Relief lightened his features, but there was an unmistakable heat in his eyes. Along with a pain so profound that it made her ache deep in her stomach. She had no idea the source of her feeling or his look. But something haunted him.
Stepping back, he let go. There's a bedchamber above. It's yours. There are also chests of silks and jewels. Use whatever you wish for your comfort. But nothing is to leave this cavern.
And with that, he transformed back into a dragon and lumbered off into a dark recess where he vanished from her sight. An unbelievable feat, she would have thought, given the vibrancy of his colors and size. Yet he made it appear easy and effortless.
Stunned and angry, she scowled at Virag.
He was completely unrepentant over his actions. "Don't give me that pout."
"I'm not pouting."
"Aye, you are. And you should be thanking me and celebrating."
"For what? That you've imposed on a poor soul who doesn't want us here?"
"That you're not returning to the hovel your parents damned you to by their thoughtlessness. Besides, your dragon could use some company. This is a dismal existence. Just look at it." He gestured around the stark cave. "It actually makes your crappy place look like a castle in comparison. And it takes creepy to a whole new extremity."
She hated to admit he was right. Still ...
Was this all there was to Illarion's existence? To his life? It was so ... so ...
Bleak.
Barren. A thousand adjectives went through her mind. But the ones that haunted her were the last two.
Sad and lonely.
Feeling bad for the dragon, she pulled her helm off her head and handed it to her brother. "Wait here."
"Why?"
She let out a long-suffering sigh. "Because I asked it and you're an ass."
"Fine." He propped her helm on his head and went to sit on a nearby stalagmite.
With one last glare at Virag to make sure he was staying put, she headed after Illarion.
The walkway he'd ventured down was long and winding. Terribly narrow. How he'd stayed on it given his great size, she had no idea. Maybe he'd flown over it. It certainly seemed more likely than his walking down without slipping and falling.
Biting her lip, she tried to settle her nerves over the danger of the path. She'd never liked heights. She liked darkness even less.
It was also a lot colder down here. Frigid, really. Why would he want to stay here when he could be in the warmer, brighter part?
What are you doing?
She let out a brittle shriek at his unexpected voice that intruded on her thoughts. "Where are you?"
A subtle sigh filled her head. In my bed.
She heard a deep shuffling before the torches lit the darkness around her. Her jaw dropped as she realized that the walls weren't black, after all. Rather it was a deep, sparkled green that shimmered with the light. And as much treasure as there had been above, it was nothing compared to what filled the chambers here. Everything glimmered and shimmered with gold, silver, and jewels. Treasure even littered the floor. She could practically swim in a sea of it.
On his side, Illarion took up most of the room. He apparently made his bed on straw scattered over a river of gold coins. That did not seem to her as if it would be particularly comfortable. But who was she to judge? Her straw tick mattress wasn't what she'd call luxurious, either.
Lifting his head, he was so large that he met her on the ledge without moving any other part of his body. Did you need something?
She ignored his question as she stared aghast at the supreme wealth surrounding her. "May I ask why, with this"--she gestured at the treasure--"fortune around you, you sleep on a floor and hide in a cave? I don't understand. You could live like a king in a palace."
I'm not a man, Edilyn. I am drakomai. Do you know this word?
She shook her head.
We are born the cursed children of demon mothers. Abandoned at birth and left to die, only a handful of us survive. Because of what we are, we are extremely solitary and territorial. I am not like those hybrid creatures who come to your Winnowing to pick mates. I'm much older and much more feral.
"Is that why you can't talk?"
Nay. That is a result of your kind and it's why I hate your race so vehemently. What was done to me was done quite intentionally and with enough venomous vim that it is all I can do to restrain myself from becoming the very monster they think I am.
Those words and the brutal torment they betrayed brought tears to her eyes. "I'm sorry." And before she could stop herself, she reached out to lay her hand against his leathery snout.
