What am I doing?
I pull away, and Dragix lowers his head to follow me, but I put one hand on his chest.
“It’s a little too hot in here,” I say.
He inhales, and the temperature drops several degrees. I laugh. I’d forgotten about that little trick.
“That’s not what I meant. I need to go and get dressed. I’m going to pick some berries. I’ll see you later.”
He frowns but doesn’t stop me as I haul myself out of the water. I wring out my clothes and then step gratefully into the cool of the mountain.
What is wrong with me? Have I learned nothing from my experience with Ben? Or am I just a walking, talking victim who can’t help but fall for overly possessive, dangerous men?
Men who believe I belong to them.
I made a promise to myself when I left Ben. A promise that I would never allow myself to end up in the same situation again.
I laugh, and my voice breaks. And here I am, cozying up to the dragon who stole me.
The worst part? He’s trying. Unlike Ben, he truly doesn’t understand the idea of autonomy. He doesn’t get that I wasn’t put on this planet to entertain him. Because centuries of experience have taught him otherwise.
Ben was a sociopath. He chipped away at my confidence, my sense of self, for years. Until I forgot that I could be free. That I didn’t have to live in fear. That I was worth something.
Dragix isn’t a sociopath. At least, I don’t think so. He’s a different creature entirely. And he may try to see that I’m a person with free will, but he doesn’t get it. He may never get it.
One kiss doesn’t change that. Even if I melted for him.
I deserve better.
Dragix
After I finish bathing, I find myself restless. Usually, I would take to the skies, but I don’t wish to leave Charlie, who is sitting in the shade on top of my mountain. Her eyes are on the trees below us, but they’re blank, her mind elsewhere. Every part of her body is closed off, her shoulders hunched, arms crossed as she ignores me.
Fine.
I turn and walk back down into my lair.
I find myself in Ezra’s room.
My sister would know what to say to me if she were here. She would laugh and explain the nuances that I don’t understand. Of the two of us, she spent more time in her two-leg form and would often study the Braxians and other two-legs on this planet.
I miss her.
“I’m sorry,” Maez says as she walks in, a bundle of clothes in her arms. “I didn’t know you were in here.”
I step back as she places the clothes on the bed and opens one of the large chests. She laughs at what she finds.
“Did you know Charlie was collecting these?”
I survey the chest, which has few clothes left, most of the space taken up by my…scales.
The sight makes something in my chest tighten. Charlie does not know that my scales are used as armor on this planet. Does not know that she could sell these and live like a queen on Agron. The first time I lost a scale when we were flying, she made me land so she could pick it up. She insisted it was pretty.
It does something to me. To see her collecting these small, discarded pieces of me.
“I did not.”
Maez glances up at my face and then wisely chooses not to comment, opening another chest and placing the bundle in there instead. She keeps her eyes on the clothes and her voice low.
“Charlie has taught you more in days than you have learned in centuries. I’m happy to see you more like yourself. I have…missed the Dragix that I knew.”
I examine her face. “I am sorry that I forgot I have this form. That I forgot who I was.”
She glances up at me and then away, her dark hair falling over her purple skin. Seeing that movement, it reminds me of someone.
“Where is your mother?”
She stills. “You don’t remember?”
“No.” It is difficult for me to admit, and Maez pretends to ignore the gaps in my memory.
“When I was of age, she allowed me to take over from her. Once I had completed the oath, she moved to Sebe with my father.”
I remember now. The blood oath allows her people to be as long-lived as dragons. Maez’s family have served my family for centuries, choosing to pass on the position when they want to grow old with those they love.
What would that be like? I push the thought away.
“Tell her…tell her thank you.” Maez’s mother served me during the years when I was most alone, before I chose to spend all my time in my winged form. It is likely only due to the blood oath I have had with her people that I did not go insane during the long centuries I spent alone.
“I will.”
Chapter Eight
Charlie
It’s so hot today that I spend most of the afternoon napping in the cooler temperature of the lair.
Finally, when I start moving around, I find Dragix and beg him to take me to the river.
Hopefully, the water is just as cold as it was on the day that he showed me the hot pools.
He gazes at me, still in dragon form, and then nods his head. Neither of us has mentioned our kiss, although I often turn to find Dragix’s hot eyes on me, as if he’s ready to pick up right where we left off.
Surprisingly, Dragix doesn’t love the heat either. I’m assuming that’s why he spends most of his time on this mountain.
