Well, probably not the only reason.
“If you say so.” I retain my polite tone. “But please, don’t let us keep you. Inspect away.”
I sweep my arm toward the training hall, at which she pivots, tipping her chin at the other dragons. “Check the other?—”
Her voice cuts off as she finally notices Riot, who crouches low to the ground right behind her.
He snarls up at her, every tense muscle in his body indicating he’s deciding whether or not to leap at her.
She visibly gulps before she resumes speaking to her people without taking her eyes off him. “Check the other buildings,” she calls. “I’ll be fine here.”
They look uncertain, but Riot hasn’t made any significant moves yet, so I guess they’re happy enough to split off, each heading in a different direction, although they all cast backward glances in Riot’s direction.
Miku waits for her comrades to disappear, appearing to double-check that they’re gone before she drops to her knees, resting the mats in the sand as the tension in her shoulders disappears. “Hello, Riot.”
He slowly rises back to his full four-legged standing height, his head tilted, his snarls quieting.
She dares to lift her hand toward him, but he bares his teeth at her. Sharp,sharpteeth. He’s torn apart an old god’s weapons with those teeth, but she wouldn’t know that.
His nose wrinkles as he hisses, a frightening, dangerous sight.
Within the trees at the side of the beach, there’s a flicker of movement and I catch sight of Rumble and Strife poking their heads through the foliage to watch us. Rumble’s rabbit earscatch in the greenery and he gives himself a shake, making a rustling noise, before he seems to realize that wasn’t a good idea.
The turn of Miku’s head tells me she’s spotted them across the distance.
Her lips part and her forehead crinkles as she seems to zero in on Rumble’s rabbit face. “Huh…?”
The two panthers quickly melt into the trees again, leaving her blinking. “Oh-kay.”
Riot demands her attention with another snarl and she’s wise to give it. Carefully scooping up the mats once more, she slowly rises to her feet.
“I’m going to fix the floor now,” she says to him before slowly turning toward the steps up to the training hall.
Riot leaps across her path, getting underfoot, making it difficult for her to proceed, but she persists, managing to reach the training hall door and disappear inside it.
“Should we go with them?” I ask, deciding it’s time to pull on my blindfold.
Anarchy shakes her head. “Leave them be. He isn’t going to hurt her. And we could all do with some food and rest.”
We ignore the dragons as we prepare a meal, which I dub, “dinner at daybreak,” and then we head in our respective directions to get some sleep.
I have no fear that the dragons will cause problems—not only because Riot clearly intends to stay on Miku, but also since the keeper is watching them.
His skin is flushed with black scales, his full dragon form appearing to be seconds away if he needs it.
I know he’ll watch over us until they leave.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
For the next three weeks, I spend the first half of my nights stretching and exercising, working on the muscles I need to strengthen so I can fly, and the second half of my nights learning everything I can from Anarchy.
Miku and her band of dragons visit us every morning. Each time, she tells the other dragons to check the rest of the island while she heads toward the training hall with Riot underfoot.
By the fifth day, she’s stopped trying to go inside and instead sits on the top step, waiting for Riot to join her. She spends most of the time watching the waves while he prowls around her.
By the second week, he’s sitting quietly beside her, studying the water with her, twitching whenever a fish flies up out of the waves, but he doesn’t leave her side.
Then, at some point during the third week, he drapes himself across her lap, his head resting in the crook of her arm. She strokes his back as she speaks quietly. I catch mentions of mermaids and dragons and life in the Kaito family. Some stories sound like old myths. Others seem like recent happenings. She talks about how her training is going, and then random things like what she ate that morning, even the meaning of her name.Apparently, Miku means “beautiful sky”. Until she falls silent again, her hand resting on his head.
