She glances his way and shuffles slightly on his feet. While Beaufort and Thorne continue to quiz the guard on mission details and all that bullshit, I take Kitten’s hand and pull her to one side.
“What’s up, Kitten?”
“Nothing,” she says, “I’m just in a very big hurry to be away.”
I crouch down a little so our eyes are level. “Nah, it’s not that. It’s something else.” Her green eyes shift in their sockets. “Why don’t you want to ride the dragon?”
“I nearly fell.”
“Off the dragon.” She nods. “When?”
“The other night. In that storm.” I can see she’s frightened just thinking about it. I may not be the biggest fan of the scaly dude. I may believe she’d be much better off riding my wolf. But I’m not dumb. I read those stories about war dragons as a kid as well. I see what an asset he is. Especially to a group of people about to embark on a fucking mental mission. And he’s even more of an asset when our mate is riding him.
So I swallow my pride. Even if it gives me a stomach ache.
“You nearly fell off?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No, but–”
“You didn’t fall off, Little Kitten.”
“No, Blaze saved me.”
“Exactly, he’s not going to let you fall. Ever. I mean look at the dude.” We both turn to look at the dragon. His golden eyes are glued to Briony and he’s watching her every move. “He might actually be more crazy about you than I am.”
“I don’t deserve that kind of devotion. It was stupid flying him up in that storm. It could have been him struck by lightning.”
“He chose you, Kitten. He decided you were worthy. Don’t punish him or yourself because of one little slip up.” She bites her lip but I can tell my words are penetrating. “Now, you wanna save the blood sucker, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then put on your big girl pants and climb on that dragon.”
Her eyes widen with shock. I may have a dirty mouth but my approach to the Kitten has been softly softly, trying not to spook the little thing. She’s not used to being told off by me.
But it’s what she needs right now.
She turns and walks several paces towards him.
“How areyougoing to get there?” she asks me. “In Beaufort’s vehicle?”
“No, that’s gonna take too long. We’re going on a mission. That means we have permission to displace.”
“Then how am I going to know where to go?”
I point up to the large star hanging low in the sky. “That’s north. You need to fly direct east. You’ll hit the border around sunrise. We’ll be there waiting.”
“Oh my stars, I’m so bad at directions. I’m going to get lost. Can’t you come with me?”
“Me?” I say. Is she asking me to ride the dragon with her, because I’m not sure the lizard dude likes me at all.
“Yes, we can ride Blaze together.”
“He’s not big enough.”
