Page 35 of Miles

“But do you think that was the way it happened? Doesn’t it seem a little convenient? Even a bit of a stretch? That you happened to hit one single place in the water without rocks jutting up from beneath the surface?”

She chewed her lip. “I didn’t think you would have any reason to lie, so I dismissed it.”

“Easy to do, isn’t it?” I turned fully in her direction, my arms aching to hold her as I broke the news but not daring to touch her until I knew she wouldn’t scream bloody murder.

Anyone else, and I wouldn’t have cared nearly as much. Not that I considered myself a bore, not that I would ever force myself on her, but she was even more sensitive to that sort of treatment. The last thing she needed was another man bending her to his will.

“What’s the truth, Miles? And am I going to be able to handle it?”

“I hope so. I would never try to deliberately shock you. But it might be a little much for you. Unless you believe that some of the creatures you heard about in your storybooks as a child are actually real.”

She gaped at me. “I don’t understand this. Which creatures? I’m not even sure I want to know anymore.”

My ego developed a brand-new bruise.

She was afraid to know who I was. She didn’t care enough about me. What did I expect? For her to assure me that it didn’t matter? That I could be a troll or a gnome or a warlock, something ridiculous, and it would be all right because I was such a wonderful fellow?

“It’s too late for that, I’m afraid.”

“You’re right.” She stiffened her spine. “I can take it. Who are you, really?”

“Would you believe a dragon? That we’re all dragons—my clan, anyway? Not Martina or Mary. But the rest of us.”

I didn’t know what to expect. Screaming? Fainting? Laughing? Some combination of the three? I’d never broken the news to a human before.

I had never had a connection to a human like the one I had with her. She was everything. Why didn’t she react?

“Well?” I prompted when her blank face became too much to bear.

“A dragon.” It came out as a soft, breathy sigh. “That’s what it was all about.”

“What what was about?”

“The dream I had. I was riding on a dragon, above the sea. It wasn’t like anything else I ever dreamed—so vivid, so unusual. I mean, a dragon? Since when?” She looked at me, stricken. “It was you. Because you’re a dragon. I don’t understand it, but I get it. If that makes sense. Which I know it doesn’t.”

“You just got a lot thrown at you all at once. I don’t expect sense.” When I sat on the edge of the bed, she didn’t flinch away. “You don’t think this is… frightening?”

“Oh, sure,” she said, waving me off. “I’m scared half to death, because I don’t understand any of it. I’m wondering if I’m not having some late reaction to the pain meds I was on. Or if I’m having another lucid dream—no, because I would know I was dreaming.”

“But you’re not telling me to get the hell out of your room, which is a good start.”

She studied me, eyes roaming over my body, my face. “You look human enough to me. But there’s something different about you, too. You’re better than human. God, I’m usually so much better with words than this.” She touched her hand to her head.

“It’s all right. I expected a lot worse than this.”

“I bet. But I’m not going to lose it. I promise.”

“Thanks for that.”

“A dragon. And all of you are?”

“Everyone in my family. Gate, Ainsley, Leslie, Dallas and Alan, Bonnie…”

“Oh.” She closed her eyes. “So many strange little things make sense now. Just little throwaway statements, that sort of thing. I couldn’t have imagined this being the reason why, of course. I’m supposed to have such a strong imagination. I’ve been making up stories for as long as I can remember.”

“But those are only stories. This is real. We’ve been around for a long, long time. Thousands of years.”

She gasped. “Does Martina know?”

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