Chapter 70

Rurik panted against Charlotte's lips, his forehead touching hers. Her heart still pounded from experiencing his memories and the pain and terror of those final horrifying moments when the two dragons had lunged at each other.

"What was that place?" she asked in a shaky whisper.

He brushed his thumbs over her cheeks, and she reached up to stroke his scar.

"That was the Amber Room. It was once considered the eighth wonder of the world. During the Second World War, I fought with the Soviet Air Forces. I didn't agree with their politics, but the German Luftwaffe was annihilating my countrymen, so I chose to fight. We had so few experienced flyers, and I knew the humans needed my help, but I couldn't help as a dragon. Being a pilot was the next best thing. Germans were bombing the palace and the cities, and I had made a promise to Empress Elizabeth when the Amber Room was installed that I would always protect it. I failed in that promise when the Germans bombed Russia."