Narrian: Discovering his Dragon (Return of the Dragons Book 6)

by Rinelle Grey

  Narrian was staring at him with wide eyes. He was pretty sure she didn’t get it. “If they can’t help themselves, then why should I bother to help them?”

  “You’re helping me right now, aren’t you?”

  He winced as soon as he’d said the words. Great way to convince her to remain here.

  “No, I’m helping my princess,” Narrian corrected. “She fought to save our people, and is worthy of my help.”

  Bruce heard the unspoken words.

  He wasn’t worthy of her time.

  He wasn’t doing anything to save himself, so why should she bother?

  The only reason she was still here was that a prince had told her to protect him. No, actually, Lisa had.

  Even Lisa was braver than he was.

  That was what had stopped Narrian leaving, not him asking. She didn’t care about him and what he needed at all. He was just a tool, a human who had agreed to help the important person—the dragon princess.

  A dragon princess who wasn’t even here.

  Narrian must have seen the expression on his face. Her voice was gruff as she said, “Look, I didn’t mean…”

  “No,” Bruce broke in, not wanting to hear her excuses. “It’s okay. You’re right, I’m not brave or strong like you are. You have a job to do, and I’m getting in your way. I’m sorry I stopped you. If you want to go out and fight that dragon, go ahead. I can wait in here for the others to come.”

  Karla would send someone else, wouldn’t she? She didn’t see him as just a tool.

  Even if their relationship had failed because he was just too boring.

  Narrian glanced over at the chamber entrance. The dragon hadn’t attacked again, but Bruce was sure he was still out there, waiting.

  “Go on,” he encouraged.

  Narrian turned back to him, her expression firm. “No, I promised I’d protect you, and I intend to do that. Your job isn’t done,” she said firmly. “There is still another princess, my sister, Sarian.”

  “Raven can wake her,” Bruce said flatly. “And you can help him instead of me. That’s his job, and yours, not mine. Just because this princess wasn’t here doesn’t mean I get to take someone else’s turn. In fact, it’s a relief. I’m not cut out for this.”

  It was the truth. He wasn’t. He didn’t think he could do this again.

  It was a relief he didn’t have to.

  Even if he was feeling the sinking weight of disappointment as well.

  When they made it out of here, his job was done. He could go home to England, and get back to his normal life. His normal, boring, dull life, where the challenges weren’t anything exciting to write home about.

  Where his biggest challenge was going to be explaining where he’d been all this time to his mother, and putting up with her joy that he wasn’t going to marry Karla after all.

  Well, that would certainly be a challenge.

  Bruce bit back a sigh.

  “You didn’t do so badly.” Narrian’s gruff words surprised Bruce enough that he glanced up at her. She wasn’t looking at him, just staring straight ahead. “It wasn’t your fault the princess wasn’t here.”

  He knew that. He wasn’t stupid. But something stopped Bruce from saying that. Something on Narrian’s face. It closed up again, and she turned away.

  She thought it was her fault somehow.

  But surely she could see that it wasn’t?

  Then it hit him. This wasn’t about the princess being missing. She was blaming herself for getting them stuck in this mess.

  “It isn’t your fault we’re stuck here either,” Bruce said softly.

  Her eyes flew to his, almost glowing in the torchlight, then darted away just as quickly. “I shouldn’t have come down here,” she said flatly. “You’d already said that the princess wasn’t here, I should have just believed you. Then we wouldn’t be stuck here.”

  No, they’d be out there, with that dragon. Bruce wasn’t convinced that was a better option, but he didn’t say so.

  There was no way she’d agree with him. He was quickly getting a handle on Narrian. She was unlike any other woman he’d ever met.

  Except perhaps Karla.

  She was a little like Karla. Impulsive, ready to jump into a problem and fix it.

  That was where the similarity ended. Karla would be more than willing to wait for the dragons to come and help them.

