Page 15 of Firebird (The Fire That Binds #1)

XIV

MALINA

I awoke in the dark to a hand on my shoulder shaking me gently. When I opened my eyes, I expected Kara or Stefanos, not Julian. But there he was, shirtless and squatting next to my bed, his expression back to cool passivity.

“You didn’t leave me?” I blurted, my sluggish brain from sleep not yet allowing me to think clearly and keep my feelings hidden.

His expression softened, a line pinching between his brow. But all he said was, “No.” Then he stood, revealing he wore only a cloth wrapped around his waist. “It’s time to go. ”

I pushed out of bed, dressed only in a thin, short tunic for sleeping. He turned toward the window, moonlight still peeking through the shutters, silhouetting his large, lovely frame.

Quickly, I jerked the thicker tunic hanging on the screen to me and slipped it on, shapeless as all the others, and tied a rope-like belt around my waist. Then I slid into my sandals and secured my hair back with a strip of cloth.

I grabbed the small bag I’d packed yesterday. I didn’t think overlong why I was so eager to join a war campaign.

“Ready,” I whispered.

He turned, his form barely visible in the dim light. Even so, I could feel him, his presence large and imposing and dominant. The tether shivered between us, but I ignored it and dutifully followed him through the darkened house.

He didn’t head toward his bedchamber as I expected. Rather, he walked straight out to the larger terrace, the one where he’d first landed when he took me from Gaul and the one where we’d said goodbye to Enid.

“Why are we leaving in the middle of the night?” I asked.

“It’s morning, actually. A few hours from dawn.” He stopped in the middle of the terrace and faced me. “But there is a reason I wanted to leave under the cover of night.”

“And that is?” I could hardly force the words from my mouth, my gaze flicking over his broad chest and the stack of tight muscles down his abdomen.

“Because,” he said in that deep rumbly voice, “I don’t want to carry you the way I did before.” His scowl deepened. “That hurt you, and I can’t”—he cleared his throat—“I don’t want to injure you.”

I blinked up at him, my heart fluttering at his admission. I shouldn’t be so pleased to know he was concerned about my welfare, but I couldn’t help the overwhelming sensation of pleasure. Then I realized what he intended .

“Wait. You want me to ride on top of your dragon?”

He erased the small space between us, those golden eyes glittering in the semidarkness. “Yes, Malina. I want you to ride my dragon.”

We stood intimately close, my chin tilted up, staring into those hypnotizing eyes, trying not to hear his voice in my head telling me to ride his dragon . But it was hopeless. That simple sentence conjured a sudden, jarring image in my mind that I couldn’t wipe away quickly enough.

I bit my lip and closed my eyes, squeezing my thighs together as well. Heat already pooled low in my belly.

Julian dipped his head low, still not touching me, but I felt his body heat and his warm breath at my ear. He inhaled deep, a growl vibrating in his chest.

“You’ll let me know when you’re ready. Won’t you, firebird?”

I snapped open my eyes. He held my startled gaze, for he knew what I’d been thinking. Of course he did. Dragons had heightened senses. He could smell my arousal.

Still, no shame bloomed in my chest. Quite the opposite. He’d given me the power to decide when I allowed him to touch my body. For a Roman, that was almost unheard-of. They took what they wanted whenever they wanted it.

He glanced toward the sky and stepped back, breaking the spell. “We need to go.”

“I’ve never heard of someone riding on a dragon’s back.”

“That’s because it’s illegal now. One of the many laws enacted by my uncle’s senate since he took the throne. It was rare even before that.”

“But you’re willing to break his law?”

He looked back down at me, his chiseled face kissed by shadows and moonlight, two slivers of gold holding me captive. He appeared to be calculating his response before he answered rather smoothly, “For you. Yes, I’ll break his laws.”

The tether tightened yet again, the shabby wall I’d erected between us crumbling that much more .

“I’ve ensured our tent is set up and ready.”

“Wait, you flew there and back this night?”

“I’m a fast flier,” he assured me with confidence and a touch of arrogance, which I found made him even more attractive. Damn him. “Most of the legions will be arriving later today. If we arrive by night, no one will notice.”

“And if someone did,” I countered. “If someone saw and threatened to report you to your emperor.”

He angled his head, a hardness returning to his features. “Then I suppose they’ll die, won’t they?”

