As much as Andor hated to admit it, he missed Kara sitting in the tavern across from him. It felt like an empty space even Hilda couldn't fill. It wasn't a desperate need or passionate desire like he'd felt with the Queen. This was warmer. Gentler. Tender.

And it had nothing to do with the groin spasms that crippled him.

Andor squeezed his eyes shut as two lumps on both sides of his crotch ached with a strange twisting pressure. If he so much as thought about a woman, he would stiffen, much less look at one.

It didn't happen with Hilda, thank the Shadow, because she was his comrade. His friend.

But if he noticed anyone else even remotely attractive? Like that waitress with the giant baubles dangling before him whenever she brought him a refill?

Andor almost snapped the table in half to stop himself from chasing her.

"By the words of Simon the Bard," snapped Hilda. "Forget the cursed bet! Would you please screw someone-anyone-so that I can get my soldier back?"

"It's not that simple."

"Are you kidding me?" She scoffed. "Half the women in here would beg, pray, or pay to lay with you. Even if you already had ten women in the room. Choose any of them."

"I don't want them."

"Well who in the Shadow do you want?" retorted Hilda. "Please tell me! By the Light, I will go to the Borderlands and fetch the girl of your dreams myself. But snap out of it."

Andor grimaced once again, but this time he clutched his chest. His heart had begun to ache, though he couldn't understand why. It felt as though Fate had taken a spade and cut out a part of his chest while his stomach felt cold. This giant's body made no sense.

"I-I can't tell you." Andor shook his head. "It's embarrassing. And confusing."

"As long as you don't have a thing for my father, we're good." When Andor didn't immediately reply, she gave him an incredulous look. "You don't, do you?"

Andor scrunched his face. "No, I don't."

"Well, all right." Hilda opened her mouth wide and grinned. "Oh-ho-hoooo! It's not the dragon, is it? You know, Kara's mentor?"

"Ugh!"

That cured the giant's perpetual hormones like a bucket of ice. Simply the thought of talking to his other half made him ill, much less touching him.

"Well, that's a no," muttered Hilda. After a brief pause, she raised her brows. "Ahhhh, I get it...you miss Kara."

"I do not!"

Andor crossed his arms and glowered, which usually ended all arguments. But not with Hilda. She grinned at him, pointing at him several times with a knowing look.

"You've fallen for my sis."

"I will...never...fall for Kara!" he shouted.

He'd said it loud enough that half of the tavern fell silent.

Andor cast a sheepish glance around him and muttered a half-hearted apology before the usual background chatter roared back to life. With a groan the dragon pressed against those cursed damned lumps flaring up again with a searing hot pain.

Forbidden images unfolded in his mind's eyes...ones of Kara dancing with him. Drinking with him. Laughing with him. Traveling the world with him. Reading by a roaring hearth. Going on adventures and conquering the world together. Later at night, when all the world slept, flooding her with his dark soul. Becoming one with her in every way.

He stiffened harder than he had all night. Curse this giant's infernal corpse!

"You know, you've said that before." Hilda nodded with a half-smile. "Several times, in fact. But with your typical nonchalance, not with red-hot fervor."

"Could you please not!" growled Andor. "I'm barely keeping it together."

"Is that why you discarded Astrid?"

"No!"

"Because you didn't love her as much as Kara?"

"I said...no!"

"Then why?" demanded Hilda.

"Because Astrid and I didn't connect," said Andor, drawing the attention of wary patrons before they shook their heads and continued their conversations.

"You know..." Hilda swirled the ale in her tankard. "If you love my sis, you have my blessing. We'll always be best friends-you and me-and nothing will change that fact."

When Hilda said those words, Andor's heart swelled with pride. If only she could have spoken them to his true self, he would have felt like the luckiest man alive.

"I never thought I'd say this," said Andor with a pang in his heart. "But I miss her. For the past three days...I've missed her."

"This place ain't the same without her," admitted Hilda. "Love you, H, but...I miss my sis as much as you do. In a different way, of course."

Andor exhaled a ragged breath. "I can't tell her."

"You have to!" Hilda insisted with a devious grin. "Because if you don't, I can't keep a secret like this."

Andor shook his head. "Give me time. I need to...think..."

"You? Think?" Hilda scoffed. "Now I know you need a healer."

Hilda would never understand Andor's trepidation. He hated Kara not only because she was a half-human that would never exist in Teufelwald but also because her father had killed his whole family in the last great battle.

Burned them. Alive. On purpose. So that they would never reach the gates of Elysium. Even his two little baby nieces who couldn't defend themselves. All because they had refused to reveal his location. Erik had killed them because he wanted to enslave his former student as a warrior of the Light.

How could he love Kara, the evil demon spawn of Erik the Defiler? It would betray everything he believed. He should murder her in cold blood. Stick her head on a pike. Parade her broken corpse through the caldera to the chants of a thousand mourning souls.