  Karla, he could imagine curled up on the couch in front of the fire, reading a book. Narrian he couldn’t picture sitting still for long enough to read even a single chapter of a book.

  She wasn’t Bruce’s type at all. If Karla had found him boring, Narrian would find him downright irritating. He could see that she already did.

  But he couldn’t help admiring her, like he’d always admired Karla.

  What was he thinking? He’d barely even gotten over Karla, and here he was making the same mistake again. He needed someone calm and ordinary. He needed to step back from these adventurous women.

  He firmly resolved to stick to admiring her from a distance.

  However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to help her. “Everyone makes mistakes,” he said gently. “There’s no shame in that. Anyway, we aren’t dead yet. The others will come and help us. I’m sure it will all turn out fine.”

  “You don’t get it, do you?” Narrian said, her voice muffled. She didn’t look up at him, just kept talking. “That dragon being out there means Prince Verrian is dead.” Her voice was flat and emotionless. “And that’s my fault too.”

  Bruce’s heart skipped a beat. Verrian, dead? And if Verrian was dead, that meant Lisa was too. Was that really possible? His voice caught in his throat, and he had to force the words out. “Do you really think they’re dead?”

  Narrian obviously heard his words as a challenge. At least she lifted her head and her eyes were spitting fire. She put her hands on her hips and said flatly, “Last time we saw that dragon up there, he and Prince Verrian were fighting. Now he’s here, and Prince Verrian isn’t. What do you think happened?”

  Bruce wasn’t sure. Predicting the outcome of dragon fights certainly wasn’t his forte. He had to bow to her judgement in that matter.

  One thing he did know. “If they are dead, that isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known that was going to happen.”

  “I should have stayed and helped him fight,” Narrian said bitterly. “Instead of rushing to wake a princess who isn’t even here.” Her face twisted. “Now we’re sitting here, doing nothing, instead of avenging his death.”

  Bruce’s heart was beating faster at the thought of her rushing out to fight. He wasn’t really too into the concept of avenging someone’s death. Seemed a bit pointless if they were already dead. Much better to keep yourself alive.

  Somehow, he didn’t think Narrian would agree with him.

  And he wasn’t sure that idea would help her any. This failure was eating away at her. That was the issue, not avenging someone’s death.

  If only he could convince her she hadn’t failed.

  Chapter 5

  “You didn’t know that the princess wasn’t here, or that Verrian wouldn’t be able to defeat that dragon easily.” Bruce said gently. “You need to stop blaming yourself.”

  Narrian wished Bruce would just stop talking. She could tell he was trying to help, but it was just making things worse.

  But he was just looking at her with that gentle, expectant face.

  Maybe if she explained, he’d back off.

  She heaved a sigh. “Prince Verrian is… not the world’s best fighter. I should have realised that. I’m a trained warrior. I should have been the one fighting the enemy dragon. Not the prince.”

  “The prince made his choice,” Bruce pointed out. “He was the one who told you to come and find the princess. He thought that was worth risking his life for.”

  “He made the wrong choice,” Narrian said flatly.

  “It’s still not your fault.”

  Narrian stared at him
. He just didn’t get it. How could she explain?

  How could she make him understand?

  “I’ve spent my whole life wanting to be like my father,” she told him. “Everyone admired him. He died doing what was right.” Despite herself, her eyes filled with tears. She was glad it was dark, and Bruce couldn’t see them. Making her voice come out even was far harder though. “I’m going to die here in this hole, having failed at everything I tried to do. I can’t even go out there and kill that dragon.”

  “Because of me,” Bruce said slowly.

  Narrian heaved a sigh. It wasn’t that Bruce’s plan was a bad one. Waiting for reinforcements was sound. Sensible even.

  It was just that she couldn’t handle sitting here doing nothing, then seeing the pitying looks on the faces of the rest of the clan when they rescued her. The same pitying looks she’d seen when they’d carried her father’s body back to the lair. Her stomach twisted at the memory, and she pushed it away quickly.

