Page 11

Aurora

I was insane.

Trusting a dragon ? What was I thinking! It was crazy. Stupid. Moronic. The actions of an absolute idiot. How na?ve did I have to be to think that being carried by a dragon was acceptable?

One little “oops.” That was all it would take. A slip of a claw, a dip of a wing, and then he would be telling everyone “Oh, dear, I have no idea how that could have happened,” all while my body was splattered across the ground.

So, maybe I was being a bit dramatic. But I had an excuse. The pulse-pounding adrenaline-infused state I was coasting in ever since Damian cupped my chin was unlike anything else. I was almost trancelike as I followed him to the roof, walking in a stupor of endorphins that I should not be enjoying.

But no matter how much I tried to tell myself that, no matter how much I tried to shut down the grin that continually tried to plaster itself on my face, I failed. I’d liked the press of his fingers, gentle and yet firm. No, not liked it—I’d loved it. The instant of control, the gentle touch, the way he simply made me do as he wanted was enough to make my legs wobbly even now.

You need to calm it. Put it back between your legs and stuff your insane ideas right back up where they came from because they are absolutely stupid, and oh, also, never-gonna-happen. He’s a dragon. He despises you. Which is why he’s going to drop you from thirty-thousand feet so you’re nothing but a red splotch.

Except I knew Damian would never do such a thing. He was the magistrate. He believed in the law. Murder was not his thing. That was the field of the left hand of the sovereign, whoever that was. He hadn’t been willing to elaborate, but it was an obvious connection to make for anyone who understood politics.

“Tell me about yourself.”

The command startled me out of my half-aroused daydreaming. “Pardon?”

“Who are you? Who is Aurora?”

“I … ummm.” I frowned, not sure what to say. “I don’t know. Is there anything you want to know?”

Long pause. Someone hadn’t thought things through very well.

“Humans have two names, do they not? What is your full name?”

“My full name is Aurora Persephonne,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound too eager. “Well, technically it’s Persephonne-Whitefield, but I don’t actually go by that. It’s a mouthful.”

“Whitefield,” Damian mumbled. “That name feels familiar.”

I sighed, wishing my own blithering hadn’t forced me to correct myself. “My father is a senator. That’s probably why, okay? Let’s move on.”

Although clearly caught off-guard by my outburst, Damian recovered quickly. His eyebrows lowered, and he nodded along. “Of course. Moving on.” He paused “What would you prefer to talk about?” Damian deferred, quite clearly and understandably wanting to avoid another minefield of a topic.

“Um. How about how you’re going to go about carrying me?”

The dragon-man shrugged. “Most of the time, when we’re carrying younglings, they sit at the base of our neck. I don’t see why you couldn’t do the same.”

I stared at him owlishly. “Are you saying you want me to ride you?”

Damian’s face stiffened, and a hint of color tinted his cheeks. Was he embarrassed? Why would he—

“On your back, I mean. Ride on your back.” The words tumbled out so fast they ran together.

Oh, god. He was thinking about me on top. Or was he thinking that’s what I was thinking? So, did he like that idea, or did it bother him?

“Yes. That would be easiest,” he said. “Most simply climb up the wing and sit. It’s quite stable. You’ll see.”

“Okay,” I whispered, still beyond horrified at the sexual innuendo I’d inadvertently triggered.

Thankfully, I managed to go the next two minutes without saying anything stupid. But as we climbed the grand set of stairs to the roof, further doubts slowly coalesced.

I tried to brush them off, to reiterate the internal argument I’d already had, but the worries only grew more insistent. The instant we went through the large double doors and I saw my first dragon launch itself into the sky on the far side of the landing zone, I knew I couldn’t stay silent.

“I can trust you, right?”

“That depends on what you’re referring to?” he said cautiously.

“About this, I mean. Getting to the market. You aren’t going to accidentally make me fall, are you?”

Damian glared down his perfectly straight nose at me. “Why would I want to do something like that? Do you think I’m some casual murderer?”

“I think that humans aren’t dragons, and you don’t want me here, nor do the others. It’s an easy way to be rid of me.”

“Only someone who doesn’t know how much paperwork there would be could say such a thing,” he said dryly.

“Please tell me that was your attempt at a joke.”

Deliciously thick lips twisted up. “I am quite confident it was much more than an attempt at a joke.”

“Damian!”

“Yes,” he said, a hint of irritation returning. “You can trust me, Aurora. I’m not going to drop you or let anything happen to you. You’re in my care now. I will keep you safe. I will protect you.”

A shudder ran down my spine when he said that, his eyes locked onto mine, unwavering. Who was this man?

“Come on,” he said, leading me to one side of the roof. “Wait there, okay?”

I nodded, still not sure my voice could be trusted to speak evenly.

Damian stepped away from me, leaving a solid circle thirty feet on either side of him. He rolled his shoulders and—

“Shit!” I cried, stumbling backward as all at once a giant dragon with scales of ruby red fire occupied the space he’d been.

“The change is quite abrupt,” the dragon said, a voice eerily similar to Damian’s coming from its mouth. There was an added timbre to it, changing it to something non-human but still identifiable.

“You don’t say?” I stammered, staring up at the scaled beast.

The giant dragon head hovered in the air twenty feet above me, swinging easily from side to side on the long, sinuous neck. The sun was bright and the sky clear, and as such, all the scales on his snout, neck, and body glittered with an internal fire as they reflected the rays aimed at them.

Damian twisted slightly and then extended his right wing out and down until the tip brushed against the stone roof. The membrane, a duller red without the sparkle to it, was stretched taut, providing a nice walkway to his neck.

“Now, I just climb on board, I guess,” I said to nobody in particular, trying to hype myself up. “On the back of a dragon. No big deal. We just fought a war with you. Sworn enemies. Now, this. It’s all right. I can do this.”

“Everyone can hear you,” Damian reminded me.

“I don’t care. This is normal to all of you,” I said, waving a hand around a bit jerkily, unable to control my muscles completely thanks to my nerves. “To me, to us, it absolutely is nothing of the sort. I’ve never seen a dragon this close up. Only in videos. Let me tell you, it is not the same. Not at all.”

“If you are unable, you may head back inside,” Damian said stiffly. “I will not be offended.”

“No, no,” I said, shaking my head. “I can do this.”

I wasn’t about to let my fears control me. That wasn’t who I was. Fear was normal. It was a part of being human. Knowing that meant I knew it could be controlled. Like everything else.

Drawing a lungful through my nose, I exhaled slowly, focusing on my shoulders and releasing the tension knotting them together.

Then, before I could let the niggling prick of terror take hold once more, I started climbing up his wing. The membrane gave way slightly under each step, almost like a trampoline. In seconds, I was stepping on the scales of his back.

“You’re so warm,” I said as my hand pressed against a scale for the first time, surprising me with the heat.

“What did you expect?”

“Cold, obviously,” I joked, settling in around his neck, one leg on either side. “You’re lizards, aren’t you?”

“Mammals, actually.” Damian’s snort reverberated down his neck and into his spine, sending tiny vibrations up my leg. “I assure you, our women do not give birth to eggs.”

“Honestly, I hadn’t thought of that,” I admitted. “So, then, how …?”

“With puberty. Your dragon is born, you bond with it, and learn to control both it and yourself.”

“And I thought puberty was hard enough getting a period and growing boobs,” I muttered.

“It can be … difficult,” Damian the dragon added wryly with the tone of someone who knew exactly what they were talking about.

“I can imagine.”

“Are you ready?” He stretched both wings and then brought them down alongside his flanks while facing out over the edge of the roof.

“Not yet, give me— AHHHH! ”