Page 42 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
Once I got seated, we got the rope into place. I slung my arms through the loops all the way up to the elbow. The tightness of the rope meant I had to lie forward, flat along his spine.
“Ready?” he asked, his dragon voice similar in tone but deeper, almost unnaturally so.
“Not at all!”
“Good. Here we go.”
I closed my eyes, whispering a prayer as he spread both wings as wide as they would go and crouched onto his hind legs, the motion angling us until I was pointing upward instead of forward.
Then he launched.
“I WANT OFF THIS RIDE!”I screamed as his legs flexed and shot us into the sky with incredible force.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Madison
“This ride cannot be stopped once started!” he called back through laughter, his wings shooting down and away, propelling us farther and faster with each beat.
“Let me off, let me off, let me off!” I moaned, clutching at his neck wildly, squeezing the ropes so tight it was cutting off circulation to my lower arms.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Callum said as the steady pounding of his wings through the air slowed. “Just open your eyes and look.”
“No, thank you.”
“Maddie. Grow up.”
The sharp admonishment lit a new fire, and I opened my eyes and mouth together to flay a verbal strip from his hide.
“Oh,wow,” I whispered instead as I gazed in awe at the panoramic landscape stretching out in every direction beneath us.
Callum showed he could be wise and stayed silent while I took it all in. The only break was when his wings would beat once to keep us moving, catching the air as we soared high through the sky together.
Green and yellow grasses rippled under the wind, interspersed with thicker bunches of color where wildflowers grew in vast patches at random intervals. Rocks and trees added depth to the scene, and I knew any artist would kill to be able to paint.
On we went, over rocky hillsides and mountain streams, even a little inland lake that looked like it was carved from a meteorite impact. In the distance, all around us, water lapped at the shores of the Dragon Isles. I couldn’t make out the farthest coastlines, but I could see the deep blue expanse of open ocean beyond.
Giant fluffy clouds whipped past us, and occasionally, we found ourselves diving through one. I tried to catch it in my fingers, but despite the appearance, they were nowhere near dense enough for that to work. I still laughed as I tried.
“Thank you,” Callum said at last, breaking the silence that had descended over us while I enjoyed the flight.
“For what?” I asked, confused. Why would he be thanking me? I hadn’t done anything.
“Trusting me. It means a lot that you did that. I wasn’t sure if you would.” He craned his snout around at the end of the long neck to look at me as he spoke.
“You didn’t give me much of a choice.” I smiled as I said it. “But for what it’s worth, thank you for being worthy of that trust. I’m glad I let you kidnap me a second time.”
“Kidnap you?” his snout opened in a fair imitation of human shock. “All I did was bring you to the roof. You could’ve gone inside. You came up here because secretly you wanted to.”
“Oorrrr,” I said, not acknowledging his point, “I’m here because I was coerced into it, given no opportunity to say no.”
“So, that’s how it’s going to be, is it?” he said, laughing hard enough his dragon shook under me.
“Maybe.”
“You’re acting so tough now,” he teased, “but you weren’t when we took off.”
“Excuse me?”