Illarion froze at the unexpected kindness. No human had ever laid a gentle hand to him while he'd been in his natural form. For that matter, they'd seldom done so in his human one.
While it was true that women were initially drawn to his prince's body, their ardor was often cooled the moment they realized he couldn't speak. More times than not, they assumed him addled as well as mute. Especially since he seldom spoke to them with his telepathy as that would betray his preternatural powers.
But Edilyn didn't hesitate or withhold her kindness. It was as innate to her as breathing. She couldn't seem to help herself.
Closing his eyes, he savored the warmth of her hand as she rubbed his scales.
"If it's any consolation, dragons ate my father."
He grimaced at her. How could that ever be consolation for me?
"It's not. I just wanted you to know that I understand your hatred. That it's hard for me to be with you whenever I think of it."
Yet here you are. He opened his eyes to find her staring at him with a peculiar expression he didn't quite understand.
"Why did you protect me?"
You gave me kindness first.
"And that's all it took?"
Sadly, when you've been given as little of it as I have in my life, aye. I fear I'm a cheap whore whose affections are easily bought.
She laughed out loud at his unexpected comment. "It's a good thing the brenin didn't know that, then. He could have bought you from me."
Indeed. Illarion sucked his breath in sharply as she moved her hand to rub him beneath his chin. It sent shivers the length of his body and fire through his veins. A part of him wanted to purr in response to it.
"You still haven't answered my question about all the treasure."
He sighed contentedly and wagged his tail. It's not mine.
"What do you mean?"
Others bring it to me for safekeeping. Gods and heroes. Those who want it protected from the ones who would misuse it in your world. Unfortunately, many of them die before they reclaim it and so it accumulates over time.
"You never get rid of it?"
Too dangerous. While I may hate dragons and mankind, I share this world with you. Last thing I want to see is one of the others use it to rise up and take over. I shudder at the thought of paying homage to a gallu or Charonte or one of the other billions of possibilities--such as your brother.
Laughing again, she nodded. "I can see your point. He would let such go to his head and be even more impossible to suffer." Much to Illarion's chagrin, she let her hand fall away as she glanced about his chamber. "And this is enough for you?"
How do you mean?
"This life? You're content to live here among your treasure and do ... what is it dragons do?"
We exist.
"And?"
He shrugged. And what? There's nothing more for my kind. Anytime we leave, we're hunted. We're so large, we cannot hide. Every species born, including the gods, wants to enslave us for our powers or slay us to use our parts in their potions or to mount as trophies. We dare not gather. So we exist in our dens and wait for the day when death finally spares us from our loneliness.
Edilyn swallowed hard as his words brought a lump to her throat. Strange how she'd never given thought before to what a dragon might actually feel. 'Course, she'd never really cared. Never really thought about them being sentient creatures. "B
The look he gave her then terrified her. His breathing turned to ragged, angry gasps. The serpentine pupils of his yellow eyes narrowed in warning of his fury. Think you I wanted this done to me? To become a weak, pathetic, helpless man?
Those words struck her like a blow. "We're not that weak and we're certainly not pathetic. We at least live. And we fight. We don't hide like cowards in dark caves, feeling sorry for ourselves." And with that, she got up and left him to wallow in his self-pity.
Illarion drew back in shock as he watched her storm away. No one other than Max, Xyn, or Falcyn had ever spoken to him in such a manner.
Fear? Yes. Even when the humans had held him for torture when he'd been a child, they'd been terrified of him.
No one, especially not a human, had ever told him off before. Not when he wore his dragonskin. Even his younger mandrake brother, Blaise, backed down from him.
I don't feel sorry for myself.
He was quite happy being a dragon. Happy with his solitude and his cave. He had no other needs whatsoever.
Except a suddenly incessant one to set the record straight with an irritating woman who thought she knew things she didn't....
3
"I take it it didn't go well?"
"Shut up," Edilyn snapped at her brother. "Go scare an old man."
