I carry the platter over to the depression in the floor. It seems to be a thing with the Sarkarnii, given Dalox had one next door and one in his lair, and there was one in the clan hall where I sat with my fellow abductees.
All of whom seem perfectly happy to stay here with the Sarkarnii.
I lean back against the comfortable cushions and pick at the food I have been given. It’s very similar, if not perhaps the same, as the items I was eating when I met the other women. I’m certain I recall various flavors and shapes as I graze my way through it, trying not to let my mind run wild.
I thought I’d been through a lot up until now, but it turns out spending time with the Sarkarnii has shown me there’s far more going on than a girl in a pit. Stuff which, as it turns out, proves our abduction isn’t the end of the universe, or even an indication of what goes on within it.
I have to admit the Sarkarnii seem to have good intentions. Even if they all smoke like chimneys, have tails which they clearly can’t control, and growl as if it’s going out of fashion.
And look rather like Greek gods, with their perfectly chiseled faces and butt cheeks I would die for.
I give myself a good shake. Thinking this way about Dalox is not going to help. Not when I have to get home and at least take Lydia with me. I need to concentrate on the goal ahead, not on Dalox’s bum.
However nice it may be.
As for the otherthing…I’ve really, really got to put that somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind and NOT think about it at all.
After all, how the hell does it evenfit?
A shudder runs through my body, not in a bad way, in a way which pools in my core and makes me feel strange inside, strange good, strange nice.
I have to stop thinking about Dalox’s anatomy. I need toconcentrate.
I yawn widely, stretching up above my head and feeling the tiredness flow over me. It’s been a long, long day. Not that I haven’t had long days before, but this has been information overload.
The cushions seem extra comfy as I stretch out on them. Before long, everything is dark.
Everything is quiet.
Everything is suddenly lit up with light so blinding it hurts my eyes and sears my skin. Is it a Sarkarnii? No, it’s something else, something which feels so evil, I want to run rather than fight.
I have to get away, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t move. I’m pinned in place. I can’t scream, I can’t do anything other than let it get closer and closer.
“Sweet mate.” A voice, deep and dark, rumbles through the fear.
“I can’t…I can’t…”
“You can. I won’t let you go, Gillian.”
Dalox is here. He is here. He has hold of me. The evil is receding as the dream, the nightmare, fades from my mind’s eye.
“Dalox?”
“My sweet spark.” His burning eyes look me over. “I heard you cry out. I could not stay away. I hope you can forgive me?”
“I was dreaming…a nightmare…there was…” I shake my head. My cheeks are wet as if I’ve been crying, but I don’t remember crying.
I haven’t cried since my mum closed her eyes for the last time. Even then, I only cried until the nurses came. Then it seemed there were no more tears.
Until now.
“I don’t know…there was something…out there, coming for me.” I breathe the last words, long and shuddering, before gasping the air back in.
“Nothing will pass me,” Dalox rasps. “Not while I have breath in my body. I will be by your side, Gillian, always here to offer you protection if you want it.”
I stare up into his handsome face. His slit pupils are wide as he gazes at me, his bare chest heaving, the new scales glittering.
I find myself tracing my finger over them as my brain attempts to reset from the dream, my waking, and the lingering terror which I don’t want to name. I concentrate on my breathing, on getting it under control, on the heat which comes off Dalox, a juxtaposition between him being reptilian in his scales and eyes but a dragon in his flame and warmth.
