“Hmm,” the man hummed. “You don’t know much at all of it, do you? And now…” He tilted his head to the side, gaze sliding over her. His eyes no longer appeared so bright. “Now, you’re regretting coming here. Maybe you’re even afraid.”
“Should I be?”
He shrugged as if it did not matter, laying back on the stone and throwing a forearm over his eyes to block out the sunlight. “My name is Morgen. Figured we should at least know that much about each other, since Varax insists on collecting us both.”
She blinked a few times. After a few short moments of initial shock, he was being oddly casual about this. It was probably a bad sign.
She had never heard of one dragon with two riders. Technically, Heles and Thessilnn had both claimed her parents, even letting her into the mental pathway when necessary. So perhaps this wasn’t as unusual as she assumed. Maybe lots of dragons had two riders in Arcadia.
“No, they definitely don’t,” Morgen said, voice muffled. “I wouldn’t have come all the way out here if this was a normal occurrence, even with Varax’s constant insistence.”
She stiffened. “You can hear me?”
He lifted his arm, squinting at her. “I don’t think I always can. Just when Varax leaves the pathway open. For example, just now, I only heard that last bit of what I assume was a lot of spiraling. ”
Thisnotion, she was familiar with. Her parents were constantly speaking silently, enough to the point it sometimes irritated her, because their dragons always allowed for it. Lettingherinto the connection only occurred when necessary, usually when Thessilnn wanted to scold her.
“So, just to clarify, this is not a common occurrence?”
Morgen propped himself on his elbows. He was wearing a sleeveless leather tunic, and she tried to ignore the muscles straining in his biceps.
“Dragons don't typically have more than one rider at a time,” he said, brow raised. “Ever, actually, as I understand it. But you don’t seem as shocked as I would have expected. Have you never studied dragonlore?”
She probably should have said yes. It would look far less suspicious. Instead, she shook her head. “No, I have. I…just thought I read something about this once.”
“Mhm.”
She looked away, twisting her fingers in her lap. He obviously didn’t believe her, though he didn’t push either.
“Where did you come from?” she asked, clearing her throat in an effort to break up the nervous tension in her body.
“Somewhere you’ve never been.”
She surprised herself when she snorted loudly and replied, “That’s presumptuous."
“Fine, then. Arcadia.”
Now, she looked at him sharply, lips parting. He really had been to the land of the gods, a place she had only ever been able to conjure up weakly in her imagination. She wondered if he’d ever met any of the principals. Maybe someday, if he kept coming back, he could tell her what they were like.
“That’s…far,” she settled on after a few moments of silence he hadn’t bothered to break. “You must have been traveling for days.”
He laughed, the sound so rough, it almost seemed like it hurt. She noticed he had another scar, this one cutting across his throat.
It looked like someone had tried to slit it.
He must’ve noticed her looking, because he raised a hand to his neck, ghosting the scar. “Ah. That is a story for another time.”
She found it odd he planned to tell her at all. They had just met, after all.
“What was funny?” she asked instead of inquiring about his scars like she wanted to.
He tipped his head back, throat working. “Sorry, inside joke.”
She looked away but pressed, “Between you and…?”
“Me and myself, mostly.”
Turning to him again, she frowned at the odd answer. “Uh-huh.”
