Page 5 of Her Two Dragons

“No. This is some Mummy level shit. Real Egyptian ruins aren’t supposed to be full of trap doors and hidden passageways.” She sat down on the floor and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not moving until Dr. Brighton or someone finds us. I’m not going to be responsible for unleashing the undead or whatever other movie quality horrors the Gods have in store for us.”

Darius chuckled. “I highly doubt movie rules apply. It’s more likely this chamber was designed as an anti-theft device, a way to keep intruders out. If it were meant to hurt or kill, we would be a lot worse for the wear.” He held out his hand, ignoring the rumble of his dragon deep in his gut.

She was a woman in need of help, of a way out of this trap, and he was going to make sure she had one. Even if it meant risking more touches from the blonde.

Hesitantly, she put her palm in his and used him as an anchor to hoist herself back to her feet.

“Okay, what now? Where do we go?” She sighed. “I wish we had more than one flashlight. It would make this whole thing easier.”

“Let’s see if there are any torches along the walls. I’ve got some matches.” Or the always more effective dragon’s fire.

Michelle looked unsure, as if she didn’t believe he could actually light a torch, but she made her way to the nearest wall anyway. “Are you like, the Egyptian equivalent of a Boy Scout? Flashlight, matches…what else are you hiding?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Darius smirked as he followed her path along the wall, shining the beam around the height he expected torches would hang.

It took everything Darius had to keep his eyes on the wall, rather than Michelle’s hips as they swayed with every step.

His heartstone was wrapped in leather, kept hidden from the archaeologists on the dig and anyone else who might’ve had ideas about claiming the large lapis cuff for themselves. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the change in the stone, feel the heat of the metal around it, whenever his skin touched Michelle’s.

The fates, it seemed, were feeling particularly cruel today.

He had to get them out, had to figure out a way to keep her from seeing any of the glyphs depicting dragon lore.

When they’d circled the whole room without any clear sign of a hidden doorway or a torch to make looking easier, she sighed and sat down on the ground again.

“Any other bright ideas?”

“There has to be an exit somewhere. We just have to keep looking.”

“Why are you even here? This doesn’t seem like your speed at all. You or Khalid. You’re never with the other local help we’ve got around here. I don’t see you translating or giving directions. You just skulk around me.” She looked up at him, her arms crossed over her chest, as if she planned on sitting there until he gave her an answer.

He wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t.

“Does it matter? I’m here. We’re here together. And your stubborn attitude isn’t going to change that.” He sat across from her, carefully directing the flashlight to the ceiling. “My world is different from yours. I don’t have the opportunities you do, to see the world, to take on whatever challenge strikes my interest. I’m here because I was ordered to be. So was Khalid. As long as we don’t interfere with the work you want to get done, what does it matter?”

Michelle rolled her eyes. “Ordered to an archaeology dig. Sure.” She uncrossed her arms and pressed her palms to the floor, leaning back slightly and looking up toward the ceiling. “If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. But you don’t have to lie.”

“I’m not lying. My father is very protective of our history, of our people. Digs like this make him nervous.”

“Why?” She tilted her head, asking as if she really wanted to know, not in any sort of accusatory tone.

“Don’t all societies have histories they’d rather not bring to the light of day? Any new history, any new revelation, could change how we look at things forever.”

“History shouldn’t be something cherry-picked, though. History is what it is. It’s the events that shape societies. You can’t hide things just because they might make your ancestors look bad.” She shook her head. “So much of history got lost, because men decided it didn’t paint the nicest picture, or because the people in power decided it wasn’t worth telling. Could you imagine how different the world would be if we got to hear all the stories of great women in school, instead of just men? How many more female ship captains, pilots, doctors, astronauts, we might’ve had, if we talked about women like the badasses they are? Or how different the world might’ve been if we didn’t sugarcoat it to make the victors look like they were completely in the right? The world isn’t nearly as black and white as history would have you believe, and a lot of times, the winning side only looks noble because of how they choose to tell that side of the story.”

“Is that why you’re here, then? To learn the truth, no matter what?”

She shrugged. “I’m here because there’s so much to learn, so much we don’t understand about how human societies became what they are today.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “And, okay, maybe I want to find an artifact that could completely change the course of our understanding.”

Darius could tell she was holding back, which seemed completely off from everything he’d seen of her so far. “A specific artifact?”

“You’ll think it’s stupid. Hell, I’m not even sure it really exists.” She sighed. “I’m probably going to die down here anyway, with no hope of escape or rescue, so I might as well confide in someone. And you’re all I’ve got.”

He waited.

“I found notations in more than one ancient text that talked about the Obsidian Moon. One described it as a sort of cypher key. Another, a real key. But to what, I have no idea.” She shrugged and pushed herself to her feet. “It’s a long shot to even have gotten this far, but I want to find it, and everything I’ve found on it points to this area as the place it might be. If it exists at all.”

The Obsidian Moon. Once again, the lost clan of obsidian dragons reared its head. Was there really something here that could reveal what happened to them? Maybe this artifact was the key to understanding why human mates were turning into obsidian dragons when claimed.

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