She inhaled the space some more. She easily caught Korin’s scent of stormwater and jasmine—wild, heady, andunmistakably him. But now something shifted. Just beneath that heat, a new note threaded in.
Black violet and roses.
Not fresh garden roses either. These were darker. Pressed. Preserved. The kind left on tombstones or tucked in forbidden love letters. The black violet was sharp and silken too, almost powdery, clinging to the back of her tongue like a memory she hadn’t lived yet.
Who smells like that? What is this other scent?
Her breath caught. The scent tugged at her—soft but insistent. Familiar, but not. It didn’t belong to Korin. But maybe it belonged to someone like him.
That doesn’t matter. I must figure out a way to escape.
Sol was surrounded by every type of wealth a dragon’s hoard could offer.
Her gaze rose to the jeweled walls, trailing upward for what must have been hundreds of feet. There were no windows or doors on the walls. Just rough, curved stone glinting with embedded rubies, diamonds, sapphires, pearls, etc.
And high, high above, where the walls narrowed to a jagged circle, there was an opening.
A hole in the sky.
The entrance.
Possibly. . .the only way in or out.
Perfect for a massive creature that could fly.
We’re in. . .some sort of. . .carved out. . .mountain? And Korin flew us in here.
Meanwhile, the glittering treasure all around wasn’t what made her body tremble. It wasn’t even the fact that she couldn’t see any windows or doors to get her to freedom.
It was the loud sound vibrating around her.
The snoring.
Deep.
Slow.
Steady.
Snoring.
Each inhale and exhale was a rolling tide of rumbling heat.
The space pulsed with it.
And against her back? She didn’t feel fur or treasure. All she could feel was smooth, warm scales.
He’s. . .right. . .behind me. . .
Her heart stopped for a second before booming back to a frantic rhythm.
She turned her head slowly as terror clawed up her throat.
Korin.
He lay beside her. A sleeping beast. His massive body was coiled protectively around her. His golden-black scales shimmered. Korin’s eyes were closed and his wings were tucked behind him. His chest rose and fell with that deep, rhythmic breathing while his nostrils flared gently with each exhale, releasing soft heat into the air and that loud explosive snoring. His body stretched longer than a castle wall. His tail curled around a mountain of gold.
Even asleep, threatening power radiated from him.
