Elowen flinched. She turned at last, eyes wide and wet. “No—no, please,” she said quickly, crawling toward him on her knees, both hands raised. “Please don’t be angry.”
He stilled. She pressed a hand to his chest, right where his scales met his softer under-flesh. “I’m not afraid of them,” she whispered, then wrapped her small arms around him as best she could. “I’m afraid they’ll take this away.”
Midas blinked. Slowly. He didn’t understand, but she continued on.
“I’ve been careless. Coming back with less and less, just to spend time with you. My father noticed. He thinks I’m hiding ingredients. If I don’t bring back enough, he’ll tell the Council. They’ll ban me from coming back.”
Midas stiffened.Ban her?Fromhim?
No.No, he could not allow that.
She let him go, and he leaned down, pressing his snout gently to the top of her head, breathing her scent of crushed herbs and salt-tears.
Then he moved past her, toward the edge of the trees, furious at the thought of anyone taking her away from him.
She ran to cut him off, small hands raised to stop him. “No. Midas. Please…don’t go.” He looked at her, and her voice trembled. “I just need to fix it. I can’t lose this. I can’t loseyou.”
The ache that bloomed in his chest was new. Unfamiliar. He lowered himself back down beside her, folding his wings inward as he watched her hands return to the earth, gentler now, but still desperate.
After a while, when her satchel was nearly full and her breathing had calmed, she sat beside him on the mossy bank and whispered, “You have to stop feeding me.”
Midas stilled once again. His golden eyes blinked slowly. She looked up at him, guilt on her face. “My fatherhas noticed that I’m looking stronger. Healthier. It’swrongto them. Suspicious. They think I’m stealing food. They’ll blame me for the missing goat.”
Blame her?Blame her for what Midas had done?
Her voice broke, and she dropped her gaze to her lap. “I don’t want to go hungry, but I will if it means I can still see you. So…no more food. Please.”
For a moment, there was only silence. And then the forestshook. Midas’ wings flared wide behind him, striking branches. His tail lashed the earth, gouging the soil. A thunderousgrowlrolled from his throat—furious andwounded.
Elowen shrank back, startled. His outburst disturbed all the creatures of the forest and all of the trees.
“Shhhh, shhhh, please!” she begged, afraid someone might hear him. “This is the only way—” Midas growled, not at her, but enough that she understood that he was refusing her. “Midas?—”
He pressed his snout to her head and growled again, breath hot and ragged with anger. But not directed at her.Neverdirected at her.
Elowen’s hands came up slowly to rub along the scales lining his jaw, calming him. Her eyes were brimming with tears. “Okay. Everything will be okay.”
Midas huffed, smoke curling from his nose. It was not the answer he wanted to hear, but he also knew that he did not like seeing her this way.
He knew he could not force Elowen to leave that cruel village, however much he could see them killing her slowly.
Seventeen
Elowen had donewhat she promised, and for five days, she made sure to bring as much as her satchel could carry with her back to the village. Her father did not question her again, and he did not need to.
They did not give second chances here—not even to their own family.
Elowen had slept in later than usual. Her body had grown weak again, as she forced herself to vomit up what Midas fed her every day after they parted. She tried to lose weight, to throw off any suspicious eyes and it made her tired and lethargic.
She was helping her father make a batch of rash salve when the shouting started.
The two of them stood in the doorway of their home as a man stormed through the village square. His eyes were wild, breath frantic with each word.
“I saw it!” he yelled. “High above the cliffs justthis day before the morn! Wings the size of rooftops, black as night, cloaked in smoke and ash and fire! Dragon! Dragon!”
People spilled from their homes, muttering, scoffing, gasping. Some crossed their arms in disbelief, others looked to the skies in fear.
The man pointed toward the mountains. “It’s the beast that has been stealing our livestock! The goats! The chickens! The cows! It will starve us all!”
