He stumbles, and the professor goes to help. The dragon brushes off the assist.
“Well?” asks the professor, stepping back. “Tell us about it.”
Drakeward slowly rotates his neck, as if the muscles are torturously strained. “It’s…un-fucking-believable,” he mutters. “The drive to burn, to fly, was overwhelming. For a second, I didn't want to come back. But then…”
“Then?”
“He wanted to return to this group. My dragon is a predator, but he knew enough to recognize you all as,” he pauses, trying to come up with the right word, “allies rather than enemies.”
Allies? I doubt it. I will never take the dragon at his word. I’m watching.
His Elite magic means nothing if his neck is snapped. The professor’s lips tighten, his hand drifting to his side as if reaching for a weapon he doesn't have.
He sees the threat too. “Will you spontaneously change again?” the professor asks, “or do you have control of the shift?”
“I’m in control now, before it was almost as though my dragon wanted to introduce himself to me.”
“Is it separately sentient?” As the professor asks this, the fascination in his eyes is clear. “A different being to you?”
Two spirits in one body. Like Hermaphroditus. I tune back in to what the dragon is saying.
“It’s hard to explain. You’ll see for yourself soon, presumably.” The look he casts in my direction reads as dismissal. He doesn’t think I’ll shift because I’m too lowly. That is not correct.
“Did you see where Theo and Donovan went?” the professor asks.
The dragon shrugs. “That way.” He points to a low rocky outcrop in the distance.
Too far.
I start to run.
4
We race across the eerie expanse of bleached white landscape.
My arms are locked tightly around Donovan’s broad torso, and I have my cheek pressed against his back.
The heat of his body radiates into my flesh as he gallops so fast that the land is just a blur.
“Don’t let go,” he calls, voice carrying clearly despite the wind. “Promise me you’ll never let go, Rose.”
His laugh rumbles through his barrel chest, and my mind flashes back to us goofing around in the Validus Vale lake, acting out Titanic.
“I promise, Jack. I’ll never let go!” I shout back.
We’re laughing—but I mean it. The words are a vow, a promise to myself and to him, my Donovan. I’ll never let him go again.
“Fuck, I love you,” Donovan says as he comes to a complete stop. “Doing OK back there?”
“Nowhere I’d rather be,” I tell him. Pressing my head against his hard back, I hear his mind. It hums loud and clear.
—My Tee-Tee, my baby-girl, she’s here—Fuck—Gotta get her back to Earth—Keep her safe—Shit, I can feel the heat of her pussy—
He turns in a circle, then glances over his shoulder, flashing me that perfect crooked grin. “Sooo,” he drawls. “Looks like I’ve got you on my own.” His grin is filled with mischief.
I loosen my death grip on his torso. “Do you think Alexis and Ludo are going to be safe with Cosmo? Maybe you should go get them too?”
Donovan shrugs. “They’ll be fine. I may have exaggerated the danger a little to get you on your own.”
