by Meg Ripley
Throughout the fitting Aurora found her mind wandering back to the dragon and to her mother's strange reaction to her dream. Sara had reacted with something bordering on panic, almost as if she had been expecting the revelation.
As if she had been dreading it.
Aurora allowed her mother, the dress designer, and the tailor flitter around her like hummingbirds, primping, adjusting, gathering, pinning, and squeezing until she felt like something somewhere between a cupcake and a piece of experimental art. Their words drifted over her, but none of them really registered. She couldn't stop thinking about her dream. It felt so incredibly real and she found herself focusing on the intense draw she felt to the dragon, unable to keep its fearsome, yet beautiful body out of her thoughts.
Sara stayed close to her for the rest of the day and by the time Aurora finally rested her head on her pillow that night, she still hadn't had the chance to visit her father's office. She closed her eyes, unsure of what to expect, and a moment later, surrendered her consciousness.
Aurora's eyes slid open slowly and she was back on the bank of the lake, lying on the damp ground with her head rested on her arm. The dragon lay a few yards away, its body curled in a way that almost mimicked hers. A shiver rippled through her when its eyes opened and met hers. She pulled herself up gradually and crawled toward the dragon, keeping her gaze focused steadily on its eyes as she drew closer. Close enough to really look at them now she saw that his eyes were not just black like she originally thought. Instead, they looked like watercolors poured across darkly smoked glass, a blend of shades just visible against a background of charcoal.
No longer feeling fear, she brought one hand up to touch its face. As soon as her fingertips brushed the smooth skin, Aurora felt the strange impression that this was not an "it", but a "he". She touched further, cupping her palm around the curve of his jaw and stroking it down his powerful neck. He lifted his head slightly, the pull causing her to raise up from her knees. The movement brought her closer to him, and she stroked her hand up higher so that her arm draped over his neck.
The dragon tucked his head down so that it pressed against her, touching from just beneath her chin to her mid-thigh. Aurora gasped as he raised his head again and her body lifted off the ground and onto his neck. Her legs came down on either side and she glided down to settle right above his shoulder blades where his wings stretched from his body. The color-swirled skirt rose up her thighs as she tightened her knees to hold herself in place. She ran her hands down his neck, then reached to her sides to touch his wings. They felt warm and thick beneath her palms and she curled her hands around the edges to hold them.
When she gripped his wings on either side of her, she felt his body rise beneath her so that he stood. Her breath caught in her throat, but Aurora felt completely safe against his warm skin. His muscles shifted and tightened against her thighs as he walked toward the edge of the lake. The water rose around her as he sank into it. He swam slowly so that she was beneath the surface from the waist down. She shuddered with the cold. As if he felt the shiver, the dragon opened his mouth and sent a stream of fire along the surface, creating a warmer space around them.
Aurora felt mesmerized by the brief glow of the flame across the water and as she stared into it, she felt herself slipping. She fought to keep her hands on his neck and her thighs around his body, but a moment later she felt her chilly sheets beneath her and the cold grey darkness replaced her world of color.
****
Aurora fought to get her trembling breath back under control. She could still feel the dragon beneath her and there was a strange tightness in her belly that made her breathless. The house around her was silent. Unable to even close her eyes much less fall back to sleep, she climbed out of bed. Slipping into her bathrobe, she made her way through the dark house toward Lee's office.
She paused just outside the door and listened for the sound of her mother moving around the house. Satisfied that she was still sleeping, Aurora pushed the door open and stepped inside, closing the door behind her as quickly as possible. Finally, alone in the office, she took a moment to experience the presence of her father around her. The space still smelled like Lee and she felt a twinge of the grief she had been so carefully suppressing.
Forcing herself to pull her thoughts away from the fog of sadness filling her mind, she brought them back to the one time when Lee actually allowed her into the office. When she closed her eyes, she could see him sitting in the brown leather chair behind the desk, giving her that special, secretive look she gave her when she was a little girl and they would sneak chocolates before dinner.
She walked across the office and ran her hand along the desk like she had seen her mother do the day before. Sara had been feeling for the memories of her husband in the curves of the wood. Aurora was searching for one, particular flaw. Her fingertip felt the rough edge of the masterfully hidden button in the carving and pressed on it. There was a faint click and a slim section of the front of the desk popped forward, revealing the secret drawer her father had shown her.
"This is where I hide my secrets," Lee had told her in a conspiratorial whisper.
The drawer was empty when he showed it to her then, but as she pulled it toward herself she saw a grey folder rested on the bottom. Her hand shook as she picked it up. There was a single word written across the front of the folder: Killington.
Aurora closed the drawer and held the folder in both hands, inexplicably afraid to open it. The sun was coming up through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind her and the faint light illuminated the folder as if encouraging her. Taking a long, steadying breath, Aurora lowered herself into her father's chair, finding strength in the smell of the leather, and opened the folder.
Her hand flew to her mouth to muffle the gasp that escaped her lips. Clasped within the folder was a stack of papers and on the top sheet was a drawing of a dragon. She turned the page and found another drawing, this one of a different dragon. Neither was her dragon, but she could see the resemblance in the shape of their bodies and the spread of the second one's wings.
