Free Jaguin's Love: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 8 by S.E. Smith

fierce intensity that made her self-conscious. She released a derisive laugh and shook her head. “I also discovered what I did want. I loved running through the mountains and exploring the different plants that grew there. I became more fascinated about the plants when I learned that they could help heal. I cut my foot and it quickly became infected. My aunt was not the best mother, but she knew the medicinal properties of the plants. I watched and learned. Then, when I was fifteen, one of my teachers opened my eyes to the power of a good education. I left home at sixteen and never looked back. My aunt didn’t think an education was necessary for living on the mountain. I was expected to marry a miner and have a bunch of kids. I wanted more than that. I wanted to explore the world, and I wanted to find a cure to help prevent common diseases and infections from turning fatal. My best friend died from the flu.”
    She fell silent, lost in her memories. She thought of her best friend from kindergarten through fifth grade. Delilah Rosewater had been shy, but had a heart of gold. She didn’t make fun of Sara for wearing her cousins’ hand-me-downs. When the other kids called her Tom for wearing boy’s clothing, Delilah scolded them. She shared her lunch with Sara when one of her cousins stole her sandwich.
    Delilah had been the daughter of the local librarian and a coal miner. She helped Sara learn to read and brought her books from the library. She even invited Sara to her birthday parties.
    Towards the end of their fifth grade year, a deadly flu virus swept through the mountains. Sara had a minor case of it, but Delilah’s had worsened. Sara went with her aunt down to the nearest town. She sat on the front porch of Delilah’s house and listened to her aunt and the doctor, from the next town over, argue over what medicine to give Delilah. In the end, none of it worked. The infection weakened Delilah and an unknown heart defect took her friend’s life on a rainy May morning.
    The town lost five children that year, but the one that Sara cared about the most was the smiling little girl who loved her for being her. She stood on the outskirts of the cemetery in a dress she found in an old trunk in the attic. It was the first and last time she ever wore one. After the service was over, Sara sat down on the grass at the end of the fresh grave and cried. She held a bouquet of sage, peppermint, and eucalyptus in her hands from the small garden that she had planted in the woods.
    Sara lifted a hand and wiped her damp cheek. She bowed her head and sniffed. She didn’t know why she remembered Delilah now. It has been almost twenty years since her friend’s death.
    “Delilah developed pneumonia,” Sara sniffed again and looked up at the sky overhead. She knew it wasn’t real, but it gave her a sense of peace to see the blue sky and white clouds drifting by. “Her parents didn’t know that she had a heart defect. By the time they realized it, it was too late. The doc from the next town over wouldn’t listen to my aunt. He said that all her potions would do was make Delilah worse, but I knew better. My aunt knew her plants and their healing powers.”
    “How old was your friend?” Jaguin’s deep voice asked.
    Sara looked down to see her hand pressed against Jaguin’s broad chest. Her fingers instinctively curled into the fabric of his shirt. She could feel the warmth of his skin through the material.
    “Ten,” she whispered, reaching up to brush another tear away only to pause when she felt his hand against her cheek. “She was so young.”
    “So were you to lose so much,” Jaguin murmured.
    Sara slowly lifted her head toward him. She stared into his eyes for several long seconds before her lips parted. Her fingers uncurled and she carefully ran her hand up his chest to his shoulder.
    “Jaguin,” she murmured, leaning closer to him. “I want to kiss you.”
    Jaguin reached for her other hand and pulled it against his