He could forgive Hilda for being the child of the Monster of Minningen. Her soul was not General Stormbringer's. But neither dwarf had killed his family and damned them to wander the afterlife lost and alone without the comfort of their ancestors.

Andor could not-must not-forgive Kara. Ever! Much less feel these conflicting emotions. And yet he couldn't help the cursed feelings burbling in his chest.

Curse this giant! Curse him! Curse him!

"Harald?" came that soft voice that stirred a rush of blood through his body.

When Andor looked up, he saw her. But not the Kara he knew. For a split second, he could have sworn the wizard looked almost draconic with her obsidian locks and light-gray skin without a hint of rosiness on her cheeks. Those purple bags under her eyes told a different story, one in which his other half had pushed her to the very brink.

And they say Magnus is of the Light? I would never have pushed her that far!

When his draconic soul reached out to her with a sonic wave no human could hear, he felt the cold inside her. The fear, dread, and anguish. Whatever had his dastardly other half done to her? Her vitality had faded, no longer plucking the tendrils of his dark soul and sparking them back to life.

This time Kara needed him. His strength.

Before Andor could hold himself back, he rose and rushed to her side, sweeping her into his arms. Pressing her gently to his heart.

"Little sparrow," he breathed.

In a soft draconic rumble only she would feel-perhaps without even knowing what it was-he reached out to her cold soul, which swirled in a kaleidoscope of gray smoke, and warmed the freezing tendrils of her latent draconic spirit.

Kara sank into his arms and squeezed him back. "I missed you both..."

Andor planted a kiss on her crown, further confusing himself. "What happened?"

"I can't say."

When Kara's chest shook, it almost crushed him. He would do anything to stop her sadness. Her pain. Her anguish. Hilda joined them and wrapped them both in her arms, for once not saying a word. Just comforting her sister as she wept silently.

What is happening to me? I should want Kara dead, but I can't...

"Did you...pass?" asked Hilda tentatively.

"Yes, with highest honors." Kara backed away and stared at her hands. "But I didn't want to pass..."

"Whyever not?"

"Because tomorrow I have a feeling they're going to ask me to do something terrible."

The dragon's blood burbled with rage. What did Magnus ask her to do? Impossible! His other half had become a solid block of ice. Dispassionate. Cold. Ruthless. Even his mask hid away any semblance of darkness that remained.

Magnus couldn't force himself on her. He wouldn't be interested, would he? And yet the very thought of that Ice King touching her made him want to turn the world to ashes and dust.

"What is it?" asked Andor, his harsh tone like sharpened obsidian. "What did he demand of you? Did he hurt you? If he touched even one hair on your head, I swear I'll-"

"No!"

Kara held out her hand, and Andor grasped it. As he did, he could feel her soul thrumming like a riverbird, inviting him closer. For the first time, the dragon felt a soul that drew him near, and it took all his willpower to ignore it.

The wizard's freezing cold soul absorbed the searing heat of his passion and made him desire her true closeness all the more. For once the desperate physical ache stopped.

Kara ran her tongue over her lips. "I'm afraid that I will have to do something I regret...not that he'll do it."

"You can't let him force you to do anything," said Andor in a firm tone. "Let me go with you. Or choose Hilda. Someone. We'll protect you from him if he tries anything..."

"Damn straight, sis!" Hilda grasped the hilt of her battle ax. "Just say the word, and we'll be there. Both of us. As long as I draw breath, no dragon will hurt anyone I love."

Hilda's words made Andor proud, even though his heart shriveled.

"He hasn't threatened me," said Kara as she reached for Hilda's hand as well. "But he has said enough that I know what my next task will be. And I can't do it."

"And if you don't..."

"They'll kick me out of the Guild," she replied, "and I might lose my university placement."

"What a shadowy cowpat!" Hilda wrapped her arm tightly around Kara. "We won't let that happen. My father won't allow it. You have every right to be there. And you will be there."

"What do I do in the meantime?"

"Do what any honorable dwarf would do," replied Hilda. "Get ass-searingly drunk."

"I couldn't possibly-"

"If you can't get hammered before you face your worst demons," retorted the fiery dwarf, "when the Shadow can you?"

Andor took all the pride, all the anger, all the passion hidden deep inside his chest and said three words to Kara, staring deep into her eyes, dark as Teufelwald.

"Drink with me."

The dragon held out his other hand to her, and Kara clasped it like a lifeline.

___

Word count: 1,776
Total word count: 20,460/20,000

Yay!!!! We made the final goal!

But don't worry! This isn't the end of the story. We still have 20K more words to play around with. My guess is that I'll need three or four more chapters to conclude.

If I created a new story that rewrote this novella into a novel (kinda like I did for Mask of Celibacy) would you read it? I'm kinda sad that the story is coming to an end. I really like playing with the characters.