Page 21 of Redeeming the Dragon

My first idea was to go into the hall where I ate dinner, to see if a snack might be provided, along with utensils. A knife or fork. However, I’d never visited the dining hall this late, just before bed. As I feared, when I attempted to pass the borders of my room, the glow emanating from the walls instantly winked out. It was eerie how the underground palace seemed to read my mind. It would not permit me to visit the dining room. No help to be found from that quarter, then.

Instead, I went to the vanity beside the bed. Hairbrush. Comb. A mirror. A few cosmetics—which I’d not touched, as yet. I was a little surprised that the magic of the cave had even provided them. Who was I meant to wear them for? The dragon-man? He only came to my bed at night when it was dark. He neither saw me, nor seemed to have any interest in me, other than keeping me prisoner in his underground palace.

Bypassing those thoughts, I acknowledged there were simply no weapons to be found on the vanity. I passed to the washroom and found the case to be much the same: there was nothing with which to arm myself. Last of all, I opened the wardrobe again, even though, by now, I knew I would find no instruments of defense in there either.However, I did allow my gaze, then my fingertips, to alight on the beautiful blue fabric.

As I stroked it gently, admiring its beauty and luxury, an idea sprang to mind.

Needles.

Not much of a weapon, but better than nothing. The day after arriving at the cave, I’d opened the gift Neena had pressed into my pack and found my pouch of sewing tools. I’d not been carrying it about with me. Instead, it rested on the dressing table beside the bed. I hurried over to the dressing table and picked up the pouch, slinging it around my neck and hiding it beneath my neckline where its needles and crochet hooks would be readily available.

There.

Certainly not the best weapons with which to confront a dragon, or a man, or a man-dragon—whatever the creature might be—but at least I had something. And I had tired of his silent, lonely games. I’d made up my mind. That night, come what may, I would awaken him. He would give me answers, or I was not Lorna of the Jeweled Isles.

Chapter 11

That night, I was just beginning to creep across the threshold between wakefulness and slumber, when I sensed another living presence in my chamber. Instantly, I was awake, although I held myself motionless with my eyes closed, regulating my breathing. I felt like a beast lying in wait for its prey, waiting to pounce once the victim wandered too close.

Which was ironic, seeing as I was a mere human girl, and my prey was a man with the ability to shapeshift into a dragon.

Nevertheless, this mere human girl was done living as a cornered animal. Time to fight or die alone in a lonely cave, I decided, bolstering my courage. I would rather my existence be ended here than face dozens of years as a prisoner in a magical cave, alone and lonely, no matter how comfortable the surroundings. I felt the bed dip beneath the man’s weight as he lay down. Felt him move about for a moment, growing comfortable. Heard him release a breath of surrender—

And that was when I sat up. One hand clutched the pouch beneath my neckline. The other braced myself on the mattress.

“Who are you?” I demanded. “Why do you come to my bed every night?”

If I’d expected the stranger to bolt upright in shock, or to jump up and run, I would have been wrong. Neither did he sit up and attack me, swinging an arm, a weapon. Instead, very calmly, he responded,

“I thought you slept.”

His accent. That strange, sibilant accent in which the dragon had spoken. Of course, it was him.

“You thought I slept?” I repeated, puzzled. My hand continued to grip the sewing pouch beneath my neckline. My body was tense, in case he should decide to switch tactics and come after me. “You came to my bed because you thought I slept?”

“Well, yes. And no.”

“That makes no sense,” I said sharply. “Why did you come to my bed? If not for reasons of… of…”

I trailed off, unable to say it.

“Of what?” the man prodded, and had the audacity to chuckle.

I felt my face heat and was grateful that the cave’s cool darkness hid my features.

“You know what I’m implying,” I nearly hissed through gritted teeth. “Is that why you are here? Are your intentions dishonorable?”

There was a brief span of silence while he contemplated his reply. “Have I harmed you at all, Lorna?” he said, soberly. Quietly. “Have I given you cause to fear?”

No. He, as a human, had not. But as a dragon?

“You took me from my family,” I accused. “You terrified us all with your dragon form. You kidnapped me. So, aye, I would say you have given me cause to fear.”

Again, a span of silence. Either he was thinking up a reply, or he was a man who contemplated his words before uttering them. Either way,I had to sit in silence, listening to the wild thunder of my heart, before he slowly said, “Then you know.”

“Know?” I challenged. “Know that you are the dragon who took me from my island and brought me here? Aye, I know.”

“How?”

---