Was this some sort of magical spell? Or was he just that powerful?
“You have something of mine.”
His voice came without his mouth ever moving. It was a vibration, a pressure inside my head. It sounded so familiar, like I’d heard it before. I knew he was talking about the egg.
“I do not.” It wasn’t a lie. I truly didn’t have it anymore. Desmon did.
The dragon’s lips curled back, revealing teeth like daggers. “Do not play games with me, little thief. The egg. You will return it.”
“I didn’t steal it,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "I just took it from someone who did. I wanted what was best for it. I returned it to a dragon.”
The dragon before me let out an earth-shaking roar. “You gave away my egg!”
I took a step back, my heel catching on the uneven stone. I tumbled backward and landed inside a nest made of molten rock and lined with lava. Was this nest meant for the egg?
The dragon’s tail lashed, sending a spray of sparks skittering across the cave floor. I scrambled out of the nest.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know who to go to. I just wanted the egg to be safe.”
“Retrieve it. Bring it to me.” His voice dropped, low and dangerous, and he peered at me like he could see right into my soul. “Bring me my child, and I’ll forgive you. I will make it worth your while.” A sparkle lit his eyes as his gaze trailed down my body. “You are pleasing to the eye, for a human. And you have bonded with the egg. I offer you a bargain: stay with me and serve as its guardian. You can be my companion for the rest of your measly human life. All the riches you ever want, you can have. I will give you everything— palaces, treasures, a life most humans only dream of.”
My mouth moved, but no words came out. Did I really understand what he wanted and what he offered? Me? Raising a dragonlet next to a dragon? He couldn’t possibly mean that.
“You want me to raise a dragon?” I finally managed to ask.
“Humans have gotten strong in the last few centuries. A human guardian would secure my child’s future in your world. You will be rewarded handsomely. Whatever you wish it is yours, as long as you bring me my egg.”
He wanted to raise it, so that must mean he wouldn’t harm it. But did I dare believe him? Did I have a choice?
“Meera!” Graham’s voice cut through the edges of my consciousness.
The entire cave started to vibrate, and the first large blocks of rock fell from the cave ceiling. The dragon’s roar split the air, a sound like mountains tearing apart. The ground beneath me lurched, buckling as if the earth itself had turned to liquid. The walls groaned, and the veins of blue light glowing from within fractured like shattered glass.
A boulder crashed down, missing my shoulder by inches. I choked on the dust in the air, coughing as I stumbled, my bare feet slipping on loose stones. Another slab of rock slammed into the ground where I’d just been standing.
“Bring me the egg!” It was the last thing I heard before the world split apart.
I screamed as the cavern caved in around me.
“Meera! You’re alright. I’m right here.”
My eyes popped open, and I struggled with the straps holding me down. It took me several seconds to realize I was still in Graham’s bed, and the straps were nothing more than his sheets.
Graham pulled me into his arms. “It’s okay. It’s only a dream.”
Chapter 17
Graham
IlaywithMeerain my arms as her heart rate returned to normal and her body relaxed. Her skin was damp with sweat and cooler than it should be.
I’d realized she was dreaming when her breathing had gotten shallow, and her limbs grew restless, occasionally lashing out like she was scrambling away from something.
She’d been hard to wake, and I’d shaken her and called her name several times before her eyelids fluttered. It still took her a while to fully wake, and when she did, she’d struggled like the sheets over her body had been strangling her.
I wondered what the nightmare had been about. Perhaps her ex? She had witnessed him taking a life just days ago. I’d been watching her carefully since the moment she set foot in the penthouse, and she hadn’t had nightmares the nights before. But the human brain worked in mysterious ways, and it could be haunting her now.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” I asked after a long silence. “A dream witch once told me that monsters in dreams lose their power when you talk about them and bring them to the light. Only cowards hide in dreams.”
