Page 31 of Redeeming the Dragon

If my silent pleading the night before had been prayers, they were answered the next night. I’d passed into gentle slumber when motion in my room disturbed me. My eyelids fluttered awake. I knew already who had disturbed my rest, and my heart leapt with hope.

“Dragon?”

“It is me,” he answered quietly. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

Of all the things he had to apologize for, this was surely the least. However, I kept quiet on that score, fearing to irritate him when I so badly needed his help.

“Think nothing of it,” I replied. He settled in next to me, moving around for a moment, then released a weary breath.

“Dragon?” I asked again.

“Aye, lass?”

He must know what I was going to request. Did he want to hear me say it again?

“Have you pondered… Have you considered…?” I faltered.

Again, he released a heavy breath. This time, not of weariness—of thought. As if he weighed a heavy matter.

“I have considered it,” he replied.

I could scarcely draw breath. The air was trapped in my chest until I heard his reply.

“I do not oppose taking you to visit your family,” he said, his tone low. “But I fear they will try to separate us.”

My breath released in a rush as I realized he’d not said no, nor had he said yes.

“Separate us?” I repeated, truly puzzled. “How could they do that?”

“I cannot say,” he replied. “It is a premonition. It is more than that. It is a warning. Your mother, in particular, will try.”

I frowned up at the ceiling, aware that he couldn’t see my face.

How could my mother try to separate us?Wouldshe, if she could? Aye. I didn’t doubt that. And yet, my mother had been just as compliant as my father when it came to offering me as a sacrifice to a dragon.

“I will not let my family separate us,” I told him, though my heart pricked with a strange guilt knowing I was promising this Warkin the very thing that I was, in reality, attempting to do. I was lying to him. It was alright to lie when you were being held captive, wasn’t it?

“It isn’t a matter of what you will do,” he said slowly. “It is a matter of what they will convince you to do. Your mother, especially.”

What sort of power did he ascribe to my mother? My mother was neither a particularly vindictive nor deceitful person. She would be overwhelmed with joy to learn I was alive and unharmed. She would doubtless see the value in me feigning compliance until Father or some of the other Sanlyn could find a way to break the magical bond between the dragon and me.

Then, she would do what she must to free me.

But now?

Even as I opened my mouth to speak up in my mother’s defense, my captor went on.“I hate to see you unhappy, Lorna. I want to take you home, if only briefly. You must understand that I will have to bring you back.”

I swallowed hard. It was no more than I’d expected, yet it pained me to hear it.

“I know,” I said softly.

“You must make me a promise,” he said, “not to be alone with your mother.”

Not to be alone with Mama? Whatdidhe expect from her?

“She will turn you against me,” he warned. “She will ruin everything.”

Ruin everything? What did he think would be ruined? Me, living as his lonely captive in this gloomy cave?

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