“But?” Dormir pressed.
I stopped. “Would you want to go back to the castle knowing you’ll turn into a dragon by the end of the year?” I scowled at him. “Would you want to go back to a life locked up like you’re glass ready to break at any moment?”
He shrugged. “You have a home, good food, a family who loves you—what else could you want?”
“Freedom.” My mouth blurted before I could stop it.
Dormir lifted a single brow this time.
I walked past him. “Goodnight, Dormir!” I stopped only long enough to get on Tao’s back and then nudged him forward.
“Where will you rest?” Dormir called after me. “Your horse needs water.”
“Well, I don’t see a river nearby,” I called back.
“That’s because you don’t know how to look.” He caught up easily and walked at a brisk pace alongside.
“I thought you didn’t care.”
“I don’t. I worry about your horse.”
I rolled my eyes. “Tao is fine.”
“How would you like to go all day without water?”
I frowned, knowing Dormir was right and hating it. “All right, lead me to water and then you’ll never have to see me ever again.”
We continued down the path a ways further, but then Dormir turned toward the trees.
“This way.”
“Trees,” I pointed out.
“Yes. But you’re out of the Ancient Wood, so these trees won’t harm you.” He motioned to me with his hand. “See how they are smaller?”
For all I knew, he could be leading me to my death, and I wouldn’t know any better.
Without any other choice, I followed. Luckily Dormir really did lead us to a river, and Tao was excited to walk in the water and get a drink. I stood on the shore with the only blanket around my shoulders, watching the stars overhead.
“Did you have those when we first met?” Dormir said, breaking my dreamy state.
“What?” I looked over at him.
“Your horns. They’re new?”
I dropped the blanket and reached up to touch my head. Indeed, two horns jutted from the sides of my head and extended backward. They were short, as if they hadn’t fully grown yet, but I didn’t care. I searched the rest of my head, but no change seemed to have happened anywhere else. I hurried to the shoreline and tried to look at my reflection in the water but couldn’t get a good look.
“No,” I breathed in dread.
“You really are upset about this, aren’t you?” Dormir stepped up to my side.
“Selina cursed me. I can’t … can’t be a dragon. If I turn into a dragon, she will take me. She will make me kill my family and destroy my kingdom, and then she will take over. I can’t—I won’t let that happen.” I didn’t care that I sounded desperate, but I needed to convince myself more than Dormir.
“For what it’s worth, I am sorry,” he said.
“No, you’re not,” I whispered. “You don’t care.” I snatched the blanket from the ground and sat down against a tree, refusing to look at the fae. “If you cared, you would help me.”
“It isn’t my fault—”
“No, but it’s your problem,” I snapped. “You think life is hard for you now? What, because you have to hide? Some of you have been killed? Imagine if Selina gets her hands on me! Imagine what damage I will do as a filthy, fire-breathing dragon!”
Dormir blinked, stunned to silence.
“Point me which way to go, and I’ll go as soon as Tao is ready. Go on home. Who knows if it will still be there in a year.” I looked away. My body trembled. “Your people will be wiped out. Extinct. Gone forever for good.”
“You have got to be the most pathetic person I’ve ever met.”
“Excuse me?” I stared at him, mouth agape.
He shook his head. “You heard me. Your whole life, you stayed hidden in a castle? Did you bother to even learn about dragons?”
“Yes. I studied everything I could about them in our books,” I snapped.
“Then you would know that dragons aren’t filthy, fire-breathing monsters.”
“All they want is treasure, and they kill anyone to get it!”
Dormir sighed. “No, they don’t. And they aren’t brainless lizards either. Do you know how to calm yourself when you’re angry?” Dormir’s voice was becoming more upset.
I glared. “My father taught me.”
He shook his head and looked at the stars. “You’re so naïve. You don’t even know the truth about fae.”
“Then enlighten me.”
Dormir took a breath, but suddenly his body relaxed, his eyes rolled, and he collapsed.
I gasped and jumped to my feet. “Dormir!” I fell beside him and shook him like I had in the cathedral. “Dormir, what happened? Dormir?”
He didn’t move.
I groaned. “I really don’t want to have to kiss you again.”
Thirteen
He didn’t wake on his own.
I dragged Dormir’s unconscious body to a more level area and then covered him with my torn bedroll. Reluctantly, I curled up beside him for warmth, even after starting a fire. When I woke the next morning, he was still there, unmoved from where I’d put him.
More than a little confused, I reached out and shook him again. “Dormir?” I asked. I looked up at Tao. “What do you think?”
Behind me, the trees whispered.
“I don’t want to kiss him again,” I argued, looking at them.
I grumbled more to myself as I got to my feet. As if everything didn’t hurt enough before from riding a horse and sleeping on the ground, my body now had the additional pain from being attacked by tree roots. Marigold and Dahlia would probably laugh when I told them that part of the story.
As I moved, the smell of horse, sweat, and dirt wafted off my body. I was positively filthy and suddenly grateful Dormir had been asleep and unable to smell me. Nothing about my appearance showed my royal heritage. Luckily I had a spare dress with me, and I dug it out of my pack. Unluckily it had been in the same pack with my blankets, which had been thrown by the roots. I shook the dress off and held it up. Other than the dirt smudge on one side, it was still mostly folded and clean.
