Page 16 of Fire Dancing For Icey Dragons

Chapter 9

ZARA

Blaze leads me into some woods, and I look around, surprised this even exists so close to the academy. Despite having been here for nearly four years, I've never been out this far before.

"You know, if your plan was to kidnap and murder me, this would be a great place to do that," I muse.

Blaze laughs. "You're a dragon, it would be pretty foolish for me to try and murder you."

"Ah, but you're a dragon too," I remind him.

"Then we'd end up in an epic battle of fire and flame. Considering you're an ice dragon, I think it would be fun to watch."

I laugh even at the idea of it. "I'd rather not fight in dragon form or otherwise."

"Me neither." He pushes some branches out of the way and gestures for me to head into a large clearing.

"Are we really okay to shift here?" I ask, a little worried about the shifting laws that mean we're not supposed to change forms in public. Though I suppose a clearing in the middle of the woods isn't really public.

"Technically, no. But if they don't see us do it and we fly high enough, they'll never know," he responds.

"Good point." I step into the middle of the clearing, taking a deep breath. I don't even wait before pulling forth the shift and letting the scales and ice-cold fire take me. I stretch my wings, feeling free for the first time in a while. I really should shift more often, but the rules against shifting in public make it difficult when I'm as big as I am and a mythical creature.

A rumble comes from the other side of the clearing and I look over to see Blaze in his dragon form. His scales shimmer in a deep purple hue that's verging on black. It suits him well, and is a contrast to my lighter blue. I don't wait for him to do anything else and launch myself into the air.

Cold wind whistles past my scales as I head higher than the clouds, knowing that I need to be there if I'm not going to risk getting caught in my dragon form. I don't think anything too bad will happen to me, especially because it's dark and it would involve someone actively looking for us and working out who we are.

I break through the clouds and hover, closing my eyes and giving myself over to how good it feels to be a dragon. I don't do this nearly enough.

Blaze comes to fly along beside me, and feeling playful, I dive in his direction, spinning around him. I don't get close enough to touch him, knowing that doing so will probably risk accidentally knocking him out of the sky, which can't happen.

When I head back towards him, he dips out of the way, challenging me to a game of chase. It's a basic game dragons play with one another, but it's fun and always exhilarating, especially after not flying for a while.

Without thinking much about it, I let out a blast of flames, the bright blue lighting up the sky and potentially making anyone down below think that there's a storm brewing.

Blaze echoes with a breath of his own, the orange of his fire completely different to mine. It's not doing anything other than making us feel good, but that's reason enough.

I lose track of how much time we spend flying, mostly because there's no way for us to tell. But I don't care, it feels wonderful to fly and I should do it more often.

Eventually, we start to descend, and I follow Blaze back to the clearing, landing deftly. I turn back into my human form, my whole body tingling. The tension in my neck and back is gone, the shift having sorted all of that out. I look over to Blaze, noticing that he has a wide grin on his face.

"Thank you," I say as I make my way closer, accidentally tripping over a stone.

He reaches out to steady me, bringing the two of us closer together. My heart starts to race at the proximity, especially when neither of us move away.

"You're beautiful in dragon form," I murmur.

"As are you. and quick. It's a challenge to keep up with you."

"You didn't seem to have any problems." The tension filling the air intensifies and I look up to meet his gaze.

I know what's going to happen next, and I do nothing to change it. I don't want to.

He leans in and brushes his lips against mine in a very brief kiss. He pulls back and searches my face. I nod, hoping he takes it for the encouragement I need to kiss me again.

My eyes flutter closed as he does, and I lean into his touch. He tastes faintly of the sweet marshmallows and slightly of smoke in a way that makes me think of dragon fire. Maybe because we've just been in the air and breathing fire. I haven't kissed any other dragons to know for sure.

We break apart but I don't pull away from him. I don't want to when there's a chance for more kisses.

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