Page 23 of Fae Reckoning

ELOWYN

I started at hearing the black dragon speak into my mind. Even though it was precisely what I’d been hoping for, the connection between us felt too immediate, too overpowering. My surroundings fell away. Though Saffron surely still clung to my back, and Rush and Xeno would be nearby, I sensed only the dragon—him and his impossibly powerful voice, as deep and substantial as bedrock, as smooth as the stone of a riverbed worn by the eons.

It took me a moment to comprehend that the thunderous rumbles were the dragon …laughing?

Surely you can do better than that! For fuck’s sake, Elowyn.

the dragon chided.

I felt my cheeks flush despite the chill of the gargantuan cavern. I said, doing no better than before.Fuuuck.

the black dragon said.

Careful not to separate my forehead from his, I peered up at him. My vision blurred; all I could make out was the patch of inky blackness between his eyes, wider than my entire head.

I offered, pleased to not sound like a moron.

I expected the dragon to answer. When it became clear he wasn’t going to, I nudged with a,

Another rumble boomed through my mind. This time it was disapproval.

It was, I thought, a growl, and a discontented one at that.

In the Sorumbra, he must mean, when my intuition led me to take the most dangerous chance conceivable for someone raised around dragons, who’d heard all the warnings about their violent natures—the same thing I was doing now: bowing my head to the magnificent creature, showing him honor through my vulnerability.

he said, responding to what I’d assumed were my private thoughts—dandy.

The slow, unhurried speech of the dragon made me want to settle into this conversation, to discover everything he might know about me, what I was meant to do, and how we could bring down the queen. But that same urgency he’d referred to as being verypeople-ypressed down along my exposed nape, telling me to hurry the fuck up before the queen arrived to sever my head from my neck.

Again, I tried to peer up at him; again, all I saw was more of that shiny, scaled blackness—more evidence of how remarkably different we were, how unevenly matched.

I pointed out.

The denial wasfirm, and I clamped down hard on my thoughts to keep a quip from unfolding.

Despite my efforts, a retort slipped free:Nothing like some contradictions to make a conversation go more smoothly.

The dragon stiffened against my forehead. I pinched my lips shut though the act would do nothing to censor my thoughts. How the hell was I supposed to keep myself fromthinking?

the dragon said.

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