Page 83 of Upon Buried Embers
I don’t dare look into his eyes, his gaze like a brutal thorn on my skin. The reddish dragon at his back huffs, and I hear the smirk in the Dragonbond’s voice. “An elf you say…”
He grabs my arm, hard enough to bruise, and a growl comes from somewhere behind me, sounding deadly.
“You will take your hand off of her, Karag, or I will take my axe to it.”
Karag’s dragon roars.
“Calm, Vali,” he says to it, and then he whispers so only I can hear. “So possessive of you, isn’t he?” Dread fills me. “I wonder why.”
I feel his eyes on my ears, and then they flick behind me.
“Are you challenging me, Rohan?”
“If I have to.”
A heavy pause.
“Let the girl go, Karag,” Durruk says. “We do not have time for this if we’re to go to The Glade early.”
Karag pushes me away from him, and I fall heavily on my side. “Away with you, Elf. Before I drag you back to the boundary myself. The king won’t be happy with this.”
“The king has no concern with who is in my clan… oranyof our clans,” Rohan retorts. “As is the vow we all made in blood. Are you going back on your word?”
“You dare suggest that!”
“Enough,” Varan says. “I usually like your bickering but not tonight.”
Sigrid sighs. “And don’t push her like that, Karag.”
“She’s a slave, they are good for nothing.”
“She’s still a woman,” she hisses, and I see the hint of a blade as I rise to my feet.
“Are we finished?” Durruk huffs. “I don’t want to spend longer here than I have to.”
“Yes, we’re done. See you at The Glade,” Varan says, rising from his chair and the rest follow, parting with, “May Morana guide you.”
I gingerly walk back to Rohan where I intend to kneel, but he stops me, staring at my covered arm silently until he says. “Go to Drogonah and stay by his wing.”
I do as I’m told, preferring the dragon to the man as I walk to his right side, remembering not to get on his left.
I expect Drogonah to growl at me, or sound a vicious rumble, but he surprisingly moves a little closer to me, like he can sense Rohan’s mood.
Rohan walks over to Karag, and heated words follow that I can’t make out. Karag snarls at him, spitting at his feet and Rohan’s fingers ball into fists.
“I’ll see you at The Glade, boy, and make sure you keep that one close.” Karag leaves as Rohan stares after him, watching him take flight on his dragon, shoulders rising and falling with harsh breaths.
Rohan looks to be in his late twenties, and seems to be the youngest one here, but he’s far from a boy, just like me being twenty-three doesn’t make me a girl.
I wonder if it’s because Karag looks to be about forty, he calls Rohanboy. Either way, it was meant as an insult, that’s for sure.
A few moments later, Rohan stomps over to us, and hauls me onto Drogonah’s back without another word. He doesn’t speak, he barely breathes as we take flight, but the tight grip he has on my waist never ceases as we fly back to camp, and neither does the anger that seems to have settled around him like a cloak.
Twenty One
Elf
Drogonah drops us off at the cave, flying to wherever he goes as soon as we dismount. Rohan takes me straight to his cabin and demands I bathe once we step inside. I don’t argue with him, not that I would anyway. But the mood is dire, and he’s pacing for some reason, his hands clenching.
