Page 37 of Mountain of Dragons and Sacrifice

“That sneeze.” I wasn’t sure if the noise that bubbled from me was a hyperventilating gasp or a hysterical laugh. “You didn’t set fire to those parchments with the candle, did you?”

“No. But don’t worry, I don’t go around accidentally lighting things on fire all the time.” He held his hands out to me, palms up, as if terrified of scaring me. When he spoke, his voice was slightly hitched, his lips barely moving as if he was trying to keep his teeth hidden. “That was a rare exception.”

There was something so hilarious and comforting about this half-man, half-dragon self-consciously hiding his fangs that I found myself grinning and stepping forward. I poked his chest with a finger. “I’m not going to faint at the sight of your teeth.”

A twitch to his mouth nearly broke through, but he spoke so carefully that only a flash of teeth showed. “They’re sharp.”

“You’re a dragon.” I poked him again. “Pointed teeth are to be expected.”

This time, he gave a whoosh of a breath and let more than a hint of his grin break through. A row of sharp, pointed teeth flashed in the sunlight. “I don’t want to scare you. Especially right before we are about to fly.”

“Fly. Yes. That.” My gaze strayed to his wings. I’d flown with him before, but there was a strange tension, now that I knew the dragon was Evander. “You have wings.”

He stretched one toward me. “They’re real. Go ahead. You can touch them.”

I poked his wing, then gathered my courage and ran my finger over the scales that covered the bone, muscle, and sinew. A thick membrane spread between the talons of the wings, much like a ginormous batwing. Except blue and scaled.

I walked around him, taking in the sight of his wings. They rose from his back through slits in his tunic, which were normally hidden beneath his jerkin.

“This is my half-dragon form. I can turn into a full dragon as well.” Evander remained still as I finished my circle around him.

“That sounds…intimidating.” I shivered at the cold breeze, pulling my cloak tighter around myself.

He flashed another far too fang-filled smile, though the scariness of his teeth was eased by the smile crinkles around his eyes and creasing his cheeks. “Don’t worry. I won’t turn into a full dragon without warning you first.”

“Thanks.” While I trusted Evander, I wasn’t sure I was quite ready to find myself face-to-face with his full dragon form just yet. The half-dragon form was strange enough.

Evander’s gaze swept over my face, almost as if he was as hesitant about this as I was.

“Are you ready to experience your first flight in the daylight?”

Not really.

“Yes.” I gestured between the two of us. “I guess this is the part where you pick me up?”

He nodded, then scooped me up just as gently and easily as before, cradling me against his chest.

I wasn’t sure what to do with my hands. Should I wrap my arms around his neck? Dig my fingers into his tunic? I’d spent the last three flights just huddling in his arms, purposefully not looking around.

Evander gathered himself, then launched us into the sky.

I couldn’t help a squeak, and my arms found their way around his neck by instinct. The hair at the back of his neck tickled my fingers, his warmth seeping into me.

No wonder he didn’t get cold easily. He was a dragon. He was a walking fireplace.

For the first few moments, I huddled against him, my eyes tearing up from the cold breeze whipping against my face. Evander’s wings whumped against the air in a rhythm as steady as his heart beat beneath my ear.

Willing my own heart to calm, I swiped my face against my arm and risked a peek down.

Far below, rocky crags crusted with snow flashed by. Stands of spruces stabbed toward the sky while swathes of green wound through the mountains in the deep valleys.

I’d thought I’d be more scared, but we were up so high and Evander’s arms were so secure around me that I didn’t have any sense that I could fall.

“This is beautiful.” I leaned a bit farther out, keeping my firm grip around his neck to anchor me.

“The Court of Stone is one of the Winter Courts in the Fae Realm. It’s always winter here.” Evander glided lower, skimming just above a rocky ledge similar to the one the golden sheep had been dancing over the day before. “There’s always fresh snow and deep green trees.”

“But it’s never warm.” I gave an exaggerated shiver.

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