Tao started to walk a bit faster than he had been previously.
I turned in my seat to study Dormir’s face. He barely looked older than me. “Why not? Hasn’t the time of age come for you to find a wife?”
“How do you know I don’t want a husband?” he challenged.
My cheeks flushed pink, and I averted my gaze. I hadn’t even considered that. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just thinking, you’re … oh, never mind.”
Dormir chuckled. “I’m not, by the way. Not looking for a wife or a husband. People avoid me just as much as they avoid you.”
“Why is that? You’re handsome enough.”
He laughed out loud. “Just enough, hm? It’s the narcolepsy. In case you missed it, my name actually means sleep. No one finds it attractive when you’re talking and suddenly the person you’re talking with collapses in a heap of sleep. No one knows how to wake me up, either.”
I knew how to wake him up, and the thought brought a mix of butterflies in my stomach and a sinking sense of dread. “What’s the longest you’ve ever slept?” I asked, successfully changing subjects.
“Hmm, I believe it was ten days.”
“Ten days?” I gasped and turned to look at him again. “You were asleep for ten days?”
He nodded.
“But … how do you wake up?”
Dormir shrugged. “I wake up on my own. My mother said, as a child, she could kiss my forehead and wake me. Now, that doesn’t work.” He tilted his head and his eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Your face is as red as a rose. What is it?”
I shook my head. “That must be hard for you.”
As we rode in silence, I had no choice than to focus on Dormir’s body. I’d taken in his enchanted beauty while he slept, but hadn’t really noticed his body until it was pressed to my back on the saddle. We rocked with each movement of the horse, and Dormir’s body rubbed against mine.
Dormir was muscled, but lean—unlike Gerard. Comparing the two, Dormir was a little shorter, elegant, and mysterious. Gerard was bulky, dashing, and inexplicable. Complete opposites. Still, Dormir’s eyes lit up when he smiled, and there was something about Gerard that made me wonder if I’d fallen too quickly for him. After all, Dormir wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and disagree with me.
“What you said about roses,” I finally said. “I’ve always wanted to see them.”
“Another thing we no longer have in this kingdom,” Dormir sighed. “There used to be all kinds of rose bushes everywhere, in pink and red and white. Some even a beautiful shade of blue.”
The wheels in my head began to turn. “Remember how I told you about my birthday? There was a note that morning, and at the bottom, it had an additional line about my curse. It said that if I pricked my finger on a rose, something would happen.” I shook my head. “I wish I could remember the wording. When I get back to the castle, I’m going to sit with my father and mother and have them tell me the truth,” I insisted, looking back at him.
Dormir nodded. “You can try.” He didn’t sound convinced.
I pursed my lips. But if she her finger pricks, then her and the dragon will no longer mix? No, that isn’t it. If a rose shall her finger … that doesn’t sound right either. I blew air out through my nose.
If only I could remember.
Fourteen
We didn’t make it to Dormir’s land by nightfall.
We stopped beside a roaring river, which Dormir explained led the way to his land.
“You don’t want to get in this water,” he warned. “Notice how loud it is? This river is running high.” He gestured to the shoreline. The water looked like it had carved out the edges of the dirt sides. “And it’s fast. See those white tips? You can stay on the shore, but I wouldn’t go any further in.”
“You hear that, Tao?” I said.
The horse was already headed for the water’s edge and didn’t acknowledge me.
I pulled on the reins, stopping him.
“When we get to my land, I’ll have to show you the waterfall. It casts a double rainbow.” Dormir got off Tao’s back first.
I grinned. “I’ve never seen a double rainbow before. I can’t wait to see what that looks like!”
“I have a feeling it is something you will absolutely love.” He put his hands on my waist. “May I help you down?”
I hesitated. When had he tied his hair back into a ponytail? Had his eyes always been so big? The color reminded me of pale purple lilac. “I can manage,” I finally replied. “I’m trying to learn independence, remember?” I patted one of his hands.
He let go and stepped back to give me space to climb off. “Can I help you with dinner tonight, at least?”
“You went from hating that I touched you to being willing to cook?” I leaned close. “I’m beginning to wonder if you have ulterior motives.” I raised my eyebrows as high as I could.
Dormir blinked and his face paled. “N-No! Of course not! I—”
“I was joking!” I laughed and playfully patted his shoulder. “I would love some help. It turns out I’m not so good at cooking.”
“It so happens I know my way around a campfire,” he winked and nudged me with his elbow.
I tucked my hair behind my ear and looked up at his beautiful face.
His smile softened and the left edge pulled up higher until it spread into a bigger smile.
The trees around us whispered.
He glanced at the sky. “They say it feels like we will get rain tonight. We might need shelter. Did you bring anything with you?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, to be honest. I would think we had a tent. Not that I would know how to set it up …” I looked up at the still-blue sky with white fluffy clouds. They hardly looked threatening, even as they grew pink with the setting of the sun.
“How about we get the stew cooking, and then we can set up the tent?” He started putting potatoes from the saddlebag into the pot. “That will give the potatoes and carrots time to cook up perfectly.”
“Will you teach me?” I walked to his side and held my arms out.