Virag tsked at her. "You are in a foul mood."
"Why shouldn't I be? I've had one dream the whole of my life and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to make it real. Have you any idea how frustrating that is? Nay, you do not. You snap your fingers, use your magic, and everything you want is done." Edilyn clenched her eyes shut to hold back her tears of frustration.
She'd worked so hard....
And for what? To be hidden in this cave until she died?
The dragon might covet that existence, but she didn't.
With a ragged breath, she glanced around the elaborate bedchambers. They were actually quite luxurious. Still, that didn't make her feel better.
A gilded cage was a cage nonetheless!
"What is this place?"
Virag laughed. "I'm thinking our little dragon wears the guise of a man more than he lets on." He lifted a corner of the bedcovers, that were made of some fabric the likes of which she'd never seen before. Much like the walls of the room where Illarion slept, it shimmered in the light. "This is silk from a future time period. The sheets? Egyptian cotton."
"Beg pardon?"
He nodded. "Aye, love. Come feel it. The mattress is memory foam."
"What language are you speaking?"
Virag laughed. "Oh the things you miss being a mortal bound to one time period." He tsked at her.
Wrinkling her nose at him, she stepped around his surly form to inspect the bed. He was right. It was like touching a cloud. "What is memory foam? How does it remember things? Does it have its own brain?"
Virag laughed even harder. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Suffice it to say, it's something future man will thank modern science for. There's also a toilet in the bathroom."
"A what in the who?"
"Exactly. You are going to die when I show that to you."
She scowled at him. "How do you know of such things?"
"Unlike you, sweet sister, I'm not locked into this time and place. I don't have to live linearly. Just like I don't have to keep this body or size. I choose to be here because I want to stay with you, and I'm forbidden to take you from here."
"Forbidden by whom?"
"The law of my people."
Strange that he'd never mentioned that to her before. While she knew he had great powers and the ability to shapeshift, he'd never mentioned that he could travel through time.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling sounded. The walls around them shook.
Gasping in alarm, Edilyn caught herself against the bedpost as some of the ceiling fell in.
Were they being attacked? Terrified of the answer, she rushed from the chambers, down the narrow corridor to the main cavern where she found Illarion.
"What was that sound?"
Illarion used his massive head to indicate a passage on his left. I made an opening for you to the world outside. You are no longer trapped here. Now you can come and go as you please.
Her jaw went slack at his kindness. Especially after his earlier words. "Isn't that dangerous for you?"
He didn't answer. Rather, he headed back for his inner den.
Edilyn exchanged a perplexed frown with Virag. Why would Illarion expose himself so needlessly?
Curious, she went after him.
"Illarion?"
He expelled an exasperated breath as he settled back down to rest on his straw. Aye?
She moved to stand in front of his giant head. "Why did you make a doorway into your cave? What if someone finds your lair?"
Let them come. I could use the protein. He closed his eyes.
She snorted at his dry response. Then she popped him on his nose.
Startled, Illarion opened his eyes to stare at her in complete disbelief. Did you just hit me?
"Playfully so. Aye." She wrinkled her nose at him. "You deserved it for that nonchalant comment. It wasn't amusing."
He pulled his head back to stare down at her with the most adorable grimace. I can't decide if you're the bravest woman ever born or the most foolish.
"My father always said it was a very fine line between the two. And one I walk constantly."
He made a peculiar sound.
"Was that a laugh?"
I think it might have been.
"You think?"
Illarion had to pause to consider it. Laughter is a rather foreign concept for me.
And that broke her heart for him. Laughter shouldn't be foreign to anyone. Not even a surly dragon.
In that moment, she made a decision that she would probably regret one day. "Get up, Lord Dragon."
Pardon?
"You heard me. Rise and make my saddle for me."
Why?
"Because I wish to ride."
His pupils narrowed to threatening slits as smoke billowed out from his nostrils. I'm not your beast of burden to heel at your command, he growled in a low, deadly tone, letting her know she'd touched a nerve with him.
