The Dragon's Gift

by Anastasia Chase

  Was that little dot supposed to be Dominic?

  “Go back to your games.” He gestured with both hands and returned her flower to view. He left without another word, politely closing the door behind him and leaving her to her solitude.

  Looking at the flower now, it was simple and unelaborate in comparison to what he’d constructed. She no longer felt the same pride in its construction as she did now, and slowly returned it to its previous state as a simple orb.

  Was the king tracking his own son for some reason? Keeping tabs on him? And did Dominic even know? She curled up on the cushions as she considered what to do. None of this was really her business. Yet part of her knew it would the right thing to do. She remembered how the others had felt when she’d kept her secret, even if them knowing wouldn’t have changed anything.

  No, he had every right to know what his own father was doing, even if it meant getting involved.

  Restlessness took her over as she paced around the living room, busied herself getting to know the layout of the house better, and seeing if she could sort out anything in the kitchen for herself.

  Worse yet, it seemed like there was no real oven to speak of, which meant she couldn’t heat anything up to eat. Venturing back out into the city to get a hot meal seemed like a good idea too, but one look out the window revealed it was dark. She didn’t want to chance going out and discovering that the shops were closed.

  She was about to give up and go to bed when she heard the front door open once more. She bit back on her enthusiasm, not wanting a repeat of last time, and walked calmly down the hall.

  To her relief, she found Dominic shedding his outer coat and placing it on one of the hooks on the wall. He looked tired and frustrated.

  “Hi.” She realized then and there, after blurting out such a greeting, that she hadn’t prepared how to explain everything.

  “Evening. Or should I say night.” He pressed fingers to his temples as he slid past her into the living room, oblivious to her rigid posture and mouth agape.

  She followed closely behind him. How would she find the right words to say? She knew nothing of his relationship with his father. Though it couldn’t be very close from what she’d seen of the king.

  She decided to lean into it instead, start off with the mundane and hopefully steer the conversation in the right direction.

  “How was your day?”

  Dominic turned with a surly look in his eye that quickly faded once their gazes met. He had no reason to hold any ire for her; she wasn’t the source of his troubles. Not really.

  “I could lie and say fine, but that wouldn’t help, would it?” He fell onto the pile of cushions she’d made with a sigh and tilted his head back. An audible popped escaped and that seemed to eke the rest of the tension out of his body.

  “I’m guessing you spoke with your father?”

  Okay, that wasn’t a subtle transition at all, but at least it got to the point.

  Dominic raised his head and gave her a querying look.

  “How did you know?”

  “He was here a few hours ago, looking for you.” She rubbed at her shoulder, remembering how cold he’d been. Which was understandable; they’d never met each other and he had more pressing matters to attend to.

  Dominic leaped to his feet and grabbed her by the shoulders. He looked her over frantically before pulling her into a hug. Taken by surprise, she didn’t have the opportunity to defend herself and that left her trapped against his chest.

  “Are you all right? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  Dominic’s concern was touching, but Jen was more distracted by the steady pounding of his heart in his chest. He was truly afraid something had happened to her, that his father might have done something unspeakable.

  “No. In fact, he pretty much acted like I didn’t exist.” She hesitated to push herself away, telling herself this was more for his comfort than her own.

  She felt his chest swell and fall beneath her cheek – a sigh of relief – and returned something of the hug around his waist.

  “I am glad.”

  Dominic didn’t know what he would have done had his father been more upset. Why he came here to look for him, Dominic didn’t know, but he was going to have to have a talk with him later about invading his privacy.

  Unless this had been his father’s roundabout way of personally seeing the woman he’d taken in. A chance to see if Jen was worthy of his attention.

  Not that she had said yes yet. His father had no reason to be concerned if there was nothing written in concrete.

  “How was your meeting with your friends?” He suddenly pulled away, realizing he had been hugging her for a while.

  Yet it tugged at something in Jen’s chest once she was removed from the warmth of his chest. As if he was pretending everything was okay for her sake. There was no reason to share his concerns with her because they weren’t a thing.

  She shook her head and led him back to the cushions on the floor where she sat him down.

  “It was fine, nothing to concern yourself with.” Mostly because it hadn’t helped her one way or another. But maybe it was time she stopped looking outside herself for the answers and started asking herself what she really wanted. And getting to know Dominic a little better.

  “Do you want to tell me about your dad?”

  He stared at her, questioning why she even cared.

  “That would be a long story. Want to pick something more specific?” he asked with a half-smirk.

  “Why is he...” She wasn’t sure how to put it without saying something offensive.

  “A callous asshole?”

  “You said it, not me.”

  “He has always been like that, since I could remember.” He leaned back into the cushions, resuming his previous position of relaxation. “I never liked the way he treated my mother, believing he owned her like some piece of property.”

  “And you don’t want to be like that?”

