kind, some of them were more vicious and dangerous than they looked. The best option was to make up a believable story with hope she could get her beloved one in the confidence in time…

“I don’t know… I found him in the forest, he was unconscious… I couldn’t believe he was alive.”

Bolner stared at her silently. Not so many humans could make her feel uncomfortable, but this one was pretty impressive when he showed such a serious face. Her lover used to tell her he felt naked under her gaze, and at this moment she understood this feel, even if she had never worn clothes. It was like Bolner was judging her soul, to decide whether if he believed in her words or not.

“Okay.” He simply said.

“Okay?”

“You told me what happened, and I trust you.”

“Don’t misunderstand my words, but I would have never thought a human would trust me so easily…”

“Trust…” He dropped like it was a burden. “Trust is a sneaky thing… It’s what’s left when reason is not enough to choose. And it can backfire in the most horrible ways. All along my life, I learnt how to use it wisely. And more important, I learnt the hard way who could be worth of it and who was not. You, my friend, you are a creature that could kill me, but never tried. Either you have a good reason, either you don’t want to. In both case, trust must be mutual. You trusted me for taking care of him, and so far, I’ve trusted your good will. For now, I don’t see why you’d lie to me. Unless you are… protecting him?”

Humans and their weird way to talk… She couldn’t tell if he was suspecting her or just asking. In such case, a careful honesty was usually helpful.

“He’s my friend… And I thought I had lost him. Now that I know he’s alive, I will always protect him, so I’ll never have to lose him again.”

“I have a lot of respect for that.” He said with a gaze of approval. “He’s in good hands with me, you have my words. In your case though, I’m afraid I can’t guarantee anything…”

“What do you mean?”

“He obtained your freedom with conditions, remember? My authority was deeply questioned since all the terms haven’t been respected…”

It took her a moment to get the meaning of this; this time seemed so far behind… Her human used to make a lot of false promises to his kind in order to protect her. That was how she had come to love him: he left his honor and everything he possessed aside for her… He knew the biggest weaknesses of humanity, and used them as a survival tool.

And she possessed one thing that had radically changed the way humans looked at her, when he had revealed it…

“My… My venom?”

For some mysterious reasons, her venom, one of her best hunting weapons, had a side effect on humans. Although it knocked them off like the other beings, it happened to heal almost every injury and diseases they could suffer. She had used it on her lover many times, and she wanted to imagine that the coma he was currently in was due to this… and that he would wake up as healthy as usual soon.

“He promised we could have samples of your venom if we agreed to set you free… ” Bolner nodded. “And as you know, you never came back until now…Humans forget many things, but when it comes to their quality of life, you can be sure they will always remember…”

This was bad… The situation was hard enough, she didn’t need enemies here… She needed to stay and keep a close watch on her loved one, so she had to avoid all the risks she could. It might be dangerous to have angry humans around; they could kill her in her sleep… Or worse, kill him…

“I can give you some right now!” She spoke out of fear. It seemed like a little concession compared to the chance to feel safe here.

“It’s okay, Amaria.” Bolner said with a smile that hid a little discomfort. “There’s no rush. I can guess your priority is behind this door. I’ll handle this for you… for now. I don’t want to force you; I just want you to be aware that some people in the city might be… unpredictable. So stay alert. And come to me when you can, so we can solve this. I think that a little venom once in a while will appease the most aggressive ones. Until then… I think you’d like to see him?”

Either this human was really sneaky, either he was the best ally she had right now. Either way, he was right... If she wanted safety, for her human and herself, she had to follow his advices. As long as they allowed her to stay with her beloved one…

She nodded silently, and Bolner stepped aside.

“I’ll be waiting here to make sure that no one disturbs you. Call me if you need something.”

She nodded once more, and pushed the door to enter the room. Humans were strange… Most of them were hostile, untrustworthy and dangerous. Still, Bolner and her beloved one were the proof some of them could be worthy beings. She had never taken the time to think about it, but this specie simply seemed capable of everything… It was confusing, yet fascinating in some ways…

She stopped in front of the bed, after Bolner closed the door behind her.

