Kal raised his eyebrows at Zak, who just shook his head.
Good, Myrian thought.
“Your Highness,” she said. “There’s something we need to talk about.”
“I’m sure there are many things we need to talk about,” he said. “But the two of you look as if you’re about to fall asleep on your feet. Take that chamber there.” He pointed to a passage to the right. “We can talk in the morning. Surely it can wait until then?”
Myrian looked at Zak. His face was wan. Dark bags hung under his eyes. Yes, she supposed it could wait. They needed to rest or they wouldn’t be able to fly the rest of the way to the Emerald Isle, much less fight anyone.
“Thank you,” she said. Then she turned to Thalia. “And thank you as well. You saved our lives.”
Thalia just smiled and gave a small nod.
“Until the morning,” Myrian said. She took Zak by the arm, and together they headed through the tunnel.
19
ZAK
He was surprised to see a heavy oak door at the end of the passage. Gods, he was so tired. He could easily have just lain here on the stone floor of the passage and fallen asleep.
But Myrian raised the latch and pushed, leading him inside. The room was small, but it looked like heaven to Zak. For now, there would be no more flying, no more fighting, and no more excitement. At first he had been exhilarated by the adventure. Learning he was a dragon, and finding his way into his new identity had been a thrill.
And then there was Myrian. At first he had nearly despised her. But somewhere along the way, exactly when and where he couldn’t say, his feelings for her had shifted completely in the other direction.
Even now, as he looked around the room, he spotted only one bed, a thick straw mat next to the far wall. He blushed, thinking of lying there with Myrian. He wanted to kiss her. Of course he did. He wanted to do even more, peeling off that skin-tight armor to reveal her creamy white skin beneath.
He was so tired, though. Just now he wanted to lie down next to her and feel her warmth beside him as he fell asleep. But Myrian had other ideas.
She closed the door behind them, fastening the latch. A single torch lit the small room.
“Your armor is damaged,” she said, nodding at the his leg, where the iron trap had shredded the black scales. “Shall I help you out of it?”
Her silver eyes glistened playfully in the dim light.
“Myrian,” he said. “Listen, I—“
But she was in no mood to listen. Her fingers curled inside the neck of his armor and began to stretch it out and pull it down. He had thought she was a good girl, a prude, even. But she didn’t seem like one now. A hunger had joined the playfulness in her eyes.
He did little to resist, letting her pull his armor down his arms to his waist, exposing his bare chest. He was so tired, but in spite of it he felt himself stiffen. Part of him wanted her to pull his armor the rest of the way down. The rest of him feared she would find him wanting, or that he wouldn’t know what to do.
She put her small hands on his chest. They felt wonderful resting there. She looked up at him shyly. “What I was trying to say back at the palace,” she said. “was that I’m sorry.”
With her hands on him, he had forgotten about any past transgressions.
“I’m sorry for how I talked to you. How I treated you,” she said. “You were right. I was spoiled. And sheltered.” She leaned down to put her lips on the skin of his chest. He felt his nipples stiffen as she kissed him there. “All this has made me realize, I don’t want to be sheltered anymore.”
And all of a sudden, he didn’t feel tired. Zak reached up and ran his hands up along her arms, feeling the coolness of the white scales there. When his hands reached her shoulders, he curled his fingers under the lip of her armor and pulled.
Myrian narrowed her shoulders close together to shrug the armor off as Zak pulled it down. Her small breasts bobbed slightly as the scaly skin slid off of them. He only pulled down to her waist, as she had with him. And they stood there in the shadows, each naked from the waist up.
Her skin was white as cream, even more delicate than it had been in his imagination. Her nipples were small and pink, curving up slightly at the end. He wanted to bend down and taste them, but he wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do. Even here alone with each other, Myrian finally showing him her eagerness, he didn’t want to overstep his bounds.
She saw him looking at her breasts, the tiny nipples stiffening in the air. She smiled at him, and as if reading his thoughts, she nodded at him. “Go on,” she said.
He felt himself get slightly dizzy at the invitation, the armor between his legs now uncomfortably strained. He wanted completely out of his suit so badly, but he wanted to taste her even more.
Zak knelt down, sliding his hands to the small of her back. Her skin felt like cream as well, softer than any feather and smoother than any silk. His face hovered in front of the white curve of her breast. The smell of her skin intoxicated him. He closed his eyes and took her scent in. She smelled faintly of honey, of yellow grass warmed by the sun, but most he smelled the salty, dusky aroma of her femininity.
He must have taken too long for her liking, because he felt her fingers run through the hair on the back of his head and pull his mouth towards her. He opened his mouth to greet the tip of her nipple, tasting her for the first time.
Myrian let out a small gasp as he sucked at her. Having had a small sample of her flesh, he wanted to run his tongue across all of her, to kiss every corner of her body. He felt the urge overwhelm him, and he slid his hands down into her armor to cup her bottom.
He sucked and licked at her, then moved to the other breast. As he did, Zak used his lower arms to push down the skin of her armor, down to her upper thighs. Then he tugged the suit all the way to the floor. She stepped out of it daintily, and for the first time he got a glimpse of the mound between her legs, as silvery-white as the hair atop her head.
