“I have you to thank for the reconciliation between myself and the goddess,” Belinus said as he fully expanded into a towering beam of light.
They waited, knowing that interrupting the god was not advisable.
“As my gift, accept this castle and the blessing of the gods. Lord Draknart,” Belinus said, “and Lady Einin.”
Then the light blinked out, and for several moments, Einin couldn’t see anything, until her eyes once again adjusted to the dark. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest, they probably heard it back in Downwood.
Draknart strode into the tower in silence, then up the stairs. He had nothing to say? Sure, she was struck speechless, but Draknart! Lord Draknart! And a castle!
But, of course, this wasn’t what he wanted. He hadn’t gone to the gods for a castle. He’d gone to be returned to dragon.
When a couple of wolves howled in the woods behind her, Einin finally found the strength in her legs and hurried inside. Focusing on Draknart was easier than trying to comprehend her own unlikely change of fortune. Lady Einin? No, that couldn’t be. That part had to have been a dream. Or she must have misheard it.
She came out of the staircase and into the tower room just as Draknart spit fire on a few pieces of broken furniture by the wall. She was so exhausted that she lay on the floor, too tired to care about how hard the stones were or how cold she was. She curled up, hugging her knees to her chin. She would think about everything that had happened, in the morning. Maybe when her brain was fresh, it could make more sense of all this.
Draknart stared into the fire, the flames illuminating his large body, every tense muscle.
“I am sorry,” she told him, “that the goddess took your dragon shape.”
He looked at her but said nothing. Instead, he rose, strode to the window, and looked out into the night.
Exhaustion washed over Einin. For a moment, she closed her eyes. When she opened them, he was dragon, turning his great body from the window to look at her, the scales of his tail scraping on the stones.
Midnight.
“Draknart!” She scrambled to her feet, blinking rapidly.
He growled, his lips pulling back, the light of the fire glinting off his fangs. “The goddess reversed the curse. Man from dawn to midnight, dragon from midnight to dawn.”
“Why?”
His great dragon body shook with fury, his talons digging into the stone floor. Smoke curled from his nostrils. “A jest, I suspect.”
Einin’s heart clenched. He would now be human for much more of the day than he was dragon. The goddess had doubled his curse.
She drew back until her back was to the wall, expecting him to rage and blow fire, to bring the tower down around them. He hated being a halfling more than he hated anything.
Instead, he watched her, and measure by measure, he calmed, holding her gaze, the fight and tension going out of him. His black dragon eyes turned thoughtful. After a few more moments, he lay down in the middle of the room and opened one wing in invitation. “It is late. You are tired. I will keep you warm in the night. Come.”
She stared at him, stunned. But she inched closer and snuggled against his warm dragon body. His wing, like a blanket, draped around her.
“Do you wish,” he asked above her head, “to stay and become lady of this castle?”
Her heart pounded. He must mean without him. At one point, before dawn, he would fly away. Now that he could fly again, why would he stay?
She looked up at the broken rafters and the holes in the roof. She knew how to repair thatching. She had no idea what to do with shingles. She was no stonemason either. “You mean be lady of this ruin?”
“I am dragon. Do I not have a hoard? Ruins can be rebuilt.”
Her head snapped up. She stared into the dragon’s midnight eyes. “You have treasure? Where?”
“Under the hill. Why do you think I live in that cave if not to guard what’s mine?”
“And you would use your hoard to rebuild this castle?” She watched him with suspicion. Dragons did not part from their gold for any reason, said the old tales. Did he think to claim the castle for himself and make her leave?
“I would rebuild this castle if it be your wish, Lady Einin,” he said.
She gaped, then gave a startled laugh. “I’m no lady.”