She was alone in the room, with her human. He was unconscious, a bit like he was sleeping. She usually loved watching him sleep, but this time felt so different… She had never wished so hard to see him waking up…

A lot of feelings were crushing her chest. She suddenly felt guilty… Guilty for not being able to catch him before this strange creature attacked him… Guilty for letting him run away after the first time she caught him… It felt like… all of this was her fault…

“Hello you…” She spoke, but these only words were enough to make a tear roll from the corner of her eye. It was their words… The first words he had spoken to her, and the words they used when they were up to something with each other…

“I wanted to tell you I’m sorry, my love…” She whispered. “I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t… All I wanted was to play with you…”

No reaction.

What did she expect? That hearing her voice would miraculously get him out of his coma? That was stupid… But she just had to tell him… She wanted him to hear that she would change everything if she could. But all she could do… was watching him, powerless…

She stepped closer to the bed, and drew her head close to his. He didn’t seem peaceful, but at least he didn’t look like he was in pain. That was a little relief in itself.

“You know, I realize that even if I thought I was a good mate to you, maybe I wasn’t that good… All I wanted was to keep you for myself… to play with you, and even eat you… I always thought this was the life you wanted and deserved, to have a loving dragoness that allowed you some freedom. But maybe you deserved more… If you hadn’t given up everything for me, you would have been safe in this city. You could have even found a human female to love you… to make you happy… and to treat you the way you needed to. And you wouldn’t be laying in this bed today… “

Still no reaction. For a moment, she listened to his breathing, with hope to get a sign…

“I know it was your choice, my human… But maybe you only made this choice for me. I was the first one you had to talk to since the death of your parents… I know the feel, that‘s exactly what you were to me… Maybe was it the reason why I tried so hard to get you addicted to me, because I wanted to keep you like a belonging. But you don’t deserve to be a belonging for a selfish dragoness. You deserve to have the right to make your own choices, to decide what you really want.”

She couldn’t tell why she had such a need to say all this… Maybe was it out of guilt, or maybe was it to get a reaction from him. Loyal to her nature, she just let out everything that crossed her mind, but while she was speaking these words, she realized it was how she really felt… Deep inside, she had always questioned his motivation to stay with her, knowing that he considered it so unnatural in the beginning. But she had always chosen to ignore it because he seemed happy with her.

He had always been kind, and maybe she had abused of it… Maybe she had deprived him from his freedom, thinking she was giving it to him… A human wasn’t meant to live like a dragon, and this was something she hadn’t thought about until now. During this year they had spent together, she felt like this was the best life for both of them. But maybe was he just following her wishes without thinking about his… Maybe this was the best life only for her…

She hated these feelings. It was like a whole year of doubts and questions suddenly overwhelmed her mind. And what’s more, guilt was intensified by the fact she had to wait until he was to the gates of death to ask herself the good questions…

Maybe fate was punishing her for her selfishness after all…

“Please, my human, wake up…” She begged. “Wake up and tell me I’m wrong… Tell me you didn’t choose me because I’ve just been there at the right time or because I corrupted your mind… Tell me you weren’t unhappy with me…”

A reaction. His eyelids twitched. Had she used the right words? Had she managed to reach him in the darkness he was trapped? Was he waking up to tell her she was overthinking and speaking silliness? She had never wanted to hear his voice so badly!

“Come on, wake up.” She encouraged him softly, starting to smile. “You’ll be alright, wake up.”

His eyes began to open slowly. He was emerging! She felt so tensed that her chest was burning. Yes, He was waking up, and together they would have a talk on how stupid she was to get such worries! He was waking up because his heart burnt in the desire to tell her how wrong her guilt was, for sure! And this time, she would be even better for him! She would make him her priority on a whole new level!

