Something flashes behind his eyes, but the emotion is gone too quickly for me to identify. His brow furrows. “What is wrong?”
“Nothing,” I lie. “I just… realized there’s a lot about you I don’t know. I guess that’s normal since we only just met.”
He swallows thickly as he gives me a hesitant look. “Actually, there is something I have been meaning to share.”
This piques my curiosity. “What is it?”
He opens his mouth to speak but quickly snaps his jaw shut. He lowers his gaze.
I laugh softly. “You look nervous, Varus. What is it? Come on.” I playfully shove his arm. “You can tell me. I promise I can keep a secret.”
Worried eyes meet mine and my heart stops. Whatever he’s keeping from me, it’s serious. At least he thinks so, judging by his tortured look.
“Seriously, Varus. What is it?” I press, all joking aside.
Drawing in a deep breath, he exhales slowly through his nostrils. “The monster dragon you are so afraid of,” he begins.
My eyes fly toward the cave mouth as my heart hammers in my chest. “Oh my God! It’s outside, isn’t it? Just waiting to eat us if we try to leave?”
With a slight clench of his jaw, he shakes his head. “Actually, it is inside the cave.”
I whip my head around to search as fear wraps tightly around my spine. “What? Where?”
“It is me.” His voice drops so low I almost miss his confession.
“What?” I gawk at him.
“I am the monster you are so afraid of.”
I roll my eyes and then playfully hit his shoulder again. “That’s not funny, Varus. Is that what passes for a joke in your culture?”
“I am serious,” he says with a sobering look.
The tone of his voice and his grim expression fill me with dread. I scramble away from him. To his credit, he doesn’t try to stop me, instead allowing his arms and wings to fall away without resistance.
I back away until I reach the opposite wall, never taking my eyes off him as he slowly sits up then stands. My gaze rakes over his form and the truth suddenly dawns on me. Scales, wings, horns, claws, tail. How did I miss it before?
“Are you—are you saying that you can shift forms?” My voice is barely a whisper.
He nods as his tail wraps lightly around my ankle, giving me the contact I need to understand his words. “The beast you are so afraid of is my draka form.”
I cover my mouth with my hand to stifle a dumbfounded gasp.
He holds up his hands in a placating gesture. “I promise I will not harm you, Lilliana. I would sooner end my life than ever cause you harm. My vow.”
I’m speechless as I stare up at him. After a moment, I find my voice. “Why—why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
He lowers his head. “You seemed so afraid when you spoke of the… ‘dragon monster’ and I… did not want you to fear me.” He lifts his gaze to mine. “I vow that I would never harm you.”
I’ve been terrible with secrets ever since my parents died. The doctor had told me she thought they were improving. In reality, my parents’ condition had been deteriorating and the doctor was merely hoping for the best. She passed that misguided hope to me because she knew I would soon be an orphan. I’d like to say that I was the bigger person and eventually forgave the doctor’s lies, but I never could. And now… I’ll never have the chance to lay that part of my past to rest. I don’t even know if she made it off the ship.
As I face Varus, memories of last night fill my mind. Completely and utterly vulnerable, I lay in his arms; he made me feel safer than I have in a long time.
“I trusted you.”
The words escape my lips in a hoarse whisper, leaving my mouth before I even realize I’ve spoken them aloud.
His eyes are full of pain. “Forgive me,” he pleads softly. “I did not intend to deceive you.”
Even though I understand his reasoning, I can’t overlook the hurt. My gaze shifts to the cave’s entrance. The winds have died down, taking the worst of the storm with them. “Can you take me back to my people?”
An indecipherable emotion flashes across his eyes. Then he nods. “Of course.” He examines my wounds. “But first, we must reapply the medicine to your arm.”
As he rubs the alien spit medicine—or what he calls “medicinal paste”—he hums in the back of his throat. “It appears to be healing.” His eyes flick up to meet mine. “You should eat and drink something before we leave.”
Numbly, I nod.
Despite our brief time together, I was already building a connection to him. I’ve heard that shared survival situations can bond people very quickly. This is a whole new world for me, so maybe that’s why I’ve grown so attached to him in such a short amount of time.
I wonder what other secrets he is keeping and decide to find out.
“So, tell me more about your people.”
He tips his head to the side. “What would you like to know?”
I shrug. “Are there many of you?”
He looks at his hands. “Not as many as there once were.”
His tone is full of sadness, but I cannot read his expression as he studies the floor, seeming far away.
“What do you mean?”
“A great plague swept through our population not long ago and killed many, including my older sister.” He lifts his gaze to mine, his eyes bright with tears. “We were very close, she and I.”
My heart clenches. I brush my fingers down his arm to take his hand, entwining our fingers. “I’m so sorry, Varus. I lost my parents a few years ago to a plague that ravaged our ships.”
Gently, he squeezes my hand. “Do you have any other family?”
I shake my head and despite my attempt to rein in my sadness, an unbidden tear escapes my lashes and rolls haltingly down my