Elowen glanced around, heart fluttering with a mix of wonder and fear. She was alone. No footsteps marred the damp soil. No voices called out from the trees. There was only the steady rustle of wind in the leaves and the rhythmic lapping of water greet her.
But she knew, deep down, this was no accident.
She lifted the rose to her nose and inhaled. It smelled real. Living. Freshly picked. She smiled, small and uncertain, the weight of it blooming warm in her chest.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice barely above thewind. She didn’t know if they could hear her, but then, something in the trees shifted, and birds shot into the sky from the disturbance.
She watched for as long as she could, the rose resting in her lap, waiting for the gifter to emerge from the trees.
Nothing appeared.
But Elowen could not find it in her heart to leave the rose at the lake. Despite the danger of getting caught with it, she carefully placed the bloom and stem under the warm softness of her breasts, hoping to both conceal it and keep it close to her heart.
And from deep in the forest, unseen golden eyes closed, pleased.
Eight
Elowen’s stepsslowed as she approached the lake’s clearing, sunlight breaking through the trees in long, slanted shafts of gold.
Something pale caught her eye, and she froze.
There, nestled right where she always sat, next to where she had once buried that shimmering black-and-gold mystery, was a new gift.
It was a stone. Smooth and polished, pale as moonlight, veined with thin streaks of lavender and rose. She bent to pick it up, brushing dirt from its surface with a gentle thumb. It wasn’t something that could be mistaken for natural placement. It had been set there.Leftthere.
Her heart beat harder.
She glanced around the lake’s edge, scanning the trees for signs of anyone. But the forest was quiet.
A small smile curved slowly across her lips.
She knew it wasn't a coincidence. Something—someone—had left this for her. Not a villager. No onefrom her home would bother with such a strange, lovely token. This…felt different.
It felt kind. It felt thoughtful, as if it was chosen specifically because she thought it would be pretty.
She sat carefully beside the water, her knees folding beneath her skirt. Holding the stone close, she let her fingers run over its surface again and again, like it was something sacred.
In a world where she wasn’t allowed to own anything of beauty…someone was giving her gifts.
The ache in her chest loosened just slightly.
She gathered herbs slowly, savoring her time here. The lake, the flowers, the trees; this was the only place in the world that didn’t ask her to change. Here, she didn’t need to hide her gentleness. She didn’t need to pretend she didn’t care. She could justbe.
She had just finished clipping a cluster of wildflowers when she felt it: a presence.
Weight in the air, like a storm fast approaching. Elowen turned, and froze. Across the clearing, half-shielded by a dense cluster of trees, stood a creature of legend.
Its body gleamed like burnished obsidian in the filtered light, dull-pointed scales layered like impenetrable armor. Its wings were folded carefully at its back, the membranes stretched carefully along elongated bones. Horns jutted from its skull in perfectly symmetrical angles. The light shifted and caught its intelligent eyes. Gold. Bright, brilliant, ancient gold cut with deep black vertical pupils. The world narrowed to that gaze. Its tongue flicked over rows of jagged teeth as it studied her in silence. Smoke coiled faintly from its nostrils. Each talon that jutted from its fourlegs sank into the earth with immense weight. Sharp. Deadly. The tail, many times longer than a human was tall, sat behind it, motionless.
It was enormous, so large that her eyes struggled to take it all in at once, but it was coiled low to the ground as if trying not to frighten her.
It was adragon.
Elowen’s breath caught. Her knees locked.
It didn’t move closer. It didn’t growl or bare its teeth. It simply…watched her.
Elowen’s hands trembled around her stone, holding it close to her heart as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