"Oh my god," she whispered, "Dad, what did you know?"
Suddenly she heard a door close above her and knew that her mother was awake. Not wanting to risk bringing the folder into her room and having someone find it, Aurora opened the hidden drawer again, tucked the folder inside, and closed it. She slipped out of the office and rushed toward the kitchen so she wouldn't look suspicious when Sara made it downstairs.
That night she dreamt of her dragon again. She walked around him slowly, running her hand along his body and wrapping her fingers around the sharp claw-like points at the ends of his wings. He nudged her onto him and she lay on her back between his wings, one leg hanging by his side as she stared up at the stars. Just like everything in the dreams she shared with him, the stars glittered back at her with breathtaking clarity against a sky so lush they looked like shards of ice scattered across velvet. His deep, even breath lulled her to sleep on his back and she rose out of her dream into reality.
It was another four days before she was able to find time alone in her father's office again. Sara was meeting Greyson's mother for lunch, which meant that the women would be engrossed in last-minute plans and preparations that would likely carry them well into the afternoon. There were only three days left until the wedding, and the thought of the minutes slipping away made Aurora even more desperate to find out what was in that folder.
Locking the door behind her, Aurora pulled the folder from the drawer, settled into her father's chair, and opened the grey cover against the desk. The first several pages featured drawings of various dragons. Some were massive like her dragon, others smaller and more delicate looking. Many were shades of orange, red, and blue. Only one was the slick, gleaming black of her beautiful creature.
Finally, she came to a page with words and began to read. Her heart started to shake in her chest as she tried to take in what the words said. They were written in brief, stark sent
ences that sounded like the code she sometimes overheard her father muttering into his phone in the few seconds she would wait before knocking on his office door when her mother sent her to get him for dinner. The strange wording, abbreviations, and occasional symbols made it so that Aurora didn't understand most of what she read. By the time she got through a few pages of text, however, she was fully aware that her father was not who she thought he was, and that his career was far more complex than he ever let on.
Aurora turned another page and found another drawing. This one, however, was not of a dragon. She was looking at the naked back of a man and a large, intricate tattoo that stretched across his shoulder blades and down to his hips. Many people may have just seen an abstract pattern or only a vague impression of a design. She, however, knew those lines, the curve at the top and the tips at the bottom. She had run her hands along them and lain between them. That tattoo was of folded wings.
That night Aurora gave herself into her dream and in what seemed like a blink she left her bed and was back on the moss-covered boulder at the edge of the lake. Her feet swirled through the water like they had in her first dream and within moments she felt it growing warmer. The roughness of the water told her the dragon was coming and she swept her eyes across the lake to see the first glimpses of him swimming toward her.
He drew closer until he was directly beneath her, running his back against her feet. She giggled and pulled her feet up out of the water, hoping it would tempt him back. He took the lure and swam back. The water stilled and his head came up out of it to rest in her lap. Aurora stroked it tenderly, watching his eyes close in response to her touch. Nervousness swept through her as she prepared to speak to him for the first time.
"I know what you are," she said, not raising her voice above a whisper for fear of breaking the peaceful, comfortable calm between them.
His eyes opened and stared at her for a moment before he lifted his head from her lap and sank beneath the surface of the water. Her heart clenched painfully as she watched his dark form seem to sink further and further away from her until she could no longer see it in the moonlight. She was beginning to stand, ready to walk back down the path toward wherever it would lead her, when she felt something against her ankle.
The touch was not like the dragon's back against her and the difference in sensation stilled her. Aurora felt the same touch on her other ankle and watched as hands came out of the water, sliding up her legs. Following the hands were golden, muscled arms. The hands reached her knees and gently pushed them apart. Finally, the water broke, and a head, powerful shoulders, and chiseled chest rose up between her opened knees.
Aurora's mouth opened, but no sound came out. The eyes that stared back at her from a stunningly beautiful face had the color of her dragon's. Water streamed from dark hair that hung to his shoulders and across full, soft-looking lips. She couldn't resist touching him. Her fingers slid through his thick hair and then traced along the curve of his cheek. He tilted his face slightly to tuck it against her hand and she felt his hands sliding further up her legs until they held her hips.
"Hello," he said softly.
Aurora laughed quietly, tears starting to burn in the corners of her eyes.
"Hi," she replied.
He tightened his hold on her hips and slid her closer to him. Their breath mingled between them and for a moment neither moved. Aurora lifted her other hand to his face so that she cupped it in both palms. He leaned toward her and their lips touched. His mouth lingered so that it pressed against hers only gently, then lifted away. Aurora nudged her nose against his and he captured her mouth again, encouraging it to open beneath his.
Aurora complied with the insistence of his kiss, parting her lips and welcoming his tongue against hers. She was so lost in the taste of him that she barely noticed his hands come to hers and take them from his face. He wrapped her arms around his neck, then returned his grip to her hips. She felt him lift her off the boulder and bring her against his body so that her legs wrapped around his waist. The water rose around them and their kiss deepened.
