Page 85 of Prince of Tides
“Heartbeats, I think.”
“Heartbeats? That’s impossible. It’s way too slow. And loud,” I said, shaking my head in denial. “Can’t be.”
“Unless we’re simply not thinking big enough,” he said uncomfortably as movement sounded in the darkness of the chasm below the ledge.
Bigmovement.
“Um,” I whimpered as a gargantuan snow-white dragon head heaved itself up and over the edge of the platform.
The size defied comprehension. Rip’s dragon could fit in its eye. One eye. His dragon wasn’t big enough to be a toothpick; the thing was so huge.
Rip, of Tides.
Laurie, of Earth.
I spun, trying to figure out who had spoken, unable to comprehend for a moment that I’d heard the voice in my head.
“Did he speak to your mind as well?” Rip asked out of the corner of his mouth a little uneasily.
“Yes,” I squeaked.
Rip, of Tides. Laurie, of Earth,the voice repeated.
“That is me,” Rip said in a loud voice.
“I am Laurie,” I echoed. Was it some sort of ritual?
You have come for judgment. As Eternal Mates.
“What?” I asked, looking at Rip. “What’s that?”
“Eternal Mates are those who are bonded by fate to be together. Like you and me. Not all dragons are willing to be judged. They are simply comfortable settling down. A prince, however, cannot sit on the throne without his Eternal Mate. Hence, here we are.”
“Ah.” I nodded in comprehension, then looked up at the impossibly large white-scaled dragon. “Yes, we are here to be judged.”
Then let the Judgment begin, the voice intoned.
The dragon head withdrew into the depths of the mountain. I tried to scale up the rest of the body to go with the head and got to something about the size of several aircraft carriers. Probably even larger than that.
“So, now, what?” I asked, turning to Rip.
But he was gone.
Chapter Forty-One
Laurie
“Rip?” I called, confused, turning around completely. “Where are you?”
The motion of turning was odd. Like I had more mass than I should. I looked down, and my eyes flew open. I could no longer see my toes over the belly protruding from me.
“What the—oh,” I groaned as a wave of pain started from the top of my abdomen and flowed down, turning into heavy pressure at the bottom. It was like a very intense period cramp, only worse and different in every way.
I held a hand to my bulging stomach, feeling the child's movement inside me.Mychild. Who should be microscopic in size. Not that.
What the hell is happening to me?Another wave of pain clamped down. Moving around seemed to lessen it, but only slightly.
That shouldn’t be possible. I was weeks pregnant. Not at the very end. Was this a delusion?