But she refused to be intimidated when she'd meant nothing by it. "Didn't say you were. I'm talking to you as I would a friend or my brother. You're moping about and I'm dragging you out the door for fresh air. Now get your lumbering arse off the floor, saddle up, and let's get out of this depressing place for a while. It'll do you good, I think."
And you wish to ride me? He quirked a brow at her.
She tucked her chin to her chest and gave him an evil grimace. "Get that look off your face. I'm afraid of flying. Terrified of dragons. It's time I buried both those fears. Let's do this."
Do you always face your fears?
"Of course. Don't you?"
Don't know. Never really had any.
"Well, I guess when you're the size of a castle, 'tis a luxury you can afford." She watched as the saddle appeared, along with the reins. "Thank you."
He inclined his head to her, then lowered his wing so that she could climb into place.
With a deep breath, she slowly began ascending his large body.
Illarion closed his eyes at the warmth of her supple skin sliding over his scales. Earlier, he hadn't noticed just how soft a caress it was. Mostly because they'd been under attack and he'd been more focused on other things.
Now ...
The feather-light weight of her body against his left him breathless and he was well aware of every feminine curve. In particular, her large breasts as she scooted up over his back and struggled to get into the saddle.
And when she finally straddled his spine, it was all he could do not to roll over and strip her bare.
"Are you all right?"
His breathing ragged, he fought for control. Aye. Why do you ask?
"You seem really tense and stiff."
She had no idea. Especially when her hands swept against him to gather the reins. Damn, it'd been far too long since he'd been inside a woman. This was sheer torture. The last time a human had ridden on his back, it'd been under duress. They'd forced him to it and he'd been hell-bent to get away from his master.
Now, her touch soothed him in a way nothing ever had before. There was a calm peacefulness he couldn't quite explain. And at the same time, every nerve in his body was fired and alert. Acutely attuned to her.
He felt every breath she took as if it were his own. Every heartbeat. For the first time in his life, he wasn't defiant or angry. He actually wanted to please her. To make her laugh and see her smile.
What is your choice, my lady?
"No idea. Where would you like to go?"
There's a waterfall in the valley nearby.
"Really? I've never seen a waterfall. Is it pretty?"
I'll let you judge for yourself. Hold tight.
Edilyn had no idea what to expect as Illarion carefully picked his way through the cave and out through the opening he'd made. But the moment she saw exactly where his home was, she gasped and latched onto his neck as utter terror claimed her. His cave was high atop a mountain with a narrow pass leading to it. From her vantage point, she looked down on the clouds. "Where are we?"
Hybrasil.
"Hybrasil? I've never heard of such a place."
It's an island, off the coast of your homeland. One that can only be seen when I allow it. Or I'm too wounded to hold my shields in place.
"No wonder the others fear you so. You are the most powerful of your kind."
She felt him scoff under her.
Nay, my lady. My powers pale to those of my older brothers. Either of them could spank me with little effort.
"You have family?"
You are surprised that I have brothers?
"A little bit."
Well, don't be. I have many. And sisters, too.
"Really? How many?"
More than I can count. Even more who have died. But of the hundreds over the centuries, I've only been close to a few.
"Their names?"
Maxis, Falcyn, Sarraxyn, Hadyn, and Blaise.
"Do you ever see them?"
Rarely. We don't congregate like humans. It tends to scare the natives and cause them to do stupid things. He flexed his wings and turned his head to look back at her. Are you ready to fly now?
Cringing, she glanced down at the clouds and felt her stomach lurch at the thought. "This is much higher than we went before."
It is, indeed.
And as he'd done for the fight, he used his powers to make the saddle straps rise up to wrap around her body and secure her in place. The fact that he took such care caused a wave of warmth to surge through her. It also made her feel a bit better about this perilous venture. "I'm ready when you are."
-->