The eyes of the young human blinked, and looked at her… but… something was wrong… This wasn’t the loving stare she expected. He wasn’t smiling at all as he saw her. This was a look she had long forgotten about, but that came back to her memory in the most hurting way. This was… fear.

“Hello, you…” She spoke uneasily, feeling that something was off but unwilling to give up for so little. “I can say you gave me a good fright.”

She leaned to try and give him a loving lick, but at this moment, a horrible scream filled the room. A scream of pure terror, a scream of distress… She instantly got back and looked at him with confusion, but his attitude left no possibility of misunderstanding: he was scared of her! This scream… She wanted to make it stop! It was unbearable! Not because of the volume, but because of the intensity of fear it expressed! She couldn’t stand inspiring him such a fright!

She stepped back to the door at the moment Bolner barged in. He looked at her, then at the screaming human in the bed, and he didn’t need a word to tell her she had to get out. She dashed outside, clenching her teeth from the sound of the scream.

It hurt so deep! Why was he so scared?! He knew her! He knew there was nothing to be afraid of! Then why?!

The screams started to calm down when she got out, but her heart didn’t… It raced in her chest like she had run for hours… At the moment she was promising to herself she would be better to him, she had scared him like never before… Even in their first times together, he had never screamed… And this face of terror… How could she ever forget it?!

Minutes were now an eternity… All she could do while Bolner was taking care of her beloved one and reassuring him, was waiting with a deep pain rampaging in her mind together with a load of scenarios that could explain this…

Any moment from now, the big chief of this human city was about to come out and tell her it was nothing… that her human had a terrible bad dream and didn’t recognize her when he woke up. It had to be this! Please, be this… Because she felt like she couldn’t bear any of the other possibilities she could think of…

Like… the possibility that his true feelings about her had just come out… that he had secretly feared her all this time, but managed to hide it to her… And in a moment of weakness, he hadn’t managed to fake it… No… She didn’t want to hear that he could have been so scared with her!

It had to be something else!

Bolner finally stepped outside, getting her out of her thoughts. She wished his face could appease her doubts, but he looked uneasy… This was bad sign…

“H… How is he?” She asked him, shaking from inside.

“He seems fine…”

It was pretty obvious he hid something… but what?

“Tell me, please…”

“Amaria, I’m not sure… It might be nothing…”

“Tell me!”

She realized she had just shouted it like an order, showing teeth. Threatening this human was possibly the worst thing she could do, but at this point, she didn’t care about it. She didn’t care about anything. She wanted to know why, why had her beloved one screamed while he was supposed to feel happy to see that his loyal dragoness had worried so much about him?!

“He… He asked to see…” He trailed off, visibly uncomfortable though her threat was surely not the cause of it. “He asked to see his parents…”

It was like a huge rock had fallen on her head. This… This made no sense…Was his mind… damaged?

“But… His parents are dead…” She spoke in astonishment. “Since before we met…”

“Precisely… I think he suffers from amnesia…”

She sat on the rocky floor. Of all the possibilities she could have thought of, this one was one of the most terrible… He had… forgotten her?

“Amaria, don’t take it too hard.” Bolner tried to reassure her. “This is how most humans would have reacted if they saw a dragon when waking up.”

This wasn’t reassuring at all… It meant the most horrible things… Not only he had forgotten about her, but he had also forgotten that he didn’t fear dragons… When they first met, he had come into her cage with no insurance that she wouldn’t hurt him. She was smaller back then, but he had always shown confidence, even the times she had sneakily trapped him…

“It is… temporary, right?” She asked with a shaking voice full of foolish hopes.

“I don’t know… It might be…”

He didn’t sound the least convinced by his words… But what followed broke her heart for good:

“Calling his parents probably means he has lost at least the two last years of his life… I’m sorry… But to him, for now, you’re a dragon to fear…”

It was hard to contain the tears… It was like she had lost him… her human, her friend, her mate… It was like fate had given her the ultimate answer to her questions, but it was not the response she expected... It felt like the universe was telling her that yes, indeed, she had been wrong all along…

“Could I… see him?”

