Page 12 of Dreams and Dragon Wings
I couldn’t avoid it any more than I could avoid breathing.
When the curtain twitched aside to reveal her standing there with her golden hair rumpled and her sky-blue eyes bleary from sleep, my heart skipped a full beat. Especially when she looked at me like that—her eyes wide and her lips parted in a gasp of surprise.
I stepped backward as she eased open the window.
“Your Highness,” she whispered, leaning against the windowsill. “Is that truly you?”
Sweeping into a bow, I pulled the aetherbloom I had found last week atop the mountains bordering my home from my pocket. It grew only in the highest places, and its petals were a perfect mirror of the heavens, swirled with streaks of blue and gold alongside silver freckles that sparkled like starlight.
“In the flesh,” I confirmed, holding out the lily for her to take. Threads of Earth carefully encased each petal, preserving the flower for all eternity. So long as I lived, it would never wilt.
Just like the rose she had gifted me last year.
“Soryn-velar, selira feyra.”Happy birthday, pretty fae.
Cheeks glowing pink, she carefully took the flower from me. When her fingers brushed mine, a strange warmth stirred in my chest.
“Oh, Your Highness… how beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Bene,” I quietly insisted, holding out a hand to help her step out into the night. “Please, call me Bene.”
But when she merely stared at my outstretched hand with open confusion rather than take it, a hint of uncertainty coursed through me. Perhaps she wasn’t as excited to see me as I was to see her. Perhaps she didn’t want to spend more time in my company.
I shifted my weight from foot to foot. “I thought… perhaps… you might like to fly tonight, Miss Weaver?”
“Fly?” That word was but a breath shared between us. She looked past my shoulder, as if searching for something. “You mean… onyou?” A worried frown tugged at her lips. “In my nightgown?”
I bit back a chuckle. Retracting my hand, I unclasped the cloak draped over my shoulders and passed it through the open window so she could wear it instead.
Moments later, we stole through the garden together until we reached the hedge. Once at that barrier, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leapt over the living wall, taking her with me.
She gasped against my ear. “How can youdothat?”
“I’m a dragon,” I reminded her, fighting hard to hide my smile. “Now, are you ready? I can’t stay too long, but we should still be able to skim about the countryside—plenty of time for you to tell me about all that is new with you.”
Her laughter sparkled forth, airy and bright. “I have nothing left to tell! I wrote it all in my letter yesterday. And besides, I’d much rather hear more about Drakara.” By the light of the moon, I watched her eyes glitter with excitement. “Your life is so much more exciting than mine. Mother and Father didn’t even believe me when I told them about the fairy circle or that I’m friends with the Prince of Drakara.”
“Well, I…” Lifting a hand, I rubbed the back of my neck. “I can’t exactly speak to you while I’m in my dragon form…” I trailed off as the full weight of her latter words slammed into me.
Stunned, I asked, “You told your parents about me?”
Surprise flashed across her face. “You can’t speak to me while in your dragon form?”
I took a step closer, my muscles tight, my tone tense. “Did you tell your parents about me, Miss Weaver?”
Her brow furrowed. Her gaze searched mine. For a brief moment, something almost like hurt danced through her eyes. Softly—almost so softly I couldn’t hear—she asked, “Did younottell your parents about me?”
Naei, I wanted to say.Of course not.I would be signing her death warrant if I did.
Father wouldn’t want to have her executed. I knew that. It was easy enough to see that the second Jewel War still weighed heavily on his heart.
But he would have no choice. Fear still choked his heart when it came to my future.
But she didn’t know about any of that.
Shecouldn’tknow about that.
I changed the subject, circling back to our previous topic. “Well, Icanspeak in my dragon form,vaei, just not the Common tongue. I can speak Draconic, but you wouldn’t”—I gestured helplessly—“understand me.”
