Page 17

Aurora

I yawned suddenly as Damian pushed open the door to the roof, holding it open for me to pass through.

He smiled at me. “Tired?”

“You know I am. Aren’t you? It’s hard to pack a whole night’s sleep into the, what, three hours you gave me?”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“These tell me a different story,” I said playfully, tapping the bags under his cheeks without thinking. “Are we safe to fly? I need to know if my pilot and aircraft are in good condition.”

Damian grunted and, with one hand, lifted his shirt and flexed at the same time. “I think the condition is acceptable. What about you?”

I swallowed, trying not to drool over the rock-hard figure he revealed. “Yeah … yeah, I think it’s safe to say proper maintenance has been conducted.”

Letting the door close, he brushed past me and led the way up the steps. Thankfully, he didn’t look back, lest he see the confused anguish on my face. What the hell had just happened? When did we break the flirtation barrier? Why was my body and face burning so fiercely?

Damian, I noticed, was all business as he shifted into his dragon form and waited for me to climb aboard. There was little to say, but he only spoke the minimum to ensure I was seated and ready. When I confirmed I was, he spread his wings and took off without a word.

Was he also having second thoughts, wondering what had just happened back there? It wasn’t like the strict, rule-following dragon to be so openly playful. Was it my fault, or was I just seeing a side of him he’d kept hidden until now? It was tough to say.

I decided I would respect his decision to refocus on strict formality and let it drop. I just wish I could get that image out of my head. It would be so much easier to act normal if I wasn’t constantly picturing his abs being shoved in my face …

“What did she mean by the border?” I asked, leaning forward against his neck. “The sovereign, I mean!”

There was little in the way of ambient wind, so I only had to speak loud enough to be heard over the air from our passage.

Damian’s head— his snout, he calls it his snout in dragon form— twisted slightly, indicating he heard me. There wasn’t an immediate answer. Instead, I felt him adjust and stretch slightly under me.

“Don’t lie!” I called, wondering if I was interpreting the body language correctly.

“I’m not,” he said. “I’m debating how much I can or should tell you. What I do say will be truthful, however.”

“As if it matters what you do or don’t tell me.”

This time, his snout actively curled around so he could fix both his golden slit-eyed pupils on me. “What is that supposed to mean? Did I offend you somehow?”

“What? No,” I said, waving it off. “I just meant … I’m not going home. Ever. I’m trapped here. Telling anyone what I learn won’t happen.”

Damian the dragon made a noise. A grunt, perhaps? I was still learning dragon language. “If the peace is maintained, I’m certain visits to see friends and family will be arranged.”

To see family. I nearly laughed. Friends, perhaps. But family? No. I wasn’t going back to see him. Though it would be very interesting to see what story my father had concocted to explain my disappearance. Perhaps I could … expose him that way, make him—

No. You don’t want to meddle in that. Best to just leave it as it is. Do what you’ve been doing and work hard to accept that this is your new life. This is where you live and who you’re going to be around.

At least Damian wasn’t working to try to undermine everything, including the sovereign. So, that was a nice change.

“In the Dragon Isles, there’s the main island, which we’re on, and four smaller ones, all of which are surrounded by a shield. It’s made of an energy, a magic if you will, that not only visually obscures our home from prying human eyes but also exerts an influence, one that makes ships and planes innately avoid the area.”

“Interesting. How does it work?”

“I have no idea. Only the sovereign does, supposedly. However, the edges are always patrolled. Storms frequent the area, likely because of our shield, and sometimes, it blows humans off course. We must ensure that none of those who come near actually penetrate the shield before returning to their path.”

I didn’t ask about what happened to those that did discover the shield. Some things were better left unasked.

“So, one of those guards is missing? What does that have to do with your magic rods?”

“The scepters ,” Damian said firmly, “are what power the shield, the barrier. So, yes, it could be connected. Hopefully, it’s not. But best to be safe. So, we’ll go see what we can and report back. Settle in. It’s a long flight.”

I took his advice, curling up as best I could while lying flat along his neck, my arms and legs draped on either side of his scaled body.

His dragon body.

Running my hand along the scales, I abruptly realized we were flying. I was on Damian’s back, and we were flying. Without hesitation or thinking, I’d blindly climbed onto his back and let him carry me off toward the middle of nowhere.

I traced the outline of a scale with one finger as I processed the source of the trust that had enabled such a thing.

He’s always shown you could trust him to keep you safe. He gave you his word, and he’s kept it. Like at the market or with the councilors this morning. Jair and his squad. He insisted he join me.

What sort of mistake was I making? Why would I trust my own judgment? That was insanity. I used to trust my father, only to find out he was trying to set up a shadow-cabal to take over running the entire government! In what way was I set to decide if I could trust a dragon or not, a species we’d been at war with until a week ago!

There was more to Damian than he was showing, though, that much I was confident in. The “rules must be followed, and everyone must be punished equally” mentality was so strict and onerous. There was no way he was perfect.

After all, he hadn’t told anyone about finding me in the restricted area. Why not? Why keep that to himself? That should classify as a breaking of his rules. Yet he’d done it for me and didn’t seem bothered by it at all.

He wants something from me.

That was the only logical explanation. But what? Sex? That didn’t seem his style.

Confused, I closed my eyes.

Instead of thinking, I fell asleep to daydreams of Damian showing me much, much more than just his six-pack …

A violent jolt ran down his spine, nearly dislodging me, just as he was about to lose his underwear.

“Aurora.”

My eyes popped fully open at the concern in his tone. “Yeah? What’s—What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know,” he said stiffly, setting us down a few dozen feet from the roiling circle of golden energy hovering just above the ground. “But it looks to me like there’s a hole in the shield.”