Page 86 of Rescued By The Dragon

I watched her walk away. I turned my attention toward my drink. “I think we need to go to the river,” Dorran said. “I know we said that we weren’t going to stay the night, but maybe we need to grab a room. They have a nice hotel we could stay at.”

Nerves skated around in my stomach. The feeling of being stared at surfaced, and I glanced back to see our server and her boss glaring at me. “I feel like everyone is staring at me, Dorran. Maybe it’s not a good idea to stay.”

Dorran reached across and touched my hand. “Little Mouse, do you think that I would let anyone harm you? I promised that I would find answers for you, and this could be a dead-end, but I think we’re getting somewhere. One night, and if the river leads us nowhere, then we’ll go back and find another avenue, okay?”

He was right. We needed to figure out what was going on before some other powers showed up and I hurt someone. It was just a river. What was the worst that could happen?

We finished our sushi, feeling as if someone was watching me the entire time, Dorran paid and we left to go find a room. The kingdom was nicer than ours was in a cultural stance.

It had charm and an old-timey feel whereas The North Kingdom was more modern. I liked that about this kingdom.

Dorran and I grabbed one of the last rooms in the hotel. It reminded me of something you would find in an older angler’s town. With white stone buildings and charm carved into every nook.

Dorran stopped by the front desk and asked for a map of the city. The human working there gladly handed it over, while circling some sightseeing suggestions along the way.

“Where is the ομορφι? river?” he asked. “Here?”

She cringed. “Uh yeah, but I’m not sure you want to go there. It’s kind of spooky. Well, it’s very beautiful, but there are old stories about that place. I wouldn’t risk going, especially with a human with me. You could easily escape if something went array. She couldn’t.”

Dorran glanced down at the worry written between my brows and slid his thumb against the fold in my skin. “Don’t fret, Little Mouse. We won’t venture far.”

She shrugged. “Be careful.”

I let Dorran guide me toward the river, past the courtyard, and down a long trail that looked less rocky on the map. The trees around us began to thicken, and the smell of water hit my nose.

“I smell the water,” I said softly.

Dorran looked down at me but didn’t say anything.

“What?”

“I don’t,” he whispered. “Normally I would.”

I’d been a fish since birth—or since I could remember—not that Helena let me anywhere near it. I had to sneak to Sasha’s pool party when I was nine years old because Helena refused to let me go. Which at the time didn’t seem strange, but now, it did.

The sun sank lower in the sky the closer we walked to the river. We had plenty of daylight, but something about the sun going down didn’t sit right with me. Dorran stopped us, pointing ahead, I noticed the small shimmer of light reflecting off the water.

Dorran interlaced his fingers with mine.

I wasn’t sure if it was for comfort or to make sure I stayed safe. Either way, I was glad for it. We neared the river, and the oddest sense of peace came over me.

It was more of a calm stream flowing over pebbled rocks, and further down it deepened, but none of it seemed scary. My gaze shifted toward the forest on the other side, and the depth of it. The trees were large, like in my memory, and the urge to walk across the river and touch the trees surged me.

I took a step, but Dorran stopped me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Somethings out there.”

I searched the tree line, at first, I saw nothing, but then I noticed it. The small head looking out from behind a giant tree. My fingers tightened around Dorran’s, and he followed my line of sight.

It wasn’t that someone lived out there that scared me.

It was the familiar blonde hair and blue eyes that stared back at me. Many people had blonde hair and blue eyes, but there was something so familiar about this one.

Dorran pushed me behind him as someone dashed around the trees, and grabbed the small child looking at us. The woman stopped and whispered something to him, but then her gaze traveled to Dorran’s.

Then they settled on me.

The shock seemed to travel through her. She was surprised to see me as if she’d seen me before. Dorran glanced down at me with questions in his eyes. I wasn’t sure which one of us had more.

Dorran lifted his hand as a peace offering, but the woman ran into the forest, almost disappearing before our eyes.

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