“Oh, dear dragon goddess, what have you done now?” Kymri groaned.
“It’s not what I’ve done, little one. It’s what you’ve done.”
Kymri’s mind went blank. Then the buzzing in her ears started. What had Kolina wanted of her?
No.
Shit.
Oh no.
“What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I get up?”
“Your body is recovering from the shock of shifting while impregnated. The shamans are very impressed with you. Most dragonesses can’t shift at all, let alone shift and then do a two-hour patrol. It seems the little youngling created a shell to protect itself from being crushed during your transformation.”
Kymri stared at her mother’s glee.
“Anyway,” she continued, “you over-exerted yourself and very nearly missed the landing platform. You made it, although a little banged up. You just need to rest, and you’ll be up and around.”
“I hate being confined,” she growled.
“I know.” Kolina patted her arm.
Kymri stared at her mother’s hand on her arm. She rarely touched her. Her eyes flicked back to Kolina’s face. She was practically glowing.
“This is a bad dream, or I’m hallucinating.”
“Not at all, the shamans said there was no need to drug you. And I strongly advise against trying to get up too soon,” she said when Kymri tried to push herself up onto her elbows but ended up dropping back onto her pillow with a groan.
“I have to—Marli hasn’t been found yet,” she panted from the small exertion.
“The others are out, widening the search net.” a frown finally settled over Kolina’s features. “You just stay comfortable.” The patting returned.
“This isn’t comfortable, Mother, it feels like I have a stone in my uterus.”
“Really!” Kolina breathed, “Oh this is better than expected. She will be strong!”
Who was this woman? Or had one of her rivals finally succeeded in slipping something into her food?
“Shaman? I think I’m hallucinating.” Kymri called out, while trying to lean away from her mother’s patting hand. She didn’t think she could handle anymore, and began trying to think of anything that would send her away.
She just woke to find herself impregnated, and her mother had lost her mind.
An image of Jori came into her mind, halting all other thoughts along with her breath.
Fear crept over her and she gasped at the intensity of it.
He fathered her child.
The bonding hadn’t knotted yet.
Would he want to know?
What if the child were male?
Her hand slid over her womb.
She hadn’t wanted this. She really hadn’t.
But here it was.
The only two choices were to raise the child or give it away.
She knew humans had methods to create another choice. Kymri’s dragon wouldn’t allow for that, nor would her society. And neither did she, she knew deep down.
It also wasn’t part of her culture to consider the sire much beyond conception either.
Her dragon wanted her to bring Jori into the fold, and so did she.
10
Jori paced the little stone-screened yard, walking trenches in the once-grass covered dirt.
There was trouble.
He’d heard his guards talking about a disappearance and when they came to check on him, their hostility had increased ten-fold. “You’re lucky Kymri Steelscale is fighting to keep you alive,” one snarled at him while handing him food.
She was fighting for him?
What had he done to incur a death sentence?
Thinking back on their island encounters, he remembered when she threatened him with a knife. The batteries. She destroyed the batteries to protect her people. He and his equipment were a threat to this insular culture. Apparently enough to decide it was worth his life.
He peered through the curled openings of the stone lattice walls surrounding him. It was near impossible to see much of anything. He had been able to make out large, dark shapes gliding in the distance. He could hear the sound of the wind when they passed close by. He couldn’t quite make out what they were. Gliders maybe? The shape wasn’t quite right. If he were delusional, he’d say they looked more like dragons than anything. But then he chalked that up to much too much time alone, first on the island, now confined to this prison and with those combined with his mother’s stories—delusion. He ignored the whisper of his sub-conscious, reminding him of the large object he met in the sky that day.
He sighed as he continued looking for weak points in the stonework. Figuring out a way home kept his mind occupied. It wasn’t good to dwell too much about how trapped he was, and on the flip side of that, nor did it help to think too much about Kymri. Although she was a more pleasant distraction from thoughts of rotting away in this place, being constantly aroused wasn’t helpful either.
He tried to reserve thoughts and fantasies of Kymri for when he went to bed, and he could fall asleep to her mental image. He was growing a little concerned about the obsessive turn his mind was taking. This wasn’t like him; he didn’t obsess over women. But it seemed she was all he could think about and focus on. As much as he wanted out of this place, he wanted to be with her or take her away from here with him. Any scenario played out with the two of the together - anywhere.
The familiar sound of rushing wind came around from the coastal side of his prison. Darting to the wall, he pressed in close to align his sight with the where he thought the thing was that created the rushing noise. There were several flying in formation, as they glided in closer and banked, he was finally able to catch a glimpse. They held the same shape as the mystery birds he’d seen flying overhead while he was on the island. They hadn’t come in this close before and they were flying in the opposite direction from those he’d seen in the distance before.
His breath lodged in his throat. Either he’d finally gone crazy, or those were fucking dragons. Excitement bounced in his gut. They were real! They were fucking real!
They glided out of sight and his hands shot up to his head, clutching at his hair.
His Cessna had met its destruction from a collision with a fucking dragon!
He’d been right - his mother’s stories were true. He needed to document this somehow. On impulse he went to his backpack for his camera, excitement overriding his logic for a moment.
“Fuck.”
Reality came crashing in just as fast. No camera, phone or recording device.
He dropped to sit on the edge of the bed.
Dragons were real.
This is what Kymri was willing to pull a knife on him for. And here he was, his first impulse was to document it to share with the world. This is exactly why he was locked in this place. Because they knew he would expose them.
What would it cost them?
He wasn’t just chasing a fantasy anymore. Now he was faced with the fact these creatures were real, and they were here because they were protected, and these people were willing to protect them with their lives.
Why would they do that?
They must have some kind of relationship with them and in order to have that, they must be sentient.
Had a dragon saved him too —the night of the storm?
Jori scrubbed a hand over his face, reeling, his hands shook.