Page 13 of Storm of Blood and Shadow

“You are in pain,” says the dragon.

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Everywhere,” I whisper. “I wish I could sleep in a soft bed. Please take me back. Please. I’ll die here.”

“Bear with the discomfort for one night, and then I will make you a comfortable place to sleep. For now, we should both rest.”

I bite my lip, refusing to beg any more. But now that I’m awake, I can’t stop the tears, or the shaking gasps that quake through my body.

The dragon endures it for several minutes, and then he rises, a mountainous inky bulk in the blackness. Carefully he picks me up and flies out of the cave.

The brisk cold and the sharp wind flay my cheeks, the unyielding hardness of the dragon’s claws compresses my bruised flesh, and my mind goes blank with resigned horror as I’m carried in midair, out into the cruel night.

I don’t know how far he flies, but after what feels like an age of misery he sets me down on something soft—a bed of long, thick grasses. His body curls around mine instantly, radiating a heat that’s so tempting I can’t help moving nearer to him.

“What about the fenwolves?” I whisper. “You mentioned them to the other dragon.”

“They don’t usually come here,” he replies. “And if they do, I will protect you. No one will ever harm you again.”

I sink down onto the grass, my cheek propped on my arm. “My father once made me the same promise. He ended up hurting me himself. You should never swear such a thing to anyone.”

The dragon’s orange eyes blink at me. “You are right. Why should I believe that I could protect you when I couldn’t saveher, or any ofthem?”

His eyes shimmer briefly violet, and he releases a long, unsettled hiss before laying his head down on the grass. His body shifts as he tucks both forelegs under his great chest, like a cat settling in for a nap.

“Did you lose a…” I hesitate, searching for a word he will understand, “a mate?”

“No. I did not have a Promised. My brother did. Her name was Mordessa, and she was to be my second sister. My first sister Vylar died last night, as well as my grandmother, Grimmaw.”

“Last night,” I murmur. A wretched recklessness seizes me, a need to confess, an impulse to tell someone what I have sacrificed for those I love. “Last night I let a filthy old lord fuck me so I could pay rent and buy food for my family.”

The dragon shifts a little. “I do not understand.”

“I didn’t desire the man in any way. But I gave him my body to do with as he liked, in exchange for gold.”

“To pay rent,” he says carefully. “What is rent?”

“It’s money given to the owner of a building, so you can stay there and have shelter.”

“And you sold your mating rights for gold so you could continue living in your preferred shelter?”

“Something like that.”

“My clan sold ourselves to Vohrain for a short time,” the dragon says morosely. “We let their king use us for carnage and destruction, in exchange for new hunting grounds. We had no choice. Our isles have been plagued by disease, and the animals are nearly gone. Without new food sources, we will starve.”

It’s not the same, and yet it is. The similarity strikes oddly on my weary mind, and I let out a low, hysterical laugh.

“Our plight amuses you,” comments the dragon, his tone listless.

“No, not at all. It’s just that I never expected to have something in common with a dragon.”

The grass rustles as he shifts, curling tighter around me. “Are you more comfortable now?”

I’m still hurting, but I’m lying on deep, plush grass instead of rocks, beneath dark trees and distant starlight, with the dragon’s heat and bulk forming a wall between me and the night.

“Yes,” I murmur. “I am more comfortable. But you must swear to take me home tomorrow, or I will have to kill you and escape.”

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