“Amaria, I’m not sure this is a good idea…” Bolner replied carefully. “He doesn’t know who you are, and he’s scared of you… We should give him some rest… Maybe tomorrow?”

“Just one last time… Then I’ll leave him some space… Please…”

“Okay…” The big human sighed. “But let me come with you. He will probably feel less scared if he sees a human with you.”

This would feel strange to need another human to speak to hers... Hurtful, even… like her mate and her didn’t share the same language anymore, like a barrier between them. But she didn’t care; all she wanted was speaking to him… one last time…

She thought about all the things she wanted to say to him. She wanted to say how much she loved him, how much she wanted him to remember her, how sorry she was to be so powerless, how hurt she was to see him in such state…

But this wasn’t the right thing to do…

Behind this door, there was a human in mental distress, who probably didn’t remember what had happened between them along the last year, and who had to catch up with the most painful moments of his life… like the fact both of his parents weren’t there anymore… He needed some peace to assimilate these…

Because she remembered how their relationship disturbed him in the beginning. To him, it felt unnatural, forbidden… Of course, she would have loved him to get back to her. But forcing the memories could be dangerous. What if he didn’t believe her and told everything to the wrong persons?

Bolner invited her to follow him inside. She had never been so stressed at the idea of meeting her beloved one… This felt so disturbingly strange…

“It’s okay.” Bolner said when he spotted the anxious movements of the young human in his bed. “You have nothing to fear, Amaria is a friend. Your friend. Remember?”

He seemed confused. His eyes carried all the thoughts a regular human would have had in this situation. If it could have spoken, his stare would have asked “you’re sure?” Nothing hurt as much as feeling like a complete stranger to the one she cherished…

“She would like to talk to you, is that ok with you?” the big human asked carefully.

For a second, she feared that he could actually reply negatively. He clearly looked uncomfortable with the idea.

“I… I guess…” He replied unconvincingly.

“Don’t worry, she won’t hurt you.” Bolner tried to reassure him. “She is the one who found you and brought you here. She was really concerned about you.”

This confused look again… Was it so hard to a human to imagine a dragon caring for him? She had never measured how much it took him to get passed the appearances back then… Either he had still been scared around her all along and convincingly denied it… either he had actually loved her… And she still preferred to think it was the second reason…

“Do you think I can leave you two alone for a moment so you can talk?”

He looked like he was suggested to get a limb ripped off… She understood that to him, she now represented an oversized reptile he preferred to stay away from, but still, her heart pinched to this idea…

After a long hesitation, he shyly nodded. At least, he hadn’t lost his courage and his curiosity…

“Good… I’ll be right behind the door… Call me if you need…”

The same sentence he had used before, yet such a different meaning… She had forgotten what it felt like to be seen like a monster, and she surely hadn’t missed that…

Bolner stared at the uneasy human whose fingers were clenched on the sheet. Amaria could feel the huge man’s worries about the overall situation, and she could almost hear him considering whether this was a good idea or not… Still, after a few seconds of awkward silence, he walked to the door and left the room, leaving the former couple alone. And the silence remained…

What to say? All this would have been far easier if she was human too… She sometimes dreamt that she had some magical trinket that would turn her into a more pleasant appearance for him, but this wish had never been so strong right now!

“So… We are friend?” He timidly broke the silence of the room.

“Yes… You… don’t remember?”

“I don’t remember anything… I don’t even remember my name… Do you know my name?”

Her heart was squeezed in her chest. Not because his distress was deep… but because she actually didn’t know it… She had always called him ‘human’, or ‘my love’, or other affectionate terms… but she had never heard his name…

How could have she been so ignorant about him?! She pretended to love him, and had never shown the most elementary curiosity about him! What an awful proof of her selfishness…

“No, I don’t…” She admitted with shame.

“How come?” He asked with a little distrust. “I never told you?”

