“I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
Movement below caught Raiden’s eye. It appeared almost as if–“It seems that good fortune follows you, wildling. Hold on tight.”
He dipped, plunging at a recklessly sharp angle, so steep that any other human would have been screaming from fear. But not Nyra. Shouts of joy mixed with loud bursts of laughter followed them as she clutched on to his thick neck, her thighs gripping his muscles like two bars of steel as they plummeted towards the ground.
It was just another undeniable confirmation how this glorious being was made just for him.
Dark blue waters of the Endless Sea stretched as far and wide as the eye could see, the land of the Kingdom of Sota now only a miniscule smudge on the horizon. A massive pod of thirty humpback whales floated on its crystal surface, their enormous bodies languidly gliding along as an eerie melody swept through the air.
“Amazing!” Nyra breathed, astounded. “I’ve never seen so many whales in one place before!”
“That’s because it’s very rare that they travel in such large numbers. They’re moving to warmer waters for the season, which means that there are at least a couple of future mothers among them.”
“What is that sound? It’s hauntingly beautiful.”
“It’s the song of the humpback. It’s their way of communicating amongst each other. The males are known to sing to impress the females during mating season, sometimes even to ward off other potential suitors.”
She leaned down, fingers stretching towards the nearest whale, Nyra’s entire body splayed across his back.“How are they not scared of you?”
“They have no reason to fear me, little prey,”he purred with contentment at the contact.“They feel my calmness, which is why they’re allowing us so close. Besides, I may be a predator but I do not attack just forthe sake of it. I kill to feed and to defend myself when provoked.”
“Are you saying you’ve never killed an innocent before?”
“I have, most certainly. But not intentionally, Nyra. Many innocents die daily as an unfortunate casualty of famine and war. Sometimes we, the dragons, are the indirect cause of death and suffering, other times it is a necessary evil to keep the balance of the universe. I am merely another link in the chain of life.”
“What about that village, the one that you burned down to the ground before I shot you? Why did you kill all those people? Was that also a necessary evil?”
Raiden’s thoughts wandered to that day, one of his life’s biggest regrets perhaps.“Your Captain tricked me. His soldiers attacked me and then hid amongst the villagers. I couldn’t tell them apart...”
Nyra’s heart ached for him. She knew all too well what regret felt like.“Why would he do that, though?”
“It’s a long story.”The winds picked up, the air cooling.“We should get back. Night is fast approaching and I don’t want you freezing to death.”
“Yes, master,”she teased him.“I am at your mercy, after all.”
Groaning, Raiden prayed to the heavens for patience, and for the iron will needed to endure until the next Full Moon.
?
Time passed, days turning to weeks as Raiden took Nyra out flying until she felt at ease with the vast expanse of the skies and the absence of land below. When they weren’t soaring, he was teaching her. About his kind and the world around them, about man’s history and the shaping of their universe.
She absorbed it all, soaking up the priceless knowledge until she could recite it out loud in her sleep, until she started correcting him when Raiden purposefully made a mistake, just so that he could watch her blossom from pride.
He had quickly realized how her confidence was frail, as much as Nyra loved to pretend otherwise. He had a feeling that her life as a dragon slayer and the uncertainty of her future still clung on to her, that a part of her still doubted Raiden and his intentions. Whether or not she would end up burned to ashes or her head tied to a chopping block.
Like hell he would let either of those options come to fruition. No one threatened his little mate. Not even the fucking king of this kingdom. And today, Raiden would show her just how serious he was about protecting her.
“Where are we going?”Nyra’s curiosity always got the better of her. Not an instance had passed when she hadn’t asked him the exact same question.
“We’re going to Akira.”
“You can’t be serious. They’ll shoot us both as soon as they spot us!”
“They can try, wildling, but they won’t accomplish anything. As you know, I can’t die unless you administer the killing blow, and they’d have to get through me to get to you.”
“This is insane,”she said.“Why are we going to the capital?”
“We’re visiting a certain someone.”