I gave Dormir one last look before I shed my clothing and reluctantly stepped into the cold river. My shrill gasp was so loud I thought for sure I had woken Dormir. Swimming in a river was chilly, but nothing compared to the frigid temperatures of this water. It must have been the water hadn’t had time to warm up from the sun. It was too late to go back, though, so I rinsed off my body and hair the best I could.
When I felt clean enough, I ran out of the water and wrapped myself up in the only towel I had. Yet, as I dried my body, little leaves or debris still clung to my skin and there was still dirt that wiped off from the towel. I grumbled to myself before wrapping the towel back around and starting the fire again. It didn’t take long for the warmth to penetrate the towel.
Dormir was still asleep. He hadn’t budged from where I’d left him.
Pursing my lips to one side, I finished drying off and then pulled the clean dress on. It wouldn’t be so bad to be home and have a proper night’s sleep and proper bath. There wasn’t much to do with my sopping wet hair either, and I couldn’t find my brush, so I had to wrap it up in a towel and bundled up in a blanket.
Tao snorted, drawing my attention to him. He stepped forward and touched his nose to Dormir’s cheek.
“I don’t want to kiss him again,” I argued.
Tao’s chestnut eye moved to me.
“Fine.” I leaned down and kissed his cheek.
Nothing.
“What an unusual state he’s in.” I got a good look at Dormir’s face, but not even his eyes moved. “What could cause someone to do this?” I looked to the horse, as if he could answer my ques
tions.
Tao nibbled at Dormir’s hair, snorted, then meandered back to the river.
“Here goes nothing.” With no other choice, I pecked him on the lips.
This time, the kiss was more graceful. I took the time to register how he felt—soft and warm—and how he smelled. Dormir smelled like spring soil and orange groves.
He let out a sigh, and his eyes fluttered before opening. I bolted upright and pretended to busy myself with the pot, though I didn’t even have water in it. I watched him from the corner of my eyes. Dormir blinked a few times, focusing on my trees overhead, and then closed and rubbed his eyes with the base of his hands.
“It happened again, didn’t it?” He groaned and sat up.
“Is it common for you to just fall asleep on a whim?”
“When I become too emotional, yes.” He rested his arms on his knees and sighed. And then he gave me a curious look. “How did you wake me up?”
I shrugged. “You just did,” I lied, well aware of my cheeks growing pink. “I can rummage through the saddlebags and find something to eat.” I limped to Tao.
“We were arguing,” Dormir muttered to himself. “What were we arguing about?”
I shrugged, uncertain if he was really asking me or just thinking out loud.
“Oh, yes. You being ignorant to our plight.”
This time, I looked at him, and a playful smirk played on his thin lips.
“You led us to water and were going to drop me off on the path back to the castle. That hardly seems like a plight.”
“I don’t mean us, as in you and me. I mean me and my people.” He shook his head.
I opened my mouth, but he held up his hand, silencing me.
“I don’t know anything about Selina, other than I hear she is a powerful sorceress. As far as your curse and our supposed promise? No. Your mother passed a law forcing us from our lands to a very specific area to the far eastern border of Griswil.” His eyes remained locked on me, his lips tight. “If she had it her way, she would banish us completely from our own lands.
The color drained from my face. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would she push you all away when she knows you can cure my curse?”
Dormir inclined his head. “You’re not listening. We don’t know anything about your curse. To be entirely honest, I’m not sure I really care either. We’ve had to retreat to the mountains and try and make a life for ourselves there.”
“But that means … Mother knew all along where the faeries were. Which means …” I still couldn’t comprehend it. I didn’t want to. “I don’t believe you,” I said with finality, looking at Dormir with confidence. “You’re only saying this to make me upset. You’re trying to play a hand and gain what, exactly?” In reality, I didn’t want to accept that my mother, my own mother, had hidden this from me while at the same time knowing this was just like her.
My biggest question was why? Why would she pretend like this?
If the faeries really couldn’t help cure me … could it be possible I wasn’t cursed at all?
Dormir got to his feet and reached his hands out. “Can I help you with breakfast?”
“No. I can do it.” I pushed past him and set down two apples, the twine-wrapped muffins—one of the only items untouched from the tree incident—and the pouch of water. When I sat down, I landed harder than intended and grimaced.
Dormir watched me as I ate my pathetic breakfast. He finally rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled through his nose. “What if I take you to them?”
I glanced in his direction. “Take me to the faeries? Why would you choose to do that now? What changed your mind?”
“You’ve come on your own all this way. Clearly, you’ve been lied to. Maybe one of the elders can give you a better answer than me?” He shrugged. “What do you have to lose?”
The dry muffin in my mouth was barely edible, and I chewed slowly.
Dormir took that as a silent “yes” and said, “We shall leave when you’re ready, then.” He nodded once and walked over to Tao.
I swallowed. “Do you really think they’ll help?” I asked hesitantly.
