“Tonight, you shall have all you desire.” He slides me down his body, keeping me tightly to him until my feet hit the floor. Then he steps back. “Be ready, pet. I’ll come for you at nightfall.” With that, he turns on his heel and strides out.
Breathless, I stare after him, my gaze on the doorway for long moments after he vanishes. He’s going to ... Tonight. He said he’s going to … My skin is hot, my heart still beating a tattoo on my ribs, my head spinning. I’m not ready. What we did last night was … it was madness. I’m not ready for?—
“Finally gone. Stubborn, these dragons. All dragons, really.” Lenka’s voice makes me jump. I hadn’t realized she’d come back into the dining room.
“Is there a town nearby?” I ask, my voice edged in what my mother would call ‘hysteria.’ “There is, isn’t there?”
Lenka’s fiery eyebrows lower in suspicion. “Why?”
“I want you to take me.”
“What? Why?”
I can’t exactly say, “I need a weapon to fight off the DragonKin who’s angling for my maidenhead even though I’m not entirely sure I don’t want to give it to him” so I shrug and say, “I feel like these dresses are nice, but they don’t fit. I want to be able to look pretty for Vander. I’m stuck here. I might as well make the most of it, right? Do they have clothes in the town? Maybe a dressmaker?” I’m reaching. I know it. In Raingreen, my mother did seamstress work for the poorer townsfolk. The nobles’ clothesmaker would never deign to venture into our part of the village. What if the villages in Oblivion are even more primitive and poor? There won’t be any chance of making this ruse work.
She watches me for a while, no expression on her face other than slight suspicion. “Dresses, eh?”
“Yes.” I give my best smile, hoping it’s convincing. “Something that fits better. Makes me look more like a guest than a prisoner?”
Hands on her hips, she stares at me a little while longer. “Churlytown can be dangerous, especially for a mortal. I can’t take you there. Vander might try to douse me out for even considering it.”
“Please,” I plead. “I’ll do whatever you tell me to. I won’t wander or anything like that. Just there and back, okay? Just for some clothes.”
“I can bring you clothes, child.”
“I want them to fit perfectly.” I try to seem earnest.
“I don’t know.” Her flames lower, sticking closer to her skin as she considers my request.
I sigh heavily, laying it on thick. “You’re right, I guess. Vander wouldn’t want you to do anything without his direct say-so. You saw how he acted when you were innocently trying to tell me things about Oblivion. You wouldn’t want to make him angry again. He’s the master around here. I guess we should obey him, right?”
She glances around the dining room, her flames now growing and turning a darker orange, then grumbles something about, “thinks he can shush me and shoo me away from the truth. Thinks he knows better when I used to bounce him on my knee.” Clapping her hands once, she says, “We’ll go.”
I hop up on my good leg and yelp with excitement.
“Shh.” She holds her hands out, palm down then gives me an appraising look. “We need to turn you into something else entirely.”
“Hmm?” I stop my celebration.
She smiles slyly, her fiery eyes glittering with unspent mischief. “I have just the thing.”
Chapter
Sixteen
VANDER
The clouds hide my path across the peak of Crone’s Crag and along the ridges leading to the Forest of Ruin. I’d meant to spend the day in the keep with Larellin, but just hearing Brin talk about the deaths of my family was enough to drive me to the sky.
The pain is old and best forgotten. Even so, as I fly I feel the same ache, the glint of sun on my scales reminding me of my mother. She gifted me my golden hue. My father gave me the golden fire along with it, the ability to turn enemies to nothing but ash blowing on the wind. If only I’d used it that night and saved them.
I spread my wings farther, letting the wind carry me higher through the thick clouds. A thunderhead looms to the north, threatening the impenetrable Crimson Keep.
My thoughts return to Larellin. Brin has no business telling her about the DragonKin. Our curse is well known in Oblivion, but the mortals have no sense of our world. They know only what they learn in the short spans of their lives. Telling Larellinancient history will only confuse her, and there’s absolutely no reason to tell her about the curse.
I let out a half-hearted roar, alerting a flock of blue-gilled geese of my rapid approach. They squawk with terror and dive into the clouds beneath me. Maybe I should’ve scooped them all into my gullet. A snack is never a bad idea, even when my mind and heart are plagued by the past. And not just the past, the mortal that’s turned everything on its head.
She doesn’t fear me. She desires me even though she denies it. Even now, the heady scent of her arousal hums around my brain like a swarm of bees. Sweet honey and promises of a delicious sting. Tonight, I’ll claim her. Tonight, I’ll finally know if I’m worthy.