“Of course.” He handed over the pot, then walked to the other side of Tao and rummaged in that pack while I set the pot on the ground and searched the nearby underbrush for some twigs.
“Whoa, stop!”
I jumped back when Dormir shouted. “What?” I said in a panic.
He took my wrist and guided me to the side. “This here is called poison oak. See how the leaves are waxy?” He pointed to the plant I had nearly come in contact with. “If you brush up against that, even just touch your clothes to it and then touch the wax off your clothes, it will give a nasty rash.”
I stared. “How do you tell the difference from these plants?” I gestured with my free hand.
“Have you ever heard the saying, leaves of three, let them be?” He looked down at me.
“Yes, now that you remind me. My parents told me when I was a child, but it was so long ago, I forgot.”
He nodded and pointed to the leaves again. “Clusters of three leaves. Poison ivy also has three leaves. Both plants are really dangerous to touch and can be hard to identify, so just be careful.”
Dormir’s fingers held on to me gently, tenderly. He was truly concerned.
Again, we were caught staring at each other.
He looked down at our hands as if he just realized he was holding on to me, then dropped his grip. My heart dropped with it, and I bit my lip. Dormir rubbed the back of his neck as he walked to where he’d dropped the carrots.
I swallowed hard and retrieved the sticks.
Once I had a fire going, Dormir took me down to the riverbank and instructed me to wash the dirt from the potatoes and carrots. He showed me how to use the knife to cut off bad pieces and peel them.
“I noticed you still ha
d some flour left untouched, and salt. We can make some biscuits.” He glanced to his right and then left. “Ah ha. There are mushrooms on that tree. Do you like mushrooms?” He looked back at me as he walked to the plump white mushrooms growing on the base of a tree.
I shrugged. “I don’t mind them.”
“Good. There are some other things here we can throw in.” He plucked them off and returned to my side.
Dormir explained step-by-step without doing anything else for me, and I paid every bit of attention. When the stew was finally on the fire, he returned to Tao’s saddle.
He patted a rolled-up piece of material on the back of the saddle. “This is a tent.”
“I thought that was part of the saddle,” I admitted sheepishly.
Dormir gave me another warm smile, then shook his head and released the two latches. “I’ll need your help, though. Fae don’t use tents the same way you humans do. Or … part humans.” His eyes darted to my hands.
I knew he meant it in jest, but that didn’t mean it didn’t sting. I curled my fingers and got to my feet to help him, not that I was much help. Princesses didn’t put up tents.
“I think these go inside each other,” Dormir said. He held up two pieces of wood and showed me a hollowed space on one end, and a small tip on the other. He wiggled the poles together.
“Oh neat!”
He gave me a triumphant grin.
I had unrolled the canvas, and luckily it wasn’t one of the enormous tents I’d seen on the competition grounds. This one was much smaller. “It looks like poles go on these two tips. I think the small sticks go along the bottom.”
“Those are stakes.” He carried the sticks over.
I held the poles while Dormir nailed in the stakes, and the canvas pulled taught as he did so. Hesitantly, I let go, only to give a victorious grin when it stayed upright. Together, we successfully got the tent up.
“We did it!” I ducked out of the open flap. “See? Princesses aren’t completely useless.”
“I suppose not,” he agreed. “Now, let’s eat. I’m famished.”
Luckily Abby had packed two bowls, and Dormir served us both. There was just enough stew for two servings. Once he’d poured the soup in the bowls, he flipped the pot open-side down and set it on the fire.
“Don’t do that, you’ll smother it!” I exclaimed.
“No, look.” He pointed around the bottom. “It’s resting on the bigger logs. We’re going to make the biscuits. Where is the mixture?”
I reached over and retrieved the larger bowl. He’d had me mix flour, salt, water, and the last of the honey. He showed me how to flatten the mixture in between his hands, then he set the dough on the underside of the pot.
“Won’t the ash make them dirty?” I frowned.
“No, it adds a nice flavor. Besides, you can wipe it off when it’s done cooking.” He winked and took a bite of his stew.
“How did you learn to cook?” I blew on my spoonful before putting it in my mouth. My eyes widened, and I looked down at the bowl of food. “This is really yummy.” I took another bite.
“All fae learn how to cook from young ages. We live off the world around us. Our homes used to be part of the forest, so we needed to know how to use everything. I suppose teaching changed as we began to be pushed further from our homes and became more out of necessity than tradition.” Dormir didn’t look up as he took another bite.
“If what you say is actually true—”
That earned a sharp look my way.
“About the fae being pushed off their lands,” I continued. “Where do you live now?”
“I told you. The mountains. Which is not ideal for forest-dwellers. We have to have farms in the valley, and we are in constant fear that the queen will send her army to destroy them. It would kill us if she chose to do so.”
I frowned.
“It really would,” he said more firmly.
“That’s not what upsets me,” I retorted. “It’s all of this. Your being forced from your homes at all, my mother lying to me, this stupid curse, and the thought I might not ever find a cure.”
“I can understand your frustration,” he replied.