  Who knew how long it would take before someone came to help them?

  Who knew how long she’d be sitting here with nothing to do other than talk to Bruce.

  It wasn’t that she had anything against him. It wasn’t his fault he kept asking the wrong questions. His heart seemed to be in the right place. He just didn’t understand.

  She needed someone that could keep up with her. Challenge her. Keep pushing her higher.

  Narrian shook her head. She was stuck in the chamber with Bruce, not considering mating him. The only reason she was evaluating him like this was because she was trying to figure out if she could count on him to help her against the Trima dragon. Nothing else.

  And it was clear he couldn’t.

  “Look,” Bruce said. “You can’t be sure Verrian is dead. He may have just been wounded, and the dragon thought he was dead. Maybe there’s still time to rescue him. Your dragon Mesmer ritual can heal pretty much anything, can’t it?”

  Narrian started to shake her head, then paused.

  Was it possible?

  Maybe, if the dragon had been in a hurry to return to the Mesmer chamber, he might have made a mistake. She couldn’t completely discount it.

  The trouble was, that made her even more torn. “Maybe he is still alive,” she said slowly. “But if he is, it won’t be for long if he doesn’t get help.”

  “The others will come…” Bruce started to say, but Narrian interrupted him.

  “Not fast enough,” she said firmly. “If he is alive, I’m his best hope.”

  It felt better to have something to do. Better to have a reason to go out there and fight that dragon.

  “You can’t make it past that dragon,” Bruce said softly. “You’re not going to help Prince Verrian by dying yourself.”

  Dying didn’t frighten Narrian. It was a part of life. But how could she explain it to Bruce?

  He couldn’t stop her. She could just walk out of here, and there was nothing he could do.

  But for some reason, she wanted him to understand.

  “My father knew,” she said softly, “when we went to wake the princess, that it was a suicide mission. Many dragons had tried before, and failed just as spectacularly. Yet he went anyway.”

  “What did that achieve?” Bruce insisted. “Not to disparage your father, but he died for nothing, Narrian.”

  Narrian shook her head. “It wasn’t for nothing,” she insisted. “He went because of the chance, however small, that he might succeed. Because that chance was all we had. Because taking that chance meant we still had hope.”

  She looked Bruce straight in the eye. “That's the same reason I have to go.”

  She could see the disagreement in his eyes. He even opened his mouth to object. Then he closed it again, and heaved a sigh. “What are we going to do?” he asked quietly.

  His use of the word ‘we’ warmed Narrian’s heart. But she needed to make one thing clear, right from the beginning.

  “We aren’t going to do anything,” she said firmly. “You are going to wait here while I go out and take care of that dragon. Then we can head back to where we last saw Prince Verrian, and find out what happened.”

  She wasn’t going to let him get killed. Risking her own life was one thing, but since she’d agreed to protect him, she couldn’t let him risk his.

  Even though she was a little impressed that he’d offered.

  His shoulders slumped. He didn’t protest though. Just asked quietly, “What are you going to do? I suppose you could probably shoot… something up there, without even being at risk. Can you?”

  Narrian hesitated, but there was no point in lying. “Actually, metal dragons don’t have any ranged combat skills,” she admitted. “I’m going to have to get up there to him and actually attack.”

  “Are dragons that tough?” Bruce asked doubtfully. “I know…” he hesitated, and Narrian could almost see he was thinking of her punching the stone. “I can imagine you could withstand his claws pretty well, but I would have thought his lightning attack would damage you pretty quickly.”

  He was pretty quick—for a human. Damn him.

  “My metal scales will channel the lightning away,” Narrian said flatly. It was the truth. Or it would be if she was in dragon form.

  Bruce frowned, obviously putting two and two together. “But you only have scales in dragon form, and you won’t fit up those stairs then, will you?”

  Narrian bit back a sigh. No,” she admitted. “I’m going to have to get all the way out of the Mesmer chamber before I can transform.”

