I’ll never get the answers to my questions if she dies.
Yes, the voice of my subconscious murmurs in my mind, that’s why I want to make sure she’s alright. My curiosity.
That’s the only reason.
My eyes slide back to her sleeping form, wrapped tightly in the blankets. Even beneath them, her curves are obvious. I sigh, praying again for patience as I touch the torch to the wood I’ve gathered and watch it slowly catch flame.
Chapter Sixteen
Niressa
I roll over toward the heat source, yawning sleepily as my eyes slowly flutter open. A small fire burns on the ground beside me. I reach toward it, to touch the flames and bring more of that precious heat inside me, but a sharp pain draws me up short.
They attacked.
I sit up straight, ignoring the searing pain in my chest that the quick movement causes. My head turns from side to side, glancing to make sure there are no soldiers or knights waiting in my nest. I glance down at my chest, thin strips of cotton—from one of my blouses, I think—wrapped around it like a bandage. I remove those, craning my neck to see the damage.
A fresh burn mark covers what should be at least half of a hole in my chest. I brush my fingers over the raised skin as my eyes fall to the princess where she lays on the ground nearby. I peel apart my blankets and wrap one around myself, before laying the other across Taryn. She rolls toward my hand in her sleep and my heart clenches in my chest. I brush a stray strand of hair from her face, tucking it back behind her ear. Her smooth skin feels like silk beneath my fingers and I shake my head.
Why did she stay?
I must have shifted from the blood loss. I cringe as I stare down at her, my heart beating in my chest—my very sore chest. She knows I have two forms. Oh, Gods.
My eyes widen as I rear back, pulling the blanket about my naked shoulders. I move closer to the fire, letting it soak into my bones as I ponder the situation.
Humans aren’t supposed to know about our shifting capabilities. The old dragons would be furious if they found out. I wince at the thought, putting it from my mind. They would want her murdered and I just—I shake my head even as my stomach twists. Despite what the girl thinks of me, despite what she thinks I’ve done, I’m no murderer. I’ve only ever killed in self-defense. I would never harm her unless she harmed me first . . . and even then, I’m not so sure I could do it.
Not now.
Not after she saved me. Not after she stayed.
My fingers graze over the wound on my chest again. It’s healing. It will take more time than most wounds, because of its proximity to my weakness. I shudder as I realize just how close the king’s men had come to ending me today.
And that begs the question . . .
Why did she stay? She could have fled when I passed out. I wouldn’t have blamed her. This situation is hardly fair to the princess, after all. I’m owed what I’m owed, but she’s just a vessel I’m using to get what I want. Her presence here has been an inconvenience to her, traumatic even, perhaps.
Her kind can be so delicate—especially the royal ones.
She could have found her way out of the mountain, eventually. As she shifts in her sleep again, digging her face into the pillow beneath her head, I tilt my head to the side. Perhaps the little sapphic isn’t as bad as her father. She stayed. She mended me as well as she could and she stayed, not only here in the mountain, but beside me on the floor.
I blow a bit of flame onto the fire that keeps her warm as I stand to my feet. When I’m sure the heat is enough to keep her comfortable, I move toward the ledge, peering down at the scorched earth below. Aside from the burned grass and a few dead horses, there’s no sign of the humans. They must have lived, then.
What a shame. They deserve whatever death finds them for putting her in danger like that. If I had fallen—
I narrow my eyes, swallowing those thoughts. They attacked me. They deserve whatever death finds them for daring to disrespect me, when I have been more than upfront with Vanir about my terms.
And the fact that the king would authorize such a senseless attack when I have his daughter as a hostage enrages me. I don’t mean Taryn any harm, but he doesn’t know that. For all he knows, I could have burned her to ash by now as recompense for all he’s done.
First, they took my treasure.
Then, they attack me during a peaceful exchange.
A snarl slips from my lips and I take a seat on the ledge, my feet dangling over a I watch the sky turn colors. The sun is setting on this horrid day, at least there’s that.
Perhaps the king won’t send the crown. My heart lurches forward at the thought. Perhaps I’ll get to keep the strange princess for a while longer. She’s intriguing, to the say the least. And the fact that she stayed . . . something about that makes me want to keep her closer, now.
A small growl rumbles my chest as I dismiss that troublesome thought. I can’t keep the princess. She’s not a thing, like she said. She’s not one of my treasures . . . even if it’s easy to compare her to them.
The sound of footsteps echoing behind me sends a spark of adrenaline through me and I glance over my shoulder to find Taryn yawning sleepily as she makes her way to the ledge.
“Thank you,” I murmur as she takes a seat beside me, her feet dangling over the ledge next to mine.
“I’m not sure I helped,” she shrugs. “I thought I killed you and then you—” she waves her hands at me in some vague explanation of the thought she can’t seem to finish. “You’re her. You, obviously, I mean,” she mutters, rubbing her temple in frustration.
I nod my head and she blows out a shaky breath before leaning forward. When she pulls the blanket aside, her cheeks flame pink and I have the strangest urge to feel how warm her skin is where it blushes.
“You—” she chuckles as she brushes her fingers over the wound, inspecting it. A shiver winds its way up my spine and my eyes slide a little more shut as her fingers dance across my skin.
The touch is innocent enough, but the heat growing in my belly refuses to acknowledge that.
“Aren’t you cold? You’re not dressed.”
“I have the blanket,” I chuckled as a cool wind whips around the mountain and past us. “Besides, my fire keeps me warm, Tiny Treasure.”
“Mmm,” she muses. “Why did you let me think you were two different people?”
“I never pretended to be anyone I’m not,” I correct her. “Though, I suppose, I did mislead you.”
“How can you be a woman and a dragon?” she asks, running her fingers through her hair. “And how is it your wound seems nearly healed?”
“We heal faster than your kind, princess,” I murmur, adjusting the blanket to hide my bare chest from her view. “We have always kept the duality of our nature a secret from your kind,” I sigh. “You have a tendency to abuse the information if you find it out.”
“What do you mean?”
“And—” I chuckle, holding up a hand to pause her rapid-fire questions. “Only the outside is healing quite so fast. I’m still very much injured. If you’d like to make your escape, now’s the time.”
“How have we abused the information?” she asks again. The fading light makes her eyes look more lavender than blue and I find myself focusing on them as I tell her truth. Something I rarely do, at least in whole.