I didn’t know exactly how I would convince my mother to change her foolish laws, but I did concoct an idea as I ate. “I have an idea,” I finally expressed while Dormir licked a bit of soup from his bottom lip. “When you’re done breaking my curse, you could come with me to speak to my mother.”
Dormir slid his large biscuit off the pot and flipped it over to bake on the other side. “You really think it will be that simple? Just go in and tell her to change the law?”
“I don’t know what else would work,” I confessed. “You could act as an ambassador. I don’t start making laws on my own until I’m officially eighteen, and even then, my mother has to approve of them until I’m married and take my position on the throne. That won’t be until she dies or hands over her power.”
“Ah. I see.” He tilted his head toward the nearest tree, and moments later the hushed rush of wind began to grow.
“The storm?” I asked, setting down my empty bowl.
“No. Someone is coming.” He moved fast, releasing his hair from his ponytail so it fell over his ears. “Do you have a cloak to hide your horns?”
“No,” I said, sensing his panic. I dug in my pack regardless, hoping to grab a blanket, at least.
Dormir moved faster. He pulled the cloak from his shoulders, wrapped it around mine, and tugged the hood up so only my face showed. “Don’t act too surprised, and whatever you do don’t let them know about my being a fae and you being the princess. We don’t know who they are,” he said to me.
He settled back down and light glittered around him, muting his blue hair to yellow like mine, hiding the glow of his skin, and making his eyes change to blue. He handed me the cooked biscuit and plopped the last bit of dough on the pot to cook. His eyes darted toward the road.
I wasn’t much in the mood to eat the warm bread. My stomach knotting with anticipation
Dormir’s eyes were narrowed on whoever was approaching, and I feared he would run at the first sign of danger.
Thunder rumbled overhead, and a flash of lightning lit up the sky just in time to illuminate three riders on the road headed straight for us. My heart jumped into my throat, and I seized Dormir’s hand.
He gave me a gentle squeeze and looked at me from the corner of his eye. He nodded his head slightly, offering me silent comfort. “How is the biscuit?”
“Fine,” I answered back.
“Ho there!” one of the riders called.
Dormir let go of my hand and climbed to his feet. “You’re aware there is a storm nearing?” he answered.
“Yes. We spotted your fire and thought we might join you for shelter.”
I couldn’t see around Dormir’s body, but I heard the creak of leather saddles as the three riders dismounted. Their boots hit the ground, breaking twigs or crunching rocks.
“I’m afraid we don’t have much room in our tent,” Dormir replied.
“We have our own. Men, set up the tent. And who is this lovely lady with you?” The man leaned around Dormir’s side.
I gasped. “Gerard?” I leapt to my feet and sprinted to him. I threw my arms around him and held on tight. “What are you doing here? I thought you had reached Andorin and continued beyond!”
His body was rigid when I first wrapped my arms around his torso, but he relaxed and patted my back. “We had, but we received word that the fae had moved to the mountains, so that is where we are heading. What are you doing out of the castle?” He pushed me away, hands on my shoulders, and gave me a stern look. His eyes shifted to Dormir.
“I wanted to find the fae on my own. I didn’t want to wait for you to save me.”
Gerard gave me his perfect smile, but it didn’t
reach his eyes. Not like Dormir’s smiles. “You’re very bold to be out here alone. Who is your companion?” He slid one hand down to my back and extended the other toward Dormir.
“This is Dormir. He …”
Dormir’s jaw flexed just enough in warning, so I said nothing about him being a fae. He took Gerard’s hand, offering a smile of his own. “I am—”
“A servant,” I interrupted. “He works out in the stables.”
“Ah.” Gerard shook Dormir’s hand and let go. His eyes moved to the tent, then down to my face. “And you’ve been sharing the tent with him?” His brows lifted in an accusatory gesture.
I pursed my lips and stepped back. “Are you accusing me of something? The only reason we were to share tonight is because of the storm moving in.”
Gerard shook his head. “I meant no offense. You are my betrothed, and I want to protect you.” I hated how he emphasized the word, like I was something he’d won in battle, and I knew he only said it because Dormir stood close by.
I also didn’t miss Dormir’s body go rigid at the word.
I inhaled through my nose. “I know you do.”
“Which is why, tonight, I will share the tent with you,” Gerard continued. “Dormir here can sleep with my men.” He looked at the fae. “You’re fine with that, I trust?”
“Of course,” Dormir answered stiffly.
“Good. Clean up your meal. Princess Elisa looks positively exhausted.” Using the hand on my back, he directed me toward the tent, shouldering one of the bags from his saddle. “I truly can’t believe your mother let you do this,” he chided.
“She didn’t,” I said firmly.
He glanced down at me and held the flap of the tent open. “You left on your own? Did you tell her you were leaving?”
“I left her a note.” I glanced over my shoulder at Dormir. Something about Gerard’s sudden appearance made me uneasy, but I stepped into the tent and crouched beside my shredded bedroll.
“What happened there?”
“We were attacked by trees in the Ancient Wood.” I waved my hand dismissively. “It’s not an issue. Dormir saved me.”
The Dragon Princess: Sleeping Beauty Reimagined (The Forgotten Kingdom Book 1) Page 12