There was no hurry as they kissed. Instead, he explored her mouth with his tongue and ran his hands from her hips along her thighs and back as he let his lips play languidly against hers. Aurora stroked her hands down his neck, then over his shoulders so they ran across his back. She could feel the slight difference in texture on his skin where she imagined the back ink of the wing tattoo was embedded.
Finally, she pulled her mouth from his and looked into his eyes.
"What's your name?" she asked softly.
"Arach."
She could already feel the pull of the dream ending around her and she clung tighter to him, wanting just another moment of being in his arms.
"I'm Aurora."
"I know," he said and touched another gentle kiss to her lips.
"You know?" she asked, confused.
Arach nodded and kissed her again, plunging his tongue into her mouth. She reciprocated hungrily, moaning against his mouth as he slid her down his body and she felt that he wore nothing beneath the water. He pushed her skirt up her thighs so that it gathered her hips. She rocked them against his stomach and he complied with the invitation, slipping a hand beneath the elastic of her panties. His thumb stroked through her sensitive folds and within seconds she felt herself crashing into a dizzying orgasm. Arach's fingers delved into her and she contracted around them in a series of tremors that left her gasping.
The image around her was fading, and she knew the intensity of the experience was waking her. She kissed him a final time before tucking her head against his shoulder so she could breathe in his scent and listen to his heartbeat as she woke.
"Goodnight, Arach," she whispered and the darkness took her.
A moment later Aurora woke in her bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Around her the world had darkened to an even bleaker shade of grey.
****
"Mom, I need to talk to you," Aurora said two days later.
She was again sitting across the patio table from Sara who sipped coffee cautiously from a china cup. Aurora hated that cup. The delicate pink roses that crept along its sides were lovely; but they were flat, lifeless, and artificial. They reminded her too much of what she was becoming for her to find it pretty.
"Yes, soon-to-be Mrs.?" Sara nearly sang.
Aurora cringed.
"Please don't."
"What's wrong, Aurora?" Sara asked, the delight draining from her face.
Aurora looked up at the housekeeper who stood dutifully by with the coffee pot. The grey-haired woman took the cue and settled the pot onto the silver breakfast cart before disappearing into the house.
"Does the word 'Killington' mean anything to you?" she asked as soon as the patio door closed.
Sara looked like Aurora had struck her. Her hand shook as she lowered the cup back to her saucer.
"No," she said, but the tremble in her voice told Aurora she was lying.
"Don't lie to me. I found Dad's file."
The nervousness on Sara's face turned to anger quickly.
"How dare you go through your father's desk?"
"I saw you going through it after I mentioned my dream the other day. He showed me his secret drawer before he died. You must not have known about it."
Sara was visibly shaking and Aurora would have backed off if she couldn't still feel Arach's lips against her neck from her most recent dream.
"I don't want to ever hear you talking about that again, Aurora. Do you understand me?"
"Don't talk to me like a child. I'm supposed to marry someone I don't love tomorrow because I made a promise to Dad, but I have been dreaming of this dragon every night, and I deserve to know what that means."
Sara stood up so sharply she nearly knocked the table over.
"You don't deserve to know anything. You will marry Greyson and you will be a good wife to him. He will follow in his father's footsteps and you will both make things happen for each other. T
hat is the way it is going to be."
Her mother started to walk toward the patio door and Aurora stood.
"I've fallen in love with him," she said, bracing herself for the reaction.
Sara turned to her, the look in her eyes so intense Aurora took a step back.
"Excuse me?"
"The dragon can become a man. His name is Arach."
"Stop it, now."
"He is just like the ones in Dad's file. It said 'Killington' on it. What does that mean?"
Sara came close to Aurora and grabbed her by her arms.
"Your father died because of what was in that file. It is your duty to marry Greyson as he promised his father. It is the only thing that will keep you safe."
"I don't understand," Aurora said.
Sara's hand tightened painfully around Aurora's wrist.
"And you never will."
Dragging Aurora along behind her, Sara rushed into the house and down the hall to the small library tucked beside her father's office. She pushed her inside and Aurora heard her calling to the housekeeper.
"Angela, watch her. Keep her awake. Do whatever you have to do, but do not let her fall asleep."
"You can't keep me in here until tomorrow," Aurora protested.
Sara looked at her for a long, sickening moment and closed to door. Aurora heard the door lock and she pounded against it, screaming to her mother. Panic rose in her chest. This was more than she had even imagined. Her father had told her that marrying Greyson was about uniting families that had been longtime friends and supporting Greyson's political ambitions while giving her the life that would enable her to pursue her own goals. Now she knew it was so much more than that.
If only she knew what.
Aurora paced around the library frantically for the rest of the day. She could hear her mother moving around the house making last-minute preparations, but no matter how much she screamed, Sara did not come to let her out. More than anything she wanted to sleep, but Angela would not allow her to rest. She didn't understand. Even if there was more to the dragons, she only saw Arach in her dreams. Her wedding was less than a day away and then she would be bound to Greyson by law and loyalty.