He was almost frozen in place admiring her there, now completely bare in front of him. Myrian used the opportunity to grab his armor around the waist and draw it down to the floor.
He felt equal parts embarrassment and relief as he sprung free from the confines of his suit. Myrian was kneeling before him now, his suit around his ankles. She looked up between his legs, her eyes wide with curiosity. Perhaps, like him, she had never done this before. He wanted to ask her, but was too afraid.
She reached up cautiously, her fingertips grazing the fleshy head. Her touch felt incredible, but he was so sensitive, he couldn’t help but flinch. She looked up into his eyes as if to see if she had done something wrong, but he reassured her by relaxing and moving his hips closer towards her.
Myrian smiled and curled her soft fingers around the shaft. He closed his eyes, and now it was his turn to moan. He changed his mind quickly, opening his eyes. He wanted to see whatever it was she decided to do to him.
She was staring up at him. “I’m not sure what to do next,” she said.
He reached down and put his hands on her shoulders, lifting her up. She may not be sure, but he knew exactly what he wanted to do to her. He had been waiting for it for what seemed like an eternity, though it had been less than two full days.
Once she was standing again, he leaned in and tilted his head, touching his lips to hers. As their lips touched, he felt everything fall away. All the doubt, the uncertainty, it was all gone. He tasted the warm light of her mouth, the wetness there, the sweetness.
Zak wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight as he kissed her. In that moment, they weren’t dragons or pieces in some game. They were simply a young man and a young woman shutting out the rest of the world, consumed only with each other.
The kiss was divine. He felt as if all the stars in the sky had collapsed into the space between them, filling them both with infinite light. They pulled apart from one another at the same time, looking into each other’s eyes.
“Shall we lie down?”
she asked.
He nodded, feeling himself grin. He thought he might never be able to remove that smile from his lips.
“Are you tired?” she asked, a slightly worried look growing on her face.
“No,” he said. “Not anymore.”
He led her to the bed, where she lowered herself to lie down first, while he lay snug against her as the torchlight flickered and dimmed.
20
MYRIAN
She awoke in the darkness with Zak’s arms around her. She knew little about the things men and women did to one another in their bedchambers. Her mother had tried to talk to her about it once, but she had fled the room, too flustered to continue.
Last night, she had Zak had held each other, kissed each other, and explored each other. But he had not put himself inside of her. Not that she would have minded. Neither of them said anything, and she certainly wouldn’t have stopped him. But it was as if they both silently agreed to save something for the next time. Though now she wondered, as his chin rested against her shoulder, if there would be a next time. They had almost died in the Wildfire palace, and who knew what this day would bring.
If it even was day. The room was pitch black, though she could see clearly enough. She could not see the sun, though, and for a moment she was gripped with the idea that the day of the black sun had returned. She sensed the morning more than knowing it, and though she had felt secure and content in Zak’s strong arms, she suddenly wanted to see the sun.
Myrian slid from under Zak’s arm and got up out of the bed. She found her armor on the floor in a puddle, and as she pulled it on, she remembered how Zak had tugged it free of her body. The thought made her face flush and her nipples harden, and she stopped putting the armor on with it halfway up her thighs. She thought about climbing back into the straw bed with Zak.
He was lying there with a half-smile on his lips, his eyes still closed in contented slumber. She wanted to wake him up and finish what they had started last night. She wanted to know what it felt to have him inside her. She never would have thought she would have wanted such a thing when they had first met, but now she couldn’t help herself, nor could she deny her feelings.
She was in love.
But as she stood there with her armor skin half on, thinking of all the things she and Zak could do to one another, she remembered just where they were and what they were supposed to do. Kal Wildfire and the remains of his clan were just down the short passage. Not only did she need to talk to him, about Magda, the demon, and the pact, but she and Zak’s travels were far from over. They still needed to travel to the jungle island just off the western coast and try to find the head of the Tanglevine clan.
She sighed, trying to ignore the heat rising up the insides of her thighs, and reluctantly pulled her armor up over her belly and breasts, sliding her arms into the sleeves. The armor suit closed itself, becoming part of her once again.
Myrian looked down at Zak, wondering if she should wake him. He could sleep a little more. He could use the rest. She would talk to Kal Wildfire herself. So she leaned over and kissed his tousled black hair as softly as she could.
My little swamp rat, she thought. The idea made her giggle. Zak stirred, and she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. It was just so absurd, and also a little sad, that Zak had grown up among a family of rats. He’d never known who he really was or what he was capable of. She tried to imagine what that might be like, finding out who you really were after all this time, and she found that she just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea.
She supposed that was part of who he was now. Growing up not knowing had made him humbler and made him appreciate being a dragon all the more. It also made her realize just how much she’d taken for granted. She vowed to try not to do so from here on out.
And as she looked at his sleeping face, she wondered what the future might hold. If they somehow lived through all of this and defeated the demon, what would life in Xandakar for the both of them look like? Could they wed? Her father would never approve, but if the High Owl dictated it, then he could not refuse, could he? Was that even what she wanted?
