Page 27 of Dark Dragon’s Wolf

Tonight was only the beginning of the road to healing. There was still a long way to go for both of them.

And she still had a tiny cold fear inside her that Tristan would refuse to walk that road with her.

She ran her fingers through his hair again.

“Tell me something you’ve always wanted to do,” she said. “Something you never had the chance to, because of… everything.”

He didn’t say anything at first. Because he was thinking? Or because he wasn’t going to answer?

She had the feeling loving Tristan was going to need a lot of patience, and that sucked for both of them because she really wasn’t that good at patience.

But she waited anyway, breathing slowly and deeply like she used to do when Emon was in a frustrated rage, ready to explode, and she was afraid Ragnor would hurt him.

Talking hadn’t helped. The only thing that helped was just being with him, and giving him space to feel how he felt.

Eventually, her hard-won patience was rewarded. There was a tiny shift in his muscles and he took a deep breath, then let it out and relaxed.

“Go on vacation,” he said.

She laughed in surprise. “Really? Me too.”

Kira had had to explain the concept of “vacation” to her. Getting away from your life for a little while, visiting somewhere new just for fun. She loved it. She wanted to do it.

“Yeah?” He turned his head to look at her.

“Yeah. Where would you want to go? And what would you want to do?”

He thought about it. “Somewhere the opposite of Montana and Idaho. China. India. Bali. Where everything is different—the food and the people, the clothes and the colors. And I’d just walk around a city and explore. New sights, new smells. Something unexpected around every corner.”

He turned over, sweeping his hair over his shoulder so she could keep playing with it. “Where would you go?”

She had a list. Ever since they’d gotten the internet and she’d seen all the places there were to go, she’d been making it. “Earth. Switzerland. I want to see those fairy-tale castles. And go on one of those riverboat cruises where they take you to see them all.”

“You already have a castle,” Tristan pointed out.

“So what’s your point?” she said, tugging gently on his hair and smiling to show she was teasing. “And then I’d want to go somewhere like Dubai, where everything is brand-new and modern and glittery. I want to go to the very top of that crazy tall building and jump off, and glide all the way down.”

Tristan laughed. “Better cloak yourself, or they’ll send anti-aircraft drones after you.”

“They wouldn’t catch me,” she said. “I’m magic. And I want to go to Iceland, and bathe in the hot springs when it’s freezing cold out. And see glaciers and waterfalls and volcanoes.”

Her voice grew dreamy. “And I want to fly way, way up in the air and see the curve of the Earth, and realize how big it is. So big that it would take a dragon’s lifetime to see it all. And I could fly and fly until my wings were tired, and only get a little bit of the way around it.”

“Freedom,” Tristan said. “And space.”

She nodded. “I wouldn’t want to leave here for always,” she said, “but I want to see other places. Stretch my wings.”

“Not settle down.”

She shrugged. “Home is nice. But I told you. I want to do All The Things. I want to go out there and live.” She touched her chest, feeling her dragon nestled inside her, like she’d never been gone. It changed everything. “And now I can.”

She saw something in his eyes—just for a second. Like another door closing. Then he smiled and said, “Now you can.”

He pulled her down against him, his arms around her. “Don’t go yet, though,” he said, as if she were going to leave him right now and fly away. “Stay here with me.”

Chapter 12

Mayah drifted off to sleep, warm and safe in Tristan’s arms, snug in their little magic cave.