“It would be better if I didn’t. I am dracori. Nyxia will be drawn to me as well.”
“But if I’m keeping Rhyo then I might as well keep you too. Right?” A nervous little laugh whispers from my lips. “It won’t make any difference in the end, and…well, I rather think I’d like to have the company where I’m going.”
“And where are you going exactly?”
I look away again, out across the field to where the boy still sleeps beneath the folds of Valtar’s cloak. An idea has been growing in my mind. I’m not certain exactly when it began, and I’meven less certain it’s an idea worth pursuing. But until something else crops up, I suppose it’ll have to do. “You’re not going to like it,” I say.
“I’m not surprised.”
“Do you really want to know?”
He considers. Then: “Tell me tomorrow. Not today.”
Not the answer I was expecting, but I nod, accepting it. “I suppose if you’re planning to kill me in my sleep tonight, it won’t really matter, will it?”
He doesn’t deign to answer but instead removes the rabbit from the spit and begins to carve its flesh. I insist we put aside a portion for the dragon boy, but otherwise, the two of us polish off our meal in short order. Finally, my belly full, I lie down on my side, tucking my knees up and resting my head on my arm. I’m so tired! So bone weary…but also, oddly comfortable. Out from under the weight of the mountain, beneath this open, storm-freshened sky, I feel as though I can breathe again for the first time in ages.
I let my gaze travel to Valtar. He leans back on one elbow, lounging like a panther over the remains of his prey. It was nice of him to let me eat before assassinating me. I wonder, would he kiss me again before killing me as well? If I asked him? Because now that I’m no longer ravenous or wet or cold or immediately in danger of being burned alive…I find myself focusing once more on those full lips of his. I know for a fact just how kissable they are, how they feel pressed against my mouth, my neck, my shoulder, my trembling pulse.
Hastily, I squeeze my eyes shut. What is this nonsense? He admitted to being sent here for the express purpose of murdering me, for gods’ sake! Whatever else may have happened betweenus,thathasn’t changed. And for all I know, he’s still planning to go through with it. I mustn’t trust him, I mustn’t.
But do I have to trust him to kiss him again?
Oh gods.
I roll over quickly, putting my back to the fire. “If you’re going to assassinate me,” I call over my shoulder, “will you please wait until I’m quite asleep? After the night I’ve had, I could definitely use a few winks before attempting anything difficult. Like dying.”
Valtar is silent for such a long time, I half wonder if he’s slipped away once more. But then he speaks in a soft growl: “Go to sleep, Rosie. I’ll keep watch.”
I tuck in a little tighter, burying my head in my arm. There I go again, feeling so safe in his presence. Am I really such a fool? Anyone who knew what was going on in my heart would say I absolutely deserved to be murdered in my sleep! But for the moment, I don’t care.
I let my heavy eyes close, trusting Valtar will be there when I wake. And we’ll figure out our next steps on this strange journey of ours. Together.
37
Valtar
How easy it would be to end her life here and now.
I study her sleeping form from across the fire. Indeed, I find it difficult to look anywhere else. She is breathing deeply, having drifted away into deep dreams. Strange that she can rest so easily in my company, knowing what I am. I don’t understand, don’t know what to make of it. I’ve never met a soul so trusting. She makes my job too easy and yet…so profoundly complicated.
Nyxia is coming. I can already feel her trying to reach across our mental link, but for some reason, she can’t seem to break through. Does it have something to do with Rosie? With my nearness to her, another dragon princess? She does not realize just how connected our two minds are already; I’ve taken care to keep up certain barriers between us. But the truth is, she is a dragon. Just like Nyxia. She can enter my head, and if she ever chose to, she could control and manipulate me as well.
Now, with two dragon princesses in relatively close proximity to each other, neither voice can dominate. Nyxia may try to enter, but so long as I stay near to Rosie, I can keep her out. For the moment at least.
My gaze moves slowly along the lines of Rosie’s body. The gentle curve of her shoulder, the more generous curve of her hip. The tumble of her golden curls, all snarled and tangled and yet so tempting in the glow of the afternoon sun and the flickering fire. Every stray breeze makes her shiver in her sleep. Because of course she gave my cloak to the dragon boy. No thought for the fact that he has an internal furnace to keep him warm, just concern for a child—for a small, vulnerable creature. How very in character of her.
It’ll be a miracle if she survives three days out here in the wild.
I shake my head slowly. It’s impossible—everything about this situation. Saving Arun? A fool’s notion. If in all these years, with every faculty I could spare devoted to this singular goal, I could not invent some means for his deliverance, then it cannot be accomplished. Certainly not by a whimsical creature with a head full of sunshine. Mhoryga is the embodiment of death; she rules Khylmira and the lives of all her enslaved subjects with absolute power. Who could possibly stand against her?
My plan of two nights ago is still the only one that makes sense: Return to Drathoridan. Let Mhoryga kill me and my brother together. Don’t let Arun die alone.
So why is it that, looking at Rosie now, I cannot seem to help feeling a warm stirring in the depths of my cold heart?
My brother’s voice whispers in the back of my head.It’s a fool’s hope. And yet…
“And yet,” I whisper.
