I rubbedmy face into the heat beneath my cheek. The right half of my body was delightfully warm. Odd. My room at Rottbarry Manor was usually drafty, a constant chill wafting between the cracks in the stone wall. I couldn’t recall ever being this comfortable upon waking.
I thrust my arms over my head and pointed my toes, unleashing a hearty yawn. Aches and pains made themselves known, and I rubbed at the strange burning sensation in my stomach. My monthly wasn’t due for a couple of weeks. After I tended to Lady Penelope’s morning toilette, I’d make myself some tea to ease the ache.
I cracked my eyes open, frowning at the stony façade before me. Why was I against the wall? Despite the size of my tiny room, my cot sat in the center. Away from the chill coming from the stones. I set my palm against the blackish-green surface, finding it warm and—gulp—breathing.
Memory slammed into me in a rush. Monsters. The attack.Mortis. The lake. And then—
The dragon.
I was alive. How the hell was I alive?
My stomach dropped, and I twisted around. Behind me sprawled a massive forearm, sinewy and muscular—larger than Penelope’s overstuffed settee. To my right was a colossal expanse of black scales. My gaze tracked upward along a powerful, serpentine neck. The dragon’s head was twisted away, his face tucked under a folded wing.
My mind stuttered, refusing to comprehend. I’d slept curled up within a dragon’s arms. Like a rodent with a death wish cuddling with a cat.
How was I still breathing? Outside the beast’s belly instead of inside? Did he decide to save me for a late-night snack? The urge to run and scream while tearing at my hair rode me hard, and I forced down the terror swelling in my throat. That path surely led to a swift end at the bottom of the beast’s belly.
Not daring to breathe, I gathered my bare legs beneath me, rising with agonizing slowness. Flark. Everywhere I looked, scales and talons surrounded me.
I needed out.Now!
Holding my breath, I gently rested my palm against the beast’s powerful forearm. One painstaking movement at a time, I hiked my leg as though mounting a horse, slinging my body over the breadth of his arm. Chilly air met my nether regions, and I stifled a shiver. Where the heck were my clothes? And whose shirt was I wearing? Questions for later—assuming I survived.
Cold stone kissed my toes, and I shifted my weight before swiveling the opposite leg over. Pulse pounding so hard I feared the beast would hear, I lifted my palms free of his scales. Once clear, I breathed a long, silent sigh. The dragon’s massive flanks rose and fell with his steady breaths. Still asleep. Thank the fates.
Now, to find a way out of here.
The cavernous chamber extended before me, no doors or exits save for several darkened hallways that led to who knewwhere. The domed ceiling was tangled with cobwebs. Stone tiles spanned the floor, the dusty surface cool beneath my bare feet. Along one side of the room was a massive fireplace, the flames little more than dull embers. On the other was a long table with two benches and sturdy chairs at either end.
I had a vague memory of that table. Of resting upon it, weaker than a babe. My skin was icy as a corpse, while fire burned in my middle. Followed by heat, power, and connection. In that image, a pair of sky-blue eyes glared down at me.
“You’d better be worth it.”
The phantom words sent a shiver racing up my arms. My hand drifted to my stomach. Mortis had stabbed me—three times. I should be ashes in a funeral pyre.
I hiked up the bottom of my shirt, revealing the wound. Puckered, angry scars marred my flesh where they should have been raw and bleeding. Not even Yaga’s most potent brews could work such a miracle.
“How…” I whispered.
“You’re awake.”
I spun around, choking on a scream. The dragon’s green eyes—deep, sharp, and unsettling—bored into mine. The dragon lifted his massive head, neck uncoiling with predatory grace. His lips curved in a ghastly semblance of a smile. If you could call it that.
“Rest assured, I wasn’t the healer who tended you.”He rolled his front claws, letting each lethal talon tap the floor.
Run. Run. Run,my instincts shouted, while my feet remained rooted in place. Run where? One step and he’d snap me up in an instant.
Play nice with the dragon, Sera.
What was he saying? My pulse roared in my ears. “Right. That makes sense. Otherwise, I’d be torn to shreds. Ha. Ha.” My voice emerged higher than I intended, and I cleared my throat.
“Myrna, one of the trogg, cared for you.”
I was talking to a dragon. A real, in-the-flesh dragon. One that had almost eaten me. Twice.
What did a person do in this situation? Every instinct screamed at me to run, to shriek, to do something other than stand there like prey. It was a solid plan. But another part of me—stubborn, foolish, endlessly curious—made me hesitate. The same part that kept me awake in Yaga’s shop, grinding herbs into the night. The part of me that was fascinated by anything outside of my mundane existence as a household slave. That secret part that always whispered the world was filled with so much I’d yet to explore.
Stay calm, Sera. Stay calm. Deep breath.