I’m getting far too ahead of myself, she thought. But she couldn’t help thinking about the possibility, setting the idea on a little shelf in her mind like a curio, to glance at every once in a while.
Just now she needed to talk to the red king. She unlatched the door and swung it open slowly, hoping it would neither make enough noise nor let in enough light to awaken Zak. But the door slid silently on its hinges, and the passage beyond was still dark.
Myrian slipped out and closed the door behind her, heading up the tunnel. The main chamber was empty, save for the smoldering remains of the fire from the previous night. Was it still the same night, or had morning come? Inside this cave, it was hard to tell. And another fear gripped her, the idea that the red dragons, along with Thalia, had abandoned them.
But she remembered which passage led to the secret door out of the cave, and she followed it. There, she pushed her fingertips against the wall and was pleasantly surprised to find it give under her touch. With a deep scraping sound, the door slid open, and Myrian squinted at the morning sun. She breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out.
They were gathered here, all of them, standing in a circle and talking. Thalia spotted her first and tapped Kal on the arm. He turned to look at her. She stepped forward and gave a short bow.
“We need to talk, Your Highness,” she said.
“It will have to wait,” Kal said. “We’re about to leave, to take back the palace. You and your friend are welcome to join us.”
She cleared her throat and stood up straight. “We can’t,” she said. “And I’m afraid what I have to say can’t wait.”
“And why is that?” Kal said. He was a powerful presence, standing there next to the rock wall with his muscular frame filling out his deep red armor. And yet she needed to let him know the severity of the situation and what needed to be done.
“Because there are more dangerous enemies than the band of snakes in your home,” she said.
Kal looked at Thalia, then back at Myrian.
“The demon,” Myrian said. “He blotted out the sun. He threw your house into chaos and made all of this possible. And now he’s resting, but he won’t be for long.”
“I know of him,” Kal said. “My brother was under his spell. I’d like to think that is why he did the things he did, but I’m not sure that was so.”
“And where is he now?” Myrian asked.
Kal shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “Part of me hopes he is dead. That is the fate he deserves.”
“It will be all of our fates unless you help us,” Myrian said.
“Us?” Kal said. “You and the black dragon are going to stand alone against a demon, and you want me and my people to join you in this folly?”
“Not your people,” Myrian said. “Just you.”
He barked out a laugh at that. “Perhaps you flew too near the Ribbon of Madness on your journey here.”
“We came via The One Tree,” Myrian said. “Magda set us on this path.”
The smile left his lips and his eyes narrowed. “And what exactly is this path?”
“We are to gather an alliance of seven,” she said. “To stand against the demon.”
Kal looked back at Thalia. She wore a suit of soft brown leather now, her hair tied back in a short ponytail. Her face was hard to read, but she gave a short nod to her husband.
Myrian would have normally found it hard to believe that the leader of the Wildfire clan would ever take a rabbit for his wife. But after meeting her, after being saved by her, Myrian didn’t find it surprising now at all. Thalia had more courage and wits than most of the dragon knights she’d met.
“What do you want of me?” Kal asked Myrian.
She told him of the prophecy, of how they had already secured the promises of Corban and Miranda Everfrost, and of the plan to meet at the base of The One Tre
e together. Once gathered, they would seek the council of the High Owl to decide what they needed to do next.
Kal looked down into the red dirt after she was finished, thinking. Then he raised his head. “I will join your tiny army,” he said. “Though it sounds utterly mad. And I will meet you at the tree tonight, when I am done reclaiming my ancestral home.”
Myrian felt it again, that small twinge of hope. The plan was coming together, the pieces falling into place. He was right. It did sound mad. But despite all the obstacles that had been placed in their way, everything seemed to be building towards the prophecy Magda spoke of.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I’m not quite sure what I have just agreed to,” Kal said. “But you're welcome. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some housecleaning to attend to.”
“Of course,” Myrian said, though she thought it would be more akin to extermination. In her mind’s eye, she pictured Kal and his fellow dragons swooping into the palace, maws agape, burning anything that moved. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought. Perhaps she wasn’t supposed to take pleasure in the idea of the snake men being roasted alive, but she couldn’t help herself, not after what they had said and done to her and Zak. And if Thalia hadn’t come to their rescue, Fareek and his men would surely have done much worse.
So she took the time to thank the Wildfire queen once more before the group all took dragonform. Then Thalia climbed on her husband’s back and they took to the skies, kicking up a cloud of red dust.
Myrian shielded her eyes as she watched them go. Kal Wildfire would be a powerful ally, no doubt. But she almost wished the owl’s old scroll had featured a rabbit somewhere, because Thalia would also make a fierce and capable ally.
As they disappeared over the mountains, heading out across the desert, Myrian turned back to the secret entrance. She needed to wake up Zak so that they could fly to the Emerald Isle. But did they really need to leave so soon? Perhaps she could work her way back out of her armor, climb back into bed with him, and awaken him with a kiss. Then he could do to her what she hungered for. They had at least a little time, didn’t they?
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