She realized how hopeless it was… How could he believe they were lovers when he had such troubles imagining they were friends? It was clearly not the way humans imagined dragons, and whether she accepted it or not, he had now a regular human mind. All his feelings for her had vanished… She didn’t want to let go, but for now, the most important was to preserve him from shocks so he could recover.

What to do then? What would be a believable story for him? He probably thought dragons were monsters whose only goal was to devour humans… And Bolner, a man he surely trusted, had told him they were friends… Plus she had to think on how he would react, how he would behave with the story she would tell. Out there, there were untrustworthy humans that would keep an eye on him, and that could possibly want to harm him if he looked to different from them… What to tell him?

“I never knew your name because I didn’t have any use of it.” She said without thinking.

These words were risky. They kind of contradicted the concept of being friends; friends knew each other’s name. That made her feel even more guilty about her relationship with him…

She thought fast of what she could come up with. Every minute made the situation more complicated. She walked toward him, trying to save time… And then, she thought of the perfect story to tell!

“I never had any use of it because you didn’t need a name, human.” She whispered as she got on her hind legs to put her paws on his shoulder with a threatening look.

He thought dragons were dangerous predators? She had to look like one! Bolner had told him they were friend? This would be an explanation of why everyone thought so! And the best of it, it also gave him a believable alibi of why he had faked his death for a year!

“You’ve been gone from this city for a long time, human…” She said with a growl. “Everyone thought you were dead, including me.”

“D… Dead? How?” He asked back, trying hard to hide his growing fear. But she could smell it…

“A year ago, a fire burst into a building of this city, and they found a body they all assumed to be yours.”

“I would have… faked my death? But why?”

There it was, the big act… There was no turn back now, she had to be convincing!

“Exactly! Why?! And how?! That’s what I’d like to know! You escaped me with that little trick!”

“I… I don’t understand…” He said, shaking like a leaf.

“You are mine, human!” She whispered menacingly. “You belong to me! We faked being friend, because I ordered you to! So humans wouldn’t question you trying to help me! And just when I got everything I wanted and came back to eat you once and for all, you died! Or at least, this is what you made everyone assume. Worse, it’s what you made me assume! And I don’t like being fooled!”

He was terrified, paralyzed in fear. Her heart never hurt her this much, but it was for the best! Their closeness was dangerous for him. To be safe in this human city, he had to be like the others. And others feared dragons!

She knew that she was probably breaking all the chance she still had to have him by her side again one day, but his life and safety were all that mattered to her…

Burning from inside, struggling to not let her tears out, she maintained her role. She had one last thing to make sure of… He had to keep silence about her. Because if, for some reasons, he managed to convince the people of the city that she was actually dangerous, she would lose the possibility to keep an eye on him.

“Be sure I’ll find out where you were all this time… I want to know the truth before I get rid of you! Until then, I’ll keep a close watch on you… People in this city think you tamed me, that I am harmless, and you better do your best so they still believe that! Because if I feel one suspicious look, or hear one word I should worry about, I’ll come and eat you! Or I’ll eat someone else… There are pretty appetizing children in this city…”

“I won’t tell a word! I promise!”

He always had a good and right heart, and she was sure threatening children would call his deepest fears. She felt so ashamed of even picturing herself hunting little humans… She could never harm a child, human or not! And she knew it by experience… But as long as he would believe that, he would be the tool of his own safety.

Every time a citizen would ask him about the last year, he could genuinely reply that he didn’t remember anything. And they would believe him because he would believe that too. The best lies were those that sounded the closest to the truth…

Acting like this broke her heart… but it preserved his… and nothing else mattered for now.

“Very well then… I expect your full cooperation…” She said with a growl. “And until the next time, remember that…”

She drew her head closer, maintaining him firmly while she stuck out her tongue and applied it on his cheek. She took a long lick on his skin, savoring the taste of the one she loved one last time, like a tearing goodbye.

“You’re just a treat to me…”

She then left him without a single eye contact, turning back to walk toward the door, with a tear rolling in silence on her scaly cheeks.

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