Page 125 of Between Soul and Vessel
That damn tail twitching from side to side.
It infuriated me.
How dare the creature take pleasure in my suffering.
My fingers, raw and bloodied, patted the ground beside me. Landing on a stone about the size of my palm, my fingers curled around it. “Well! If you are going to eat me, just fucking eat me already!” I growled as I hurtled the rock at the damned beast.
It ricocheted off the dragon’s head, landing on the ground beside it. The creature didn’t even move. It was like watching a mosquito strike a crocodile.
“That wasn’t very nice,” purred the dragon, its voice rich and deep.
I bristled. “You can talk.”
“Indeed, I can,” he said, offering no more, those sinister eyes watching me, always watching.
“Are you going to eat me?” I asked, regretting the question the moment it slipped past my lips. Did I really want to know if that was what he had planned? Anxiety burrowed into my chest.
The dragon chuckled, the sound sensual, enticing. “I have no intentions of eating you right now.”
Theright nowpart didn’t sit particularly well with me.
Maybe he preferred his food dead before he ate it?
My muscles tensed at the thought. “Are you going to kill me?”
“Do I look like a killer?” The dragon smirked, showing off its horrifically sharp teeth.
“Yes,” I answered honestly, stuck on the fact that the dragon had just downright smirked at me.
“You’re not wrong. I have taken thousands of lives, especially mortal ones such as yours.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why kill innocents?”
“Who said anything about killing innocents?” he challenged. “The souls I end are corrupt.”
My brows lifted. “So then, what are you? Some type of vigilante dragon?”
“No. I am the iron hand of the Creator. His will is done through me.”
I sat with that for a moment. “If that is true, what are you doing down here?”
“I was in search of a princess, however . . .” His gaze drifted over me. “A pauper has found me instead.”
“A pauper!” I seethed at the insult, looking for another rock to throw.
A second chuckle rolled out of him, just as intoxicating as the first.
I set my sights on him and asked, “Well, if you don’t plan to eat me, and you are in search of a princess, perhaps we should continue on our ways. Would you be so kind as to give me a lift out of here?” I looked up at the darkening sky. Before long, we would be out of daylight.
The dragon tipped his mighty face upwards. “Unfortunately, I cannot do that.”
“Cannot or will not?”
“Watch the bird,” he directed.
“What bird?” I asked, looking up, eyes searching.
The dragon sighed. “I often forget how poor mortal eyesight is. I do not know why the Creator made your kind so blind.”
