Whatever it is, it’s dangling half in and half out of the river. It’s shaped kind of like an hourglass, and it looks utterly out of place in this otherwise peaceful and completely natural scene.
Movement draws my eyes, and then I’m hit with another bombshell. Two people are standing near the ship, and before I know it, I’m running.
“Alexis?”
“Charlie?”
I laugh. I remember this woman. And who wouldn’t? She’s gorgeous. So is the guy standing next to her, who examines me with cool eyes. He looks similar to the men who appeared in that clearing when the Voildi were leading us to the slaughter. Braxians.
Alexis slaps her hands over her ears, and I sigh as Dragix’s enraged roar practically makes the ground shake.
Maybe he wasn’t expecting me to get this far?
The Braxian next to Alexis shoves her behind him, a sword in his hand as he bares his teeth at us. Dragix lands in a crouch next to me, his complete attention on the two people across from us.
His voice snaps like a whip in my head. “What are you doing? Who are these people?”
“Calm down. Alexis is one of the women who were taken with me.”
Dragix snarls at that, stepping forward slightly as he tucks his wings close to his body. He shows them his teeth and decides that this is a great time to let a flame escape his throat.
Even from here, I can see the color drain from Alexis’s face. I get it. I was so scared that I nearly peed my pants the first time I saw Dragix do that little trick.
I throw up my hands, hoping she’ll see that I don’t approve of Dragix’s particular brand of crazy. But her eyes are on Dragix as he steps forward again.
I let out a growl of my own. “What are you doing? You’re scaring them!”
“They’re too close.”
“You’re being completely unreasonable. We’re going to talk about this.”
“Are you okay?” Alexis asks, and I take another step toward them. Dragix roars, making her slam her hands to her ears again, and I grit my teeth as I draw even with Dragix.
“You’re being a complete bastard,” I snap. “And it’s embarrassing me.”
He stares back at me silently, unrepentant, and I smack him on the snout with my fist. He narrows his eyes at me, and I turn back to Alexis and the silent Braxian at her side.
“I’m fine,” I call to Alexis. “But—”
“Enough,” Dragix seethes. His foot flies out, scooping me up, and I land on my butt. I probably look like a complete fool as Alexis’s mouth drops open. I wave at her so she hopefully won’t think that the enraged dragon is about to eat me.
Dragix is silent on the way back to his mountain. I don’t even try to communicate with him, and he turns into a man as soon as he lands before stalking past me toward his lair.
“Oh, the silent treatment?” I throw up my hands, attempting to keep my gaze on the sloping muscles of his back and not his toned butt. “Real mature.”
He glances back at me and bares his teeth, and then he’s gone.
“Asshole,” I mutter.
“Dragix allows more from you than I have ever seen him allow from anyone.”
I whirl, finding Maez sitting in my shady spot.
“Well, since you’re his lackey, you’d know.”
She gazes at me steadily, and I sigh.
“That wasn’t fair. I’m sorry.”
She nods, getting to her feet.
“Why is he like this?” I ask.
“It is his story to tell.”
“He doesn’t share anything with me. And then he acts like a complete jerk when I finally get the chance to talk to one of the other women.”
Maez is silent for a long moment, and then she steps closer, her purple skin gleaming in the sun. “Dragix has been alone for a very long time.”
“How long?”
She shrugs, the movement elegant. “Centuries.”
“Excuse me?”
“Dragons are very long-lived. After he lost his family, he was all alone. I don’t know why he took you. He may not know himself. But consider what it must be like to be the only one of your kind. Always alone.”
“He’s not alone. He has you.”
She shrugs again. “My people have always served the dragons. My mother served Dragix and her mother before her. My people swore to serve his people when they saved us from certain death.”
“And then they were the ones who died.”
Maez nods. “I am a reminder of his people. A reminder of a debt that was formed before he was born.”
I turn away. “So what, just because he’s lonely, he gets to treat me like a prisoner?”
Maez tuts. “My people were prisoners and slaves for centuries before Dragix came to be, but their stories were passed on from generation to generation. You are not a prisoner.”
I whirl on her. “I can’t leave.”
“And perhaps that is for your own protection.” I open my mouth, and she waves a hand. “Dragix is not innocent. He takes what he wants because no one has ever told him that he can’t. Or proved otherwise. I’m not going to try to change your mind about him. I just hope you have some room for understanding.”
She turns and walks away, and I sit in the sun, staring up at the sky. Until I landed here, I’d never realized that there were so many shades of green. The fern green in the early morning, the bright emerald in the midday sun, and the golden-hued jade of the late afternoon combined with every shade in between.
What must it be like? To be so incredibly lonely that you steal someone you don’t know and take them to your lair, just to have them around? And then keep them, even knowing they loathe being kept?
I know loneliness. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
“Consider what it must be like to be the only one of your kind. Always alone.”
I can’t imagine centuries of being alone. Centuries without anyone who truly understands you. I wonder