I gulped hard, knowing he meant it. Whether it was in defense of my safety or his own that he’d do such a thing, I wasn’t sure. But it was another reminder that Julian wasn’t like other Romans. He had an agenda not in line with his uncle, with Caesar.

“Stand next to the banister,” he ordered, snapping me from my thoughts.

I instantly obeyed, already sensing the spark of magic in the air. He was readying to transform. The first time I’d seen him shift, it was a blinding distortion of limbs, his beast leaping from the man’s body with sudden, powerful violence. The second, he only mutated into half-skin, but again it was a swift and surprising transformation.

This time was different. He walked a few steps away and untied the cloth at his waist. I held my breath, chastising myself while I ogled the strong contours of his back, his round, muscular backside, his thick legs.

He bowed his head between his shoulders, the sound of breaking bones making my heart trip faster. He morphed into half-skin first, his spiked tail lashing as red, black-tipped wings sprouted from his back. Horns curled out of his skull, spikes down his spine, but he kept me at his back.

Then he chuffed a chestful of air and the dragon was set free. Within seconds, his body elongated and fell to all fours, his giant, red-scaled body towering above me, eating up the space on the wide terrace. He curled his long neck toward me, those familiar yellow eyes watching with interest. He seemed to be asking a question.

“No,” I snapped haughtily, “I’m not scared.”

I was, of course, but I wouldn’t admit it. The dragon rumbled a sort of purring sound as he lowered himself until his belly rested on the stone, then stared expectantly.

“All right, then,” I told myself, stepping cautiously forward as I looped my bag over my head and across my back.

Julian’s dragon extended a claw, obviously for me to climb up toward his back. I thought his scales would be rough and hard, but they were rather smooth and soft. I had trouble near the shoulder but Julian shifted just enough for me to climb onto his spine.

There was a trail of small spikes along the top of his neck, with coarse hair jutting along the back of his head down from his horns, but the spikes stopped at the perfect juncture where I decided I should ride astride. Once settled, I took the loose ends of my belt and tied them in a double knot around one of the spikes, where I also held on.

Julian made that rumbly purr again, curling his neck around to look at me.

“I’m ready,” I assured him.

He stepped gently over the terrace, which hung over a steep drop that dipped down a hill toward the city, then he leaped off. I squealed, but he beat his wings and lifted higher at a gentle slope toward the sky.

After a breath-stealing moment, he leveled off and soared north. Finding my courage, while still holding the horny spike tightly, I leaned forward enough to see between his shoulder and wing.

Rome fell away, dots of torchlight slowly fading as we passed over the wilderness beyond. A forest of trees blurred together, a silver river winding through it. By the gods, the world was beautiful from up here. Like an ethereal mirage that couldn’t touch me or hurt me. It was a strange and wonderful gift to glide through the night sky upon a dragon.

I laughed, unable to control the unfettered joy I felt flying above the world. Not as a captive. Here, sitting atop Julian’s dragon, I felt free. The tether between us didn’t unravel when he shifted into the beast. Rather, it wound tighter, not a constricting kind of bond, but a firm, unbreakable one.

That was the moment I knew the gods meant for me to be bound to Julianus Dakkia. And no matter the evidence to the contrary, that he was the Coldhearted Conqueror, I knew otherwise. I’d witnessed his true nature in countless ways.

He’d saved Ivo, and I’d bet Ruskus as well, with his lame leg—two unwanted, doomed souls. There was also Stefanos, who he had apparently saved from a horrible fate. And Enid, who he didn’t need to rescue from the auction, or pay a healer or even offer a proper funeral rite for. And then there was how he treated me, not with the cruelty I’d expected but with a marked kindness.

But this, breaking his emperor’s laws to see to my comfort, to see that I was unharmed on this journey, spoke volumes, much more than I believe Julian realized. Because it wasn’t only my comfort he saw to. He gave me something more.

I marveled at the moonlight glittering on a lake far below, shimmering like glass and beautiful to behold. We soared higher through the clouds, closer to the heavens, the earth so far away now. The stars above were so bright I was sure I could touch them. The gods felt closer too, their power and beauty as sure as the wind in my hair.

He showed me the unparalleled beauty of the world as the gods saw it, as he saw it.

We traveled across the heavens as equals.

“Oh, Lady Fortuna,” I breathed on a whisper. “What have you done to me?”