“they all know i am the Queen,” was her instant reply. “they will not mind if I swim with them. And you can hold on to me, my Auri—i will keep you safe. Here—hold on to my spines!”
She projected her wish to swim out so hard that I really had a difficult time fighting against it. It was very strange to feel myself longing to go out into deep water that the logical part of me considered dangerous since I couldn’t swim.
“How about a compromise?” I asked at last. “We’ll go out a little way, but you have to turn back when I tell you to.”
L’eesha was agreeable to that, so I grabbed onto her tallest dorsal spine and let her tow me out deeper into the vast pool of steaming water.
As my feet left the sandy bottom of the indoor lake, I felt my heartbeat pick up. I had always been afraid of deep water and the idea of it going over my head wasn’t pleasant. But I had a good grip on her dorsal spine, and she really was quite a strong swimmer.
She was about the size of a small horse now, so I didn’t worry about her not being strong enough to tow me. And every day she was growing bigger and stronger. She’d eaten a whole goat on her own just that morning and, though it had been a small one, she’d finished it all from the horns to the hooves.
I had worried about her eating the bones and hooves and horns, but Ryse had explained to me that the bubbling pool of lava every dragon had in its gut was more than a match for such items, which would have been wholly indigestible to a human.
I was distracted with my thoughts and before I knew it, we were much further out than I wanted to be. Looking down, I could see that the rocky bottom of the pool was far below us.
“L’eesha, that’s enough now,” I told her. “Let’s go back to the shallows and I’ll scrub you again.”
“don’t want to,” was her stubborn reply. “don’t?—”
But just at that moment, an enormous Emerald Gold-wing, which had been floating, half-submerged on its back a few yards away, yawned and turned over, which caused a mini-tidal wave.
The wave rushed over me and both L’eesha and I lost my grip on her dorsal fin. With a cry, I was swept away from her, out into the deeper end of the pool…
And then the water closed over my head.
51
AURORA
“hurry, hurry! come, i cannot reach her—HURRY!” I heard L’eesha projecting wildly as I struggled to the surface of the water and took a gulp of air.
I wanted to cry for help, but when I opened my mouth, the hot water of the Baths went down my throat in and nearly drowned me.
I choked and gasped and went under again, feeling my dragon’s panic flooding me as surely as the water was.
“my Auri is drowning! hurry—she cannot breathe in water. she is not a fish! HURRY!” I heard her shouting.
I wondered who she was shouting to—possibly M’alex? But he was too far out to reach me—wasn’t he?
I kicked and flailed and managed to get another breath before the hot water sucked me under again. Oh God and Goddess, I couldn’t die like this! Not after I had finally gotten a dragon—I couldn’t leave L’eesha all alone! I couldn’t…
Suddenly a strong arm hooked around my waist and raised me to the surface of the water.
“What…who…?” I choked out, still thrashing.
“It’s all right—you’re all right,” I heard a familiar voice say. “Be still and let me tow you in!”
It was Ryse, though the God and Goddess alone knew how he had gotten to me so fast.
“M’alex brought him,” L’eesha informed me. Looking up, I saw her swimming to me as fast as she could. “are you all right, my Auri?”
“I think so,” I sent back. I was still in way over my head, but Ryse was swimming strongly, towing me back to the shallow end of the pool.
But when we got there, though I felt feelings of relief from my dragon, Ryse’s face was tight with anger.
“Why the hell did you go out into the deeper water if you couldn’t swim?” he demanded. “And why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t swim so I could teach you?”
“I’m sorry.” I coughed and sputtered, getting the last of the water out of my lungs. “It just…never occurred to me.”
