Page 10 of Dance with the Dragon Duke

“My name is Tomorrow,” she said to the girls as they gathered around her, the collective whisper of their beating wings creating a faint droning.

“Rower,” Ruby chimed.

“Rower,” the other girls echoed as they investigated Tomorrow, running clawed fingers through her white hair. The hum of their wings teased the points of her ears. She struggled to hold still while they inspected her. Their tiny touches made her squirm.

“Don’t let them walk all over you,” Darko warned. “They’re not toys, and—like you—they’re much fiercer than they look.”

“Ha.” Tomorrow shot him a grin. “No one’s ever called me fierce before.”

The girls closed in around her, allowing her to inspect them back. She ran her fingers over the flower petals that made their clothing and the thin wisps of their hair like spider silk. Moments later, she rolled in the grass, allowing the fairy children to literally walk all over her.

“Tomorrow,” Darko scolded.

“I can’t help it,” she said, giggling. “They’re so very precious—Ack,” she choked when Ruby accidentally stepped in her mouth. The ginger fairy’s chortle was gravelly as she pulled her foot out. The girls tickled her belly with their taloned toes, bouncing lightly down her abdomen, poking at the horn buttons of her borrowed coat. Tomorrow laughed until her sides ached.

When she sat up finally, one of them had tied several strands of her hair into knots. She tucked the frizzy mess behind her ear to deal with later.

Darko looked exhausted. His eyes were glassy and tired, but he waited on her without comment while Bebe braided a section of bronze hair around his left horn. His arms hung limply at his sides.

“I’d better get him to his bed,” Tomorrow told Ruby.

The fairy stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at her. Tiny droplets of spittle landed on Tomorrow’s cheek.

“Ruby doesn’t like saying goodbye,” Darko explained.

“Ah.” Tomorrow extended one of her fingers to the fairy. “How about a love bite instead? Just a small one to remember you by, and no blood please.”

Ruby’s responding grin was shark-like and went straight to Tomorrow’s heart. The Seelie had an affinity with nature and its creatures. Even with only a portion of Seelie blood in her ancestry, she liked ferocious things, and they always seemed to like her back.

Ruby chomped down affectionately on the end of her finger, hard enough to bring water to Tomorrow’s eyes. She hissed in a breath, but the sting was gone in a second.

Ruby beamed at her, pearly needle-like teeth gleaming. The pinch of pain was worth it for that.

Darko shook his head in admonishment, but there was a secret smile in the corner of his mouth. He helped Tomorrow to her feet, pausing a moment to pull blades of grass out of her knotted hair. The girls took turns squeezing his neck in farewell. All except for Ruby, who blew a big wet raspberry at him before flying off toward the waterfall.

Tomorrow rose on her tiptoes to finger the fine braid near his horns. The duke pretended not to notice her interest. He pretended poorly. The subtle curve in the corner of his mouthspoke loudly of his pride and fondness for the fairy girls he’d made a home for.

“You’re not scary at all, are you?” she teased.

The duke faced her fully. He lowered his big head and leered, displaying all his sharp teeth. His powerful tail thumped against the ground so hard she felt it reverberate beneath her feet. He was so close his breath blew hot against her scalp. “You tell me, little woman. Am I scary?”

His gravelly voice lifted the hair on her arms. He was big and broad and otherworldly. So big under the dusky magical light, he cast a shadow over her entire person.

“I stand corrected.” Tomorrow gulped. “You’re terrifying.”

* * *

Dark

The duke led the way to the sandstone tower. Tomorrow kept behind him at a distance, her posture stiff and uneasy. He felt guilty for intimidating her again, but she needed to understand that he was trouble. Danger clung to him. She should be wary.

Hand swallowing up the brass knob, he hesitated there. Something was churning in his instincts. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Everything all right?” she asked. Faced with his distress, her wariness seemed to melt away, replaced with a reassuring smirk that was pure sunlight. If it were possible to capture the sparkle in her, he’d hoard it without question. It would outshine any gem he had amongst his possessions. Dragons longed for things that were rare and precious. The sunshine in her was one of a kind.

“Everything is fine,” he said, reluctantly opening the door, revealing the near-darkness of the bedroom inside. He frownedat her back as she hoisted her skirts up to her ankles and crossed the threshold, leaving the confines of his sacred space. Leaving his hoard for an exposed place where anyone could find her to collect her brightness for themselves.

His teeth ground together.

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