Dormir looked over his shoulder at me. “In the least, they could answer your questions about your supposed curse.” He held his hand out to Tao. “Where did you get this horse?”
“He’s been around for as long as I can remember. He’s the only horse I can ride. I think it’s because the other horses sense the dragon within me.” I took the last bite of the muffin and dusted the crumbs from my lap.
“Curious,” he said softly.
“Why is that? Because a horse can like something as disgusting as me?”
Dormir rolled his eyes at me. “No, because I think he may be a unicorn.”
I laughed.
The edges of Dormir’s lips pinched.
I pointed to Tao. “A unicorn? Unicorns have horns. I’m not that naïve.”
“They’re almost extinct, Elisa. If they hide, they could disguise themselves as a regular horse.”
“All right, fae boy. Show me to your people. I think my unicorn could use some proper rest, and I could use a bed for a night.” I gestured with a dramatic flourish.
Dormir rolled his eyes and muttered something in his native language.
Tao answered by nodding his head up and down.
Dormir smirked and patted his nose. “All right, Elisa. This way.” He directed us back through the trees and onto the main path.
When we made it to a bridge, Dormir motioned me to stop and walked to the edge. “I am Dormir, son of Tayvin. I return from my visit to find peace.”
I wanted to ask what on earth he was doing, but Dormir seemed to sense my unease and lifted a finger telling me to wait longer.
He leaned to his right, peering over the edge. “I would like to pass and return home.”
Finally, there was a knock from under the bridge.
“I take a horse with me as well.”
A frantic series of knocks and Dormir smiled over his shoulder at me. He put his finger to his lips and motioned with his hand for me to follow.
Tao moved before I could nudge him, and I wondered for the first time if Tao was more than an ordinary horse.
We reached the other side, and Dormir said, “Sorry to be so sudden. There’s a troll under the bridge. They say he doesn’t usually cause trouble, but where I’m fae and off my land, I really didn’t want him upset for trespassing.”
“A troll?”
His words sunk in.
I shook my head. “I understand magic is real. I know you are a fae. But unicorns and trolls? Aren’t those creatures supposed to be gone?”
“Supposed to? Yes.” I didn’t like the look of animosity Dormir threw in my direction.
I looked over my shoulder to see if I could catch a peek of the underside of the bridge. “You’re telling me … all of these creatures live in our land?”
Dormir nodded. “And more, which you clearly haven’t seen either.”
“Clearly,” I muttered.
For the next hour or so, all I could do was think of everything I’d missed being locked away in the castle. I wished I had been more brave so I could have seen these magical creatures and protected them from whatever hunting or laws were passed.
Eventually, Dormir asked about my family. I told him all about my sisters, how they’d even begged to come with me but I refused to let them. He didn’t ask, but I told him about my studies, what I did every day, what things I liked. Things I really should have told Gerard. Once I started talking, I had a difficult time restraining myself. Evidently being alone for two days makes one desperate for conversation.
I finally stopped when I realized he wasn’t saying much. I cleared my throat. “How many days is it going to take us to get to your city?”
Dormir raised a brow. “If you all
owed me to ride Tao with you, we could save time. If not, by the end of the day tomorrow for certain.”
“I thought you said your land was to the east?”
“It is. Which is the direction we’re heading.”
“That’s preposterous,” I frowned. “This is the direction I’ve traveled since I left the castle. I passed Handlin only a few days ago.”
“Handlin? No. That’s to the west of the castle. The sun rises from the east and sets to the west. See?” He pointed to the sky. “We are about two hours away from midday.”
I felt more a fool. I continued to show Dormir why I shouldn’t have been out on my own. I’d read the map wrong. No wonder the river wasn’t where I thought it to be. Dejected, I didn’t dare ask another thing.
“Did I upset you?” he asked.
“No. I … I thought I knew so much.” I wrapped the leather strap of the rein around my hand, feeling insignificant. “What kind of queen will I be if I can’t even hold a map in the right direction?”
Dormir’s hand touched my leg.
I shifted my gaze to him.
“You’re still alive? Aren’t you?” His smile hesitated. “That accounts for something.”
“You had to save me from trees, Dormir.” I dropped my head and raised my brows.
“In your defense, if no one tells you things, you don’t know what to expect.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “Which will also cause me to fail as a queen. Look, if you riding with me will get us there faster, then come on.” I patted the saddle behind me.
“Are you in a hurry?” he teased.
I moved my foot from the stirrup. “I would like to not turn completely into a dragon.” I reached up and touched the horns on the sides of my head. “I just hope these aren’t permanent. I can hide the scales.”
“I think they’re neat if you ask me.” The saddle leaned as Dormir climbed on. He sat directly behind me, his body pressed up against mine, and a rush of heat shot through my body, just like when Gerard had danced with me. “This is much more comfortable than walking.”
“Is this how you impress all of the girls?” I asked over my shoulder.
“No one is vying for my hand if that’s what you’re aiming at.” Unlike Gerard, when Dormir gave me a half-grin, he didn’t have a dimple. But his grin lit up his lavender eyes.
The Dragon Princess: Sleeping Beauty Reimagined (The Forgotten Kingdom Book 1) Page 11