Page 22 of Storm of Blood and Shadow

Her body sways compulsively with the music. She drops to the ground, then rises in a slow arch, a steady pull as if she’s being lifted upright by an invisible string. Her arms sweep through the gloom, gilded with firelight, carving emotion in the air like I might carve poetry on the walls of a cave with my claws. She is writing a story with her body, and it’s a language I understand on a primal level, deep as the blood pounding in the channels of my heart.

“By the Bone-Builder, she’s beautiful,” murmurs a dragon to my right, and my head whips toward him, a snarl rippling in my throat.

“She’s mine,” I growl.

He looks at me, eyes widening, and retreats a pace. “My apologies, Prince. I did not know you had claimed her.”

The pace of the music increases and Jessiva’s hair whips around her as she moves in tandem with the beat. Her hips are looser now, rolling and swerving in a way that makes me searing hot all over.

The infinite void inside me crackles and tightens, an aching emptiness corroding my very soul. When she’s dancing like this, Iwantmore intensely than I’ve ever wanted before. Some irrational part of me believes that sheis the only thing that can fill me up and complete the missing piece of myself that I’ve been hunting for all my life.

I slink forward, drawn by a violence I cannot master, a need I do not comprehend. The dragons’ feet stomp the ground,the fiddle sings, the pipes wail, and the women hum as Jessiva continues to dance. She’s watching me approach, two spots of bright color in her pale cheeks, her eyes wide and her false smile cracking at the edges. Her movements grow more frantic, more jerky, more violent, like she can sense the thunderous beating of my heart, the dark intent in my soul, the need in my gut.

I can feel the song building to its peak, and as it does, Jessiva spins wildly, carelessly, and crashes against me.

She catches herself, hands pressed to the broad scales shielding my chest, and she pushes herself back from me.

I lift my foreleg, cautiously running the tips of my claws through the red river of her hair, then placing one claw gently beneath her chin and tilting her face up. She’s flushed, her eyes starry and desperate.

I arch my neck, lowering my muzzle. Softly I touch my nose to her forehead.

Quiet gasps rise from the gathered women. The music and the stamping have stopped, and all is silent.

“Darling, come with me,” I murmur.

I sense resistance in her, but she glances around, evaluating our audience, calculating the risk and reward like the wise woman she is. She has been working hard all day to help these women feel more comfortable, less panicked. I know she still wants to return to her home on the mainland, yet she won’t jeopardize the tentative peace we’ve worked to establish here. It’s in everyone’s best interest for her to go with me willingly.

She lifts both arms to me, and I scoop her up in my right front claw with the greatest of care, holding her to my chest. I bound to the barrier and use it as leverage from which to leap, striking the air with my wings until we’re aloft.

As we rise, there’s silence at first, but after a few wingbeats I hear the music begin again, even more cheerful this time.Female voices rise in song as the captives continue to charm both the night and the dragons of my clan.

When we reach my cave, the dyre-stones I lit earlier are still aglow. I set her down and give them a fresh burst of heat. I emit void magic, not fire, but I also possess a type of purple lightning, and I can use the heat of that lightning to accomplish many of the same tasks other dragons perform with fire.

As the light flares up, Jessiva gasps faintly, and pleasure swells in my heart at the sound.

My cave was already beautiful, engraved with rows of Dragonish symbols, line upon line of poetry and lore. But where it was bare and empty before, now there is a large pallet of thick, soft grass, tightly compacted and overlaid with a giant piece of cloth—a tattered blue flag I stole from a shipwreck once.

No one ever knew that I took the flag or the figurehead I found bolted to the head of the ship. I was embarrassed to admit that I liked the statue—a naked woman with the tail of a fish. Both have remained hidden in a nook of my cave. All dragons contribute most of the treasure they find to our clan hoard, but it’s acceptable for us to keep a handful of special items for our private use.

I brought the flag here to create a sleeping space more appropriate for a human, and I set up the figurehead in the corner by way of a decoration. Over a flat rock, I laid four of the finest pieces of jewelry I’ve ever found. I scattered wildflowers over the sleeping area and filled the corners of the cave with them as well. They’re beginning to wilt, but they’re still beautiful.

“For you,” I tell my captive. “A woman so exquisite deserves a lovely place to rest.”

She cups slender fingers over her mouth and makes a low, broken sound. A tear trickles down her cheek.

Dread erases the joy from my soul, and I retreat, my wings going slack, head lowered in shame. “I’ve done it wrong. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not wrong,” she chokes out. “It’s beautiful. And I’m furious.”

“Furious?” I blink at her.

“I’ve received countless gifts from admirers.” She wipes her tears with the hem of her blue dress. “None of them were this sweet or this sincere. And I’m furious because no matter how much you seem to crave my happiness, you’re a hypocrite, just like every other man I’ve ever known. You want me for sex, for breeding. You refuse to take me home, and you want to change my body to suityourneeds and preferences. No matter what you do or how much you pretend to care, you’re my enemy.”

A shudder of fervent resistance rolls through me from head to tail at the last few words. I pin my wings tightly against my sides and prowl toward her, forcing her to back up toward the makeshift bed.

“Your enemy,” I rumble. “Is that what I am?”

“Yes.” She’s small, vulnerable, quivering beneath the threat of my presence. I’ve never felt more wickedly powerful. Her scent has changed—it’s more vibrant and more lusciously liquid. It’s the same fragrance that bloomed over her body earlier today, when she touched me in the meadow.

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