  “No. He took her from a home she loved and forced her to stay here. It took him years to seduce her to his way of thinking. Even then, they never really loved each other. Watching them is like watching a rehearsed soap opera. They make all the right moves, say the right words, but the spark isn’t there.”

  Dominic closed his eyes and recalled many moments he had seen his parents together, when they thought he wasn’t looking. There was nothing warm about what they had, treating everything more like a business arrangement than an actual marriage. He remembered asking his mother once if she was happy. “Don’t be silly,” she had said, of course she was. Why would he ever think otherwise?

  He clenched his fist around the corner of a cushion, pretending as if it was his own father’s neck. He was getting old, probably only had a few hundred years left in him. What harm would it do to end his life prematurely so he could step in and change things for the better?

  Jen sat and watched him in silence, the wrestling with his thoughts mirrored on his face. To be burdened with that kind of responsibility. She had no idea what that was like. But she didn’t want to see him like this anymore

  “Oh. You still have that promise of yours to keep.” She touched his hand to rouse him from his thoughts.

  That simple touch was warm and inviting, the opening of a door away from his horrible thoughts. Nevermind the fact that he had no idea what she was talking about.

  “Promise? What promise?”

  “That you would show me this other form of yours, how you shift.” It terrified her to think the man before her could become something so large and imposing, that he could be made of teeth and claws and fire. But she would maintain her composure as best she could and allow him to have his moment.

  Dominic beamed at her suggestion; so she was ready to see what he truly was? It didn’t matter that she might be doing this out of pity; this was a test to see if she really would stay, after seeing what he really was.

  He gripped her hand and rolled with her to his feet, dragging her b
ehind him as he headed through the kitchen and out the back door. She remembered there was a garden out here but hadn’t spent much time out there. Too much on her mind.

  But once she stepped out into the fresh air and rich smell of the blossoms, she regretted not coming out here earlier. It was the pure embodiment of romance: the flowers twisted up and around a number of trellises, and practically glowed in the twin moons’ light. Tiny glowing flies flitted about between the blossoms.

  The scents alone were intoxicating and left her feeling a little light-headed as they continued past them into a more open space where soft undergrowth met her bare feet. It was cold and a little damp with dew but not wholly unpleasant.

  Dominic released his grip on her and continued a short distance ahead until he was sure he was clear of everything. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face, to reveal his true nature and stretch his wings once more. It had been some time since his last shift, consumed by business with his father, it would be a nice way to relieve some stress.

  “You may want to step back,” he said with a smirk as he peeled his shirt over his head.

  Jen took a step back, wishing she’d brought a coat with her. Or at least something to wrap around her shoulders.

  Seeing her chill written on her skin, Dominic tossed her his shirt.

  “I’m going to need more room than that, Miss Davis.”

  Jen raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m sure you’re not that big.”

  Dominic replied with the quirk of his own brow.

  “Are you trying to tell me how to handle my business?”

  She rolled her eyes and stepped back even further, back to the edge of the garden. A good thing too, because his pants were gone too and she could just make out that he wasn’t wearing any underwear.

  Silhouetted by the moons, Dominic lowered himself to his hands and knees and allowed the ripple of scales to wash over his skin. He would never get used to that itching sensation, how it made him feel even hotter than he really was.

  Jen watched as the muscles of his back started to ripple and distort, growing larger and fuller until she heard the flesh rip itself apart. She gasped in surprise, worried if this pained him at all.

  She could barely make out his face, couldn’t see his shadowed expression. But he’d warned to maintain her distance and she had every intention of doing so.

  There, she saw massive leathery wings spring from his back, the membranes thin enough to see the moons through them. They stretched and furled, getting a feel for the air around them again, testing to see if they still worked.

  His neck began to elongate and his eyes shifted to the side of his head. Feet and hands grew and changed, the nails becoming long claws that dug trenches in the ground as he continued to convulse and twitch. From his rear end sprouted a tail, and the ensuing sound made her sick to her stomach. Perfect pale skin grew darker and she could see the texture changed as well. The dull crunching of shifting bone became even louder as twin horns sprang from his skull on either side of his ears, curling down and then forward in to killing spears that would reduce his enemies to gristle.

  He continued to grow larger still, his tail getting longer until it curled right around to lay in front of him. At the end was a dull, bony stump, likely another killing tool.

  Dominic sighed and groaned with ecstasy at the chance to finally be in this form again. He stretched his front legs out before him and felt his spine realign itself. He beat his great wings and pounded his massive tail against the ground. He felt marvelous to be in his second skin again and coughed a spurt of flame into the air out of celebration.

  He gazed over at Jen, shaking the lingering ache out of his shoulders, to assess her reaction. She had remained, had not run away screaming like so many others had before her. She looked absolutely stunning in this light.

  He moved in a few steps and lowered his head to the ground so she could get a better look at him.

  Jen must have forgotten to breathe because her chest was aching. The entire scene had been breathtaking to watch, from start to finish. And now here before her, was a real-life dragon.

