“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the fairy circle at Fern Lake, past the Black Hills.” He stalked closer.
Then, before she could back away and reestablish the distance between them, his barbed tail snaked out and wrapped around her waist. The next she knew, she was flying through the air, and then she was sitting on his shoulders.
“Ay!” She wrapped her arms and legs around his muscled neck as he lumbered out of the cave, his body swaying. “Wait!”
He did not. Instead, he unfolded his enormous blue-black wings, and Einin could do naught but gape, her breath caught. He wasn’t a handsome creature in dragon form, but even she had to admit that the wings were majestic.
He flapped them once, twice, then dipped into a crouch. “Hang on, sweeting.”
His enormous muscles flexed and bunched between her thighs. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure if she was all that ready to travel the wide world. All those years she’d dreamed about going on a journey, she’d envisioned herself walking, or at most, in a horse cart. Not on the back of a fearsome dragon! Not in the air, at risk of plunging to the ground at any moment.
“No! No! N—” The dragon launched into the air, and she dropped forward to lie against his neck, moaning, her arms wrapped tightly around him.
“Nothing to it.” The great beast laughed.
Einin held on for dear life as the dragon ascended.
Draknart soared,the small weight on his back unfamiliar yet not unpleasant. Einin’s slender arms closed around his neck, her curves pressed to him. Predictably, the man inside the dragon demanded to come out to play. Draknart grinned. Mayhap they could play some more tonight, as they had the night before—as long as he didn’t go too far. He flew faster and faster at the thought, as if he could somehow reach midnight sooner. He slowed only when he heard some strange sounds from her.
Was she crying? Had the fear broken her at last? But instead, her thighs squeezed the base of his thick neck as if she were riding a horse and urging it to greater speed. Then the noise came again—sounding suspiciously like laughter.
He had to turn his head to make sure he wasn’t mistaken. He had little experience with joy as a human emotion. He couldn’t remember a single human laughing in his company ever. He stared at Einin as another peal of tickling sound came from her open mouth, the sparkle in her eyes unlike anything he’d ever seen.
That pure sweetness and lightness struck him straight in the middle of his chest. He couldn’t turn from her. Good thing he was flying high above the tree line, or he would have crashed into a tall oak and broken his damn neck.
Aye, but she was a find. The gods themselves hadn’t heard music like her laughter. Draknart could have listened to the sound until the end of his days. Belinus was going to be so grateful for her, the god was not only going to lift the goddess’s curse, but probably gift Draknart with treasure.
He watched Einin for another moment before turning forward at long last, sure of his plan, eager to become once again a proper, true dragon.
He flew through the morning, landing at midday only because she shouted at him that she had to make water. He set her down in a clearing.
His gaze followed her feminine form as she walked toward the woods, stretching stiff limbs. She looked back at him from the edge of the tree line, just a quick glance over her shoulder, but he caught the speculative gleam in her eyes. She meant to run. She’d brought that sword for a reason. She was nothing if not tenacious, even in the face of formidable odds.
Aye, she was a fine lass. Part of him wished he could keep her. She made life more interesting for certain. If Draknart had someone like her, maybe he wouldn’t feel compelled to sleep years away. But she wouldn’t want to stay with him, not in his dank cave. And she’d go back to her village over his dead dragon carcass. He wouldn’t let her, not to people who’d scarred her silken skin with whips. But in Feyland…in Belinus’s palace, under the god’s protection, Einin would be safe and happy.
She paused at the edge of the woods, her shoulders tense, her right hand hanging near the pommel of her sword as she scanned the forest. Planning which way to run? Draknart wouldn’t have minded chasing her through the woods for a spell, but they had no time to waste.
He sniffed the air, then called after her, “Brown bear sow to the east with two cubs. A wolf pack to the west.”
She stiffened as she looked back at him again. Her slim throat moved as she swallowed, indecision creeping into her eyes. “Close by?”
“Don’t wander far.”
Her body near vibrated with frustration. Then her shoulders slumped. She was not the type to give up, but she was smart enough to bide her time.
She didn’t go far into the forest. She hid herself behind some bushes, steps from the edge of the clearing and did not dally, but hurried back. When her stomach made an odd sound, she pressed a hand against her middle. Several moments passed before Draknart realized that she had not eaten since she had returned to him.
Hunger.
The first time he had this problem with a human. Never before did he have to worry about feeding lunch to his lunch. Except, Einin was now a gift, and as such, she needed to reach Belinus whole. A half-starved gift wouldn’t do at all.
“We’ll eat when we stop for the night,” Draknart told her.
Her hand moved near her sword again.
He shook his head. “I’ll hunt in the woods. I did not bring you along for a bite to eat. I swear.”
