Free The Passionate Queen (Dark Queens Book 2) by Jovee Winters Page A

night for the rest of my life if I didn’t at least try. Hadn’t I told Ragoth, “I belong to me and me alone”?
    Clenching my fists tight by my side, I nodded, and ignoring the swarming nest of nerves ripping and clawing through my belly I muttered Nyx’s incantation, and slipped out of my window for the final time.
    I wasn’t coming back here. Ever again.
    The moment my feet touched the grass, I ran. My sides ached from the exercise, and my lungs throbbed for air, but I couldn’t stop what I was doing.
    I wasn’t even sure what it was I was doing. I’d thought none of this through. But the farther away I got from Zerelda the better I felt. And for the first time in days, I smiled.
    The second I hit the tree line I screamed his name. “Ragoth! Ragoth! Please tell me you’re here, please boy, please!”
    No answer, only the echoing laughter of beasts that romped and played through the night. Over and over I screamed out his name, so that even the flowers of the field joined in.
    “Oh, boy!”
    “Oh, dragon!”
    “Come, come quick...”
    Cupping hands around my mouth, I screamed even louder, aware that if Zerelda were still up she’d probably hear me now, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care.
    Not anymore.
    She was a liar. None of this was real. My life, my soul, mine to do with as I willed.
    “Please, Ragoth. Please,” I moaned with a voice grown hoarse after several more minutes.
    Soul sick, I had to confront the very real possibility that my beloved dragon was gone for good. Staring wildly at the trees surrounding me, I dropped to my knees and bending over, banged my fists into the ground, and cried.
    It was over and a part of me felt dead inside. I’d not realized just how vital Ragoth had been to my sanity until now. How could I survive in a world without him in it? How could I do this?
    I didn’t want to do it.
    I didn’t...
    “Lena.”
    That softly spoken word said in that deep dragonish burr had me jumping to my feet like a wild, startled polecat.
    I felt frenzied and discombobulated, and for a second I forgot how to speak.
    “Lena?”
    He said my name again, gently, looking at me as though he feared for my sanity. I must look a fright, but I didn’t care. I wiped at my face with my dirty sleeves and smiled tremulously.
    “You’re so beautiful,” I finally whispered.
    And he was, like he always was. So very, very beautiful. So perfect compared to my imperfect form. I felt so ugly, so ungainly beside him, but he came up to me, framed my face in his large, warm hands, and I trembled.
    Because I knew that to him I was the prettiest thing ever. With Ragoth, I was beautiful.
    He nuzzled my jaw. “I couldn’t leave you, Lena. I tried to walk away, but...” he gripped my hands in his, and when I looked at him, there were tears shining in his own eyes, “you own my soul, my heart, my everything. How can I leave you?”
    “Then don’t.”
    He shook his head, and I knew he didn’t understand my meaning. Grabbing his face with my hands, I looked deep into his sea glass eyes. Loving everything about him, ready to burst with the overwhelming joy of simply having him here.
    “Run away with me. Take me far away from here forever.”
    His jaw dropped. And then he was jerking me tight into his arms and I’d read so many questions scroll across his face. But it felt so good to be in his arms, to be held by him.
    He trembled, and I knew I was not the only one affected. Dropping a kiss to my hair, he ran his fingers across the bony outline of my back, pressing and hugging me tight. So tight it was hard to breathe, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care if I died in his arms, so long as I never had to leave them ever again.
    “You asked me if I loved you, boy, and the answer is yes. Always you. Only you. This world is not sane without you in it. I want nothing, no part of this kingdom, no part of that king, I would rather die a thousand deaths than to live one day without you.”
    A heavy growl rumbled