  A pair of large glowing blue eyes peered down at her before the creature came to rest its chin on the ground, bringing each other to eye-level.

  “Beautiful,” she found herself blurting out. He truly was as large as he’d bragged and she was glad she listened to him. Her hand reached out and hesitated, eager to feel his scales.

  Pride swelled in Dominic’s chest as he inched his head even closer until he felt her hand atop his snout. He wiggled his nostrils at her to show there was nothing to be afraid of. She had stayed. Better yet, she wasn’t disgusted by his appearance. She actually seemed quite drawn to it.

  Jen giggled as she ran her hand over the scales of his muzzle. They were surprisingly soft and warm, definitely not what she expected. Her hand continued to travel up the length of his head until she got to the base of one horn, which was as high as she could reach.

  “You’re even more marvelous than the fairy tales make you look.” She was tickled pink at the sight of him, even more so when their gazes met again and she was confronted with those large, blue, glowing pupils.

  It would be easy to lose herself in them and never come back. To give in and let herself be swayed by all this romance and beauty as the others had done.

  Dominic tried his best to smile without exposing too many teeth; they were long and sharp, and such a look was more menacing than heart-warming.

  He didn’t want to ruin the moment, didn’t want this feeling swelling in his chest to go away. She looked absolutely enraptured with his appearance and that gave him hope for their situation.

  He folded one of his wings against himself so she could get a better look at those too. His skin twitched at the trailing of her fingers across the membranes; it was ticklish and dragon “giggles” weren’t exactly pleasant to listen to.

  Once she was distracted enough with them, he snuck the end of his tail up behind her and gently poked her in the back, sending her a little off-balance. He looked away, pretending that he had nothing to do with it but did earn a light smack for his antics.

  Jen continued to circle around him, taking her time to absorb all she saw. She would have laughed in someone’s face if they had told her this was what waited for her after being taken from her planet. That she would be blessed with such a sight.

  Instead of allowing her emotions to get the better of her, she decided to distract herself with curiosity and started peppering him with questions.

  “Are all your kind this color? What determines what your shift will look like? Are any of those traits passed on to children?”

  “Curious, are you?”

  Jen’s eyes widened even more. Had he spoken inside her mind? She was pretty sure she hadn’t seen his lips move and there was no one else around. Clenching her fists together, she tried sending her thoughts to him in hopes this little trick worked both ways.

  Dominic’s lips peeled back as he laughed heartily. Jen saw his killing teeth, saw all the to the back of his throat.

  “It doesn’t work like that. Not in your current state. If you do choose to become a shifter, however, then it becomes second nature.”

  “We’ll be able to speak inside each other’s minds?”

  “Yes.”

  To be given such power through the simple act of sex seemed too good to be true. It seemed like too easy a decision to make; there had to be something else, a price he hadn’t told her about.

  He saw her expression change and nudged her shoulder with the tip of his wing.

  “It is not a decision you have to make today. Or ever, if none of this is what you want. But I am glad to see you are more open to all of this. For one thing, you are not running away.”

  That was true. She had expected to hightail it back through the garden and into her room, hiding away with her head under a pillow. Instead, she was still here, appreciating the form of him.

  “Thank yo
u for being so patient with me.” She cast her gaze toward the twin moons and saw the tall forest stretching out for miles. “What do you think about taking me for a ride?”

  Dominic smiled.

  “Of course. You haven’t seen everything this planet has to offer. I’d suggest you hold on tight.” He made himself as flat as possible against the ground so she could climb on. It was easier said than done, given that he didn’t really have anything to hold on to except his horns and they were too big to fit into the palm of her hands. She clenched her legs around his neck instead and pressed herself flat to his scales.

  “Don’t you dare drop me.”

  “I would catch you, no need to worry.”

  As he stood, she could feel the mighty force of his beating wings around her, ruffling her hair and her clothing. It was more powerful than an airplane passing overhead, though it wasn’t as loud.

  She felt his body upright itself even more as he leaped into the air, feeling her stomach bottom out as he took off into the night air.

  Chapter 11

  Soaring through the air like this, it was easy for both of them to forget about any troubles. No more fatherly concerns to weigh him down.

  No more decisions to make as to whether she was going to stay.

  They both wanted to live in the moment and enjoy it for what it was.

  The cool night winds sailed around them as the city shrank to a mere pin point of white behind them. The tall trees loomed ever closer, taller than Jen could have ever imagined.

  A few creatures sleeping amongst the leaves shrieked in fright at their passing and she swore she saw a few shadowy figures leaping out and spreading wings of their own.

  Perhaps during the day, they could make this trip out here again so she could see the fauna as they really were.

  “Not too cold up there, are you?”

  Jen shook her head before realizing he couldn’t see, then answered in the negative.

  “Just let me know when you start feeling uncomfortable.”