“Do you always inspect others like this?” She pressed a hand to her quivering stomach. Her words sounded more defensive than she’d intended, but the man flustered her.
“Not always. Just you. What are you?”
“I recall asking you the same thing, and still I have no answer. Are you Hermes, the winged god?”
“I told you I am not a god.”
“Then what?”
“Are you a nymph? You don’t look like a nymph.”
The base of Medea’s skull tingled, and her father’s warnings screamed in her brain. Technically they were not supposed to be living in the garden. Who was this man who dropped out of the sky? Surely it would not behoove her to tell him the truth. But lying seemed equally risky. She had no idea who he was or what he already knew about her.
“I am no more or less exactly who I am, a lifelong resident of Hera’s garden and thankful for my life here.”
He smiled, and the sheer radiance of his white teeth and his dimpled cheek made her heart slam against her rib cage. Surely he’d lied. He must be a god with a face like his. He was too perfect to be anything else.
“Now I’ve told you what I am, I deserve the same respect.”
“I…” He hesitated, his eyes roving over her as if he was trying to decide if he should trust her. “I am the Guardian at the Gate. I saw you in the field today and did not recognize your kind.”
All her muscles tensed in horror as she realized what he meant. All the signs were there. The amber eyes, the obsidian wings lined with gold. Could this be the transformed dragon? Truly the Guardian at the Gate?
“You are the dragon transformed?” She forced herself to swallow past the lump of fear forming in her throat.
He bowed at the waist. “Although you say you were born here, I’ve never seen you before this morning. I was unaware any creatures but nymphs lived here.”
“We rarely go near the gate, but my sisters wanted to see the flowers.”
He rubbed the side of his jaw. “Nymphs rarely spend time there, but then you are not a nymph, are you?” His tone sounded accusatory, but then his question wasn’t a question at all.
Medea licked her lower lip. “I’ve never had a need to call myself the same or different from the others who live among us. I simply am, as are my sisters.”
“Because you were born here.” His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he sniffed her. She wondered what she smelled like to him. Probably the waterfall as she’d only now come from swimming in the pool at its base.
“Is that all you wish to know?”
He gave a low growl, his eyes snapping to hers. His chin bobbed in a nod. “I am relieved. For a moment I worried you didn’t belong.”
She forced a smile. “Doesn’t everything belong here? Who could get by you, or through the gate, but perhaps a god?” She looked him over from head to toe. “How is it you look like a man?”
He hesitated a moment as he seemed to contemplate her question. The corner of his mouth twitched, his full lips enchanting her. “I transform into a dragon. I am both, dragon and man.”
Medea desperately wanted to see him change, but she knew she was already pushing her luck engaging as she was in this conversation. “I should go.” She gestured over her shoulder. “My sisters are waiting for me.”
He bowed formally. “Of course. I have distracted you from your activities.”
She turned slowly to start down the path but couldn’t stop herself from glancing back. How stunning he was, standing there, watching her. “What is your name?”
The question seemed to startle him, as if it was the last thing he presumed she’d ask. “Tavyss,” he said. “And yours?”
“Medea.” Oh, her parents would be horrified to know she’d given the guardian her true name. She chewed her lip. “It was very nice to meet you. Tavyss.”
“You as well,” he said. When she turned again to the path, he blurted, “Perhaps we will speak again?”
It was a foolish thing to agree to, but before Medea could stop herself, she met his compelling gaze. “I’d like that very much.”
Chapter Four
