A Nightmare

Ezekiel stirred in his sleep. He couldn't rest knowing that a woman was currently sleeping close to him. Only now did he regret thinking of such an arrangement in the first place. Maybe making her stay here was a bit too much.

He should have just instructed his men to build another tent close to his if he wanted to keep an eye on this woman.

Turning on his back, Ezekiel cursed under his breath as he stared at the ceiling. What he had done just now was quite out of character for him.

It was rare for him to do things out of impulse. However, there was something he couldn't explain about this Tarah. It felt like there was this magnet between them that was trying to pull him closer to her.

After much careful thought, he decided that he would have a separate tent set up for her tomorrow. Still, that didn't stop the heavy sigh that came out of his mouth.

He didn't know how long he stayed staring at his tent's ceiling as he listened to the steady breathing of the woman beside him. They were on different beds, but they were only separated by an arm's length, with a curtain hanging between them. 

However, that wasn't the only thing he was worried about. Lately, he felt his senses becoming sharper than usual, in a level beyond a normal human. He was aware that the changes in his body were due to the dragon residing within him, emerging gradually.

Fortunately, he was still the one in control, but uncertainty loomed over how long he could keep it in check. Memories surfaced about the dragon souls trying to merge with vampires thirty-one years prior, a venture that ended in failure and resulted in many ageless vampires disintegrating into ashes at Valcrez.

No one in his family knew what was going on inside his body aside from their head wizard, Lurio. Everyone had their own burdens to carry, and Ezekiel didn't want to worry them over his plight, especially his mother who thought she had already managed to trap every single dragon soul out there in the Soul Sucking Energy Forest.

"No wonder I'm able to withstand you inside me," Ezekiel muttered, talking to himself as he referred to the dragon inside him. 

It looked like his kind was the best shelter for a dragon soul, seeing how his body could withstand the one currently inside of him.

To be fair, he was no ordinary human.

He had divine blood flowing in his veins, a legacy from his mother who was an angel that had been thrown out of heaven for committing an act forbidden to their kind - she fell in love with his human father whom she was sent after by the heavens to watch over and protect, and the rest happened from there. 

Returning to thoughts about himself, the dragon inside of him remained still and quiet. He had yet to discover which dragon soul dared take refuge in his body. 

While he was busy thinking, Ezekiel heard Tarah's whimpers, making him frown.

"Lady Tarah? Are you alright?" he asked her, but he received no response. Instead, the whimpers continued, so he quickly got up from his bed and removed the partition separating them to check on her.

"Lady Tarah…" 

He called out to her once more, but there was no answer. Beads of sweat were now forming on her face and neck. She was crying, and he could tell that she was having a nightmare.

Leaning into her, he gently shook her shoulders. "Lady Tarah, wake up," he stressed. "You're having a nightmare…"

"No! Please… Don't kill him," Tarah repeatedly mumbled. "I'll do anything! Don't kill him!" 

Ezekiel frowned, but he kept on with his efforts. "Wake up! You're having a nightmare…"

This time, he gently patted her cheeks to try and wake her up. He was starting to get worried upon seeing tears running down her cheeks. Her skin felt cold as well, and her red lips were slowly losing their color.

"Lady Tarah! Wake up!"

Fortunately, Tarah jolted from her sleep. She was still sobbing, and he could feel how much her body was trembling. She looked at him before weakly leaning on his chest.

"I… I'm cold," Tarah murmured as she pressed her body closer to him. "You're so warm..."

Ezekiel felt his body freeze at that moment. Unknowingly, he wrapped his arms around her and gently patted her back.

"Everything's fine," he comforted her. "It's just a nightmare." 

Despite his efforts to maintain his composure, Ezekiel couldn't deny the physical reaction his body was having to her presence.

Eventually, he mustered enough strength to gently push her away, only to struggle in diverting his eyes away from hers, captivated by the beauty of her soulless ocean-blue gaze. Her eyes held a mysterious depth that made him feel both intrigued and unsettled.

As if having a mind of its own, his hand moved and gently cupped her cheek. Caressing her soft skin with his thumb, he reassured her, "You'll be fine. It's just a bad dream."

He blinked at his own actions. Realizing what he had done, he quickly pulled his hand away from her and almost jumped out of her bed. He then turned around and made to leave the tent while saying, "I'll call for Cora to check on you."

Without another word, Ezekiel inwardly cursed himself as he walked out of his tent. Just in time, one of his men approached him.

"Your Highness," Elijah, who was the head of his special royal guards unit called The Dragon Royal Knights, called out to him. 

"Call for Cora this instant," Ezekiel quickly instructed. "Lady Tarah needs her."

His word was relayed, and even as Cora arrived, Ezekiel remained outside. He still couldn't believe how he acted on impulse, touching Lady Tarah like that. He should have quickly stayed away from her instead of pushing her like that.

"Something bothering you?" Elijah questioned him with a teasing smile. 

Ezekiel turned to look at the man. He was like a brother to him, just like Atlas, who was their Kingdom's Great Constable. If Atlas was his right-hand man, Elijah was his left-hand man. They were the only two men he trusted the most in the world.

"You're smitten and in trouble," Elijah pointed out. 

Ezekiel glared at him, and his friend only chuckled as he raised both his hands in surrender. "Fine, no more teasing," his friend shrugged. "I'm sure you know what you're doing, Your Highness."

Keeping a stern expression, Ezekiel instructed, "Tomorrow, have our men build a separate tent for Tarah next to mine."