Free Breath of Innocence by Ophelia Bell

his chest. She had no idea how beautiful she was and her innocence astounded them both. It was one of the things that he shared with the dragon that had brought them closer in those dark moments when Camille was asleep and he worried that he’d never be enough for her as long as Roka was around. But the dragon had sensed it and drawn him out, eliciting his darkest secrets in the quiet corners of their apartment or their yacht while Camille slept. Whispers and white breath convincing Eben that there could have been no other choice to make that night but to let Roka mark them. Camille still didn’t know the things he’d shared with their dragon. His little proprietary quirk of thought surprised him. Roka was theirs, true, but mostly they were his, body and soul.
    He and Camille were Roka’s just like Erika was Geva’s, as evidenced by the glowing red mark beneath her navel.
    Erika sat down beside him, tactfully avoiding any more intimate contact. “Is that why you’ve been a broody mess since you got here? I know you, sweetie. You’re the light of the world in my mind. You don’t brood.”
    Eben gave in finally. Confession would be good, he decided. He scrubbed his face with wet hands and combed his fingers back through his long hair.
    “She wants a baby. Is it a dragon thing?” He shot a pleading look at Geva who sat on the edge of the bath beside him, elbows casually resting on his knees.
    “Maybe,” Geva said. “Maybe our influence just brings that aspect out in women?” Geva winked at Erika.
    Erika patted Geva in a slightly condescending fashion that still smacked of deep love. “Sweetie, my decision had nothing to do with you. I just remembered how great my dad was and wanted to be that to my own flesh and blood. But bottom line, I had a reason.”
    “You guys aren’t helping,” Eben said.
    “Sorry,” Erika said, shifting to focus directly on Eben. “Have you actually told her this?”
    “Would it matter? She wants a baby. I don’t. How the fuck do I tell the woman I love that I don’t want what she wants?”
    He glanced at Geva, who was looking at him with a peculiar expression.
    “How do you not want a baby?”
    Eben was dumbstruck. He stuttered out a reply. “Because I like my life without distraction?” He felt like a total shit as a result. Jesus, if he’d known dragons were so baby crazy he’d have never signed on.
    Erika’s nudge turned him back to her. “Talk to her, dumbass. Now go. Go, go, go!” She smacked his ass as he raised himself out of the pool, resolute in his mission. Talk to her and hope she still loved him afterward. She already knew how he felt about kids though. She’d said as much. So why should he bother?
    He glanced back at Erika and hustled. It didn’t matter, he’d talk to her. Talking was the goal here, regardless of the outcome. No pressure.
    ***
    Camille was too peaceful to disturb when he found her in the vaults, her blonde head resting on a pile of ancient tomes and her hand still holding her automatic pencil pressed against her notebook. He remembered nights like that when he was too wrapped up in the research to care about anything else. Except he knew tonight and every night for the past few weeks were as much an escape for her as his nights sitting in the bath. She might have been focused on the work, but if they hadn’t pushed each other away that first night, she might have spared more time to talk to him.
    Eben pulled a heavy wooden chair closer, making an effort not to make a sound. She still wore the ridiculous robes they’d given them, but the drapes of dyed linen had slid down her bare shoulder, leaving her bosom almost bare. She hadn’t bothered with the thin undergarments today.
    She had a tendency to pass out when she was faced with intense emotion. He knew this about her, yet it still amazed him when he witnessed it. Maybe she was just tired now. He couldn’t imagine her work eliciting a panic attack. And she did just appear to be