It would be fatal to reveal my presence. I sensed that on a biological level. This midnight-blue dragon wouldn’t just put me beneath his foot, he’d crush me with it.
SKYYYRRRIIII!!! SKYYYRRREE!!!
The world darkened as two shadows appeared directly above our heads, blotting out the midday sun so I couldn’t quite make them out until they alighted with a couple more landing booms. One on each side of Diarmuid, like they were his bodyguards.
Were they his bodyguards? Or maybe his brothers? They were both dark emerald-green, like Diarmuid, but while Diarmuid’s horns were dark green, the one on his right had brown horns, and the horns of the one on his left were gold-tipped.
They, too, bowed, and I wriggled inside Diarmuid’s tail, unsure if I should be hiding from them as well.
They rose back to their full heights, and the one on the left immediately started speaking in their language of screeches, clicks, and hisses. Meanwhile, Diarmuid stepped back carefully toward the rock wall where I’d been made to do so many sits earlier, while keeping me curled within his tail.
At first, I thought it was an action of deference, him ceding the talking to the green dragon on the right.
But then Diarmuid’s tail unfurled, freeing me with a scraping slither against the grass.
I didn’t understand until I sensed a sudden nearby vibration. A door. A small square glowed within the wall, so small I’d have to duck my head to escape into the confines of… actually, I wasn’t sure. We were on the side of the castle facing south, so I had no idea where this new door led. Under different circumstances, that would have been the most interesting thing that had happened all day.
But it was obvious Diarmuid wanted me to go through it. The triangular tip of his tail poked me squarely in the back. Like,Go, already.
So I turned to go.
But as I did so, I felt a set of eyes on me, hot as flames.
Green flames.
When I looked up, I found the eyes of the other non-speaking dragon. His head was tilted toward the conversation now taking place between the midnight-blue dragon and the one on the left, but he was surreptitiously peering down at me in a way that reminded me of that sideways look Aengus gave me from his great height when we walked across the cavern together to get my first glimpse of the Pleistocene Age outside.
Wait a minute.
My heart stuttered. This dragon looked exactly like the one I’d been sparring with for two weeks. Exactly like him. Save for the brown horns.
Then I turned my head and saw that the other dragon also looked exactly the same. Other than the horns, there was no discernible difference.
And that was when I realized…
Her Irish Dragon+s
There were three of them.
The generous and accommodating Aengus. One.
The infuriating(ly sexy) drill sergeant Diarmuid. Two.
Orpheus. The guy I had to order not to kill me every night. Three.
Not one dragon. Three.
Three.
Three!
At first there was shock.
And then there was only rage.
Three! Why hadn’t they told me?
Three! I’d been duped again. Just like before Sadie pushed me into the lake.