  Bruce stared at her for a few seconds, his jaw almost visibly dropping. Then he seemed to pull himself together. “You’re going to try to get up those stairs in human form, without being hit by the lightning bolts he’s going to be throwing? I know you’re saying that you have to try because there’s a chance you’ll succeed, but I’m not seeing one.”

  Frankly, Narrian found it hard to see one too. But she refused to believe there wasn’t one. Hopefully, she’d find it on the way.

  “We don’t have much choice,” she said softly, trying to ignore the sliver of fear that tried to force its way into her heart at her own words. “The longer we leave it, the less chance we have of finding Verrian alive.”

  Bruce folded his arms and stared at her. “You can’t beat that dragon on your own.” To her surprise, his voice was almost as firm as hers had been.

  Narrian opened her mouth in an automatic protest, but before she could get a word out, Bruce held up a finger. “If you’re going to do this in human form, then you have no better chance than I have. You have no excuse for leaving me out of this.”

  She caught a brief glimpse of a man who just might have put himself in the line of fire to save someone he cared about. That he would do it when he was so obviously an overly cautious personality only made it more admirable.

  But that wasn’t going to help her with her mission, which was to keep him safe.

  “One of us needs to stay here,” she told him. “If I don’t make it, someone needs to tell the others that the princess wasn’t here, and where to find Verrian.”

  Bruce shook his head firmly. “That doesn’t hold. If you’re so sure we’re going to be rescued that you need to leave a message, then we might as well both stay and be rescued. There’s nothing to gain by going out there now.”

  Damn him and his logical arguments. Why did he have to choose now to be someone who did what was right? Didn’t he know she was trying to keep him safe?

  “And just what are you going to do?” she challenged. “Run at him and stab him with your… finger?”

  Bruce didn’t back down. “Sounds like it would be just as successful as your plan. If you can’t transform, what are you going to do? I get that you need to do something, but you at least need a plan.”

  “I don’t know,” Narrian admitted. “Maybe I can dodge his lightning? Or wait until he’s just thrown one, and make it out between them.”

  “Even if you manage that, what are you go
ing to do then?” Bruce demanded. “Even if you reach him, it takes time to transform into dragon form, I’ve seen it. He can kill you while you’re doing that.”

  “I don’t need to transform fully to use my claws.” Narrian let her hands transform as she spoke, scales rising on her skin, and steel tipped claws emerging from the end of her fingers. She held them up in front of Bruce, and was pleased to see him pale and take a step back.

  That was more the reaction she expected from him.

  “Can you do anything like that, human?” she demanded.

  That should have been the end of it. Bruce should have nodded meekly, and stopped arguing.

  Only he didn’t. His face was pale, and he licked his lips twice, but he said, “That doesn’t protect you from his lightning.”

  Damn him for actually making sensible arguments. This had been much easier when she could just think of him with contempt. She didn’t need to start admiring him and thinking he might actually be a help right now. “That’s my problem, not yours.”

  “It will be mine when you get killed and I’m here all alone.”

  They were back to that. Would he just make up his mind and either be a coward, or be brave? She couldn’t keep up with this back and forth.

  Narrian wasn’t even sure why she was bothering to argue. She didn’t answer to this human, and she was pretty sure he couldn’t stop her doing whatever she liked.

  “It only takes one person to hide in a hole and wait for help.”

  A shadow crossed over Bruce’s face. Narrian could almost see him withdrawing inside himself, his face closing up. “You’re right,” he said, his voice stiff and cold. “You do whatever you like.”

  She’d achieved her aim, he’d stopped arguing. So why did she feel so bad? It wasn’t her fault she’d hurt the human’s feelings. She’d only pointed out the truth. She shouldn’t care anyway. She had more important things to worry about. Like getting out of here and finding Prince Verrian.

  She turned away from Bruce, away from the hurt expression he was so obviously trying to hide, and stared at the stairs, trying not to focus on the fact that Bruce was right.