Page 26 of The Nightmare Queen

He gives me a wary look. “Well, I would love to. I don’t think your pet agrees with it though.” Vada snaps again, this time I’m sure it’s for hisuse of the wordpet.My hand strokes down her scales. “Easy Vada, can’t eat him yet.”

“Debatable.”She grumbles.

I roll my head to the side, eyeing down at him. “Hurry up, princeling! Burning night time here.” The look of concern in his eyes stays as Vada finally concedes, allowing him to sit behind me.

He shifts uncomfortably, his hands awkwardly out to the side. “Uhm, not to state the obvious, but there isn’t much to hold onto back here.” I stare up at the sky, begging the gods,why me?

“Well, she’s a dragon, not a fucking saddled horse. So if you don’t want to fall the moment we take off, you’re going to have to grip around my waist.” I grab each of his hands from their distended positions and lock them around me. The contact sends electric shocks into my skin.

“A-hem and what exactly areyougoing to hold on to?” He asks, as I try to create as much distance as possible between us.

“Nothing.”

Nervous laughter rumbles against my spine, “I’m sorry -nothing?!”

Vada takes off in the next moment, answering his question for me.“This is going to be one hell of a long night with him.”I grumble into her mind.

The flight will probably take about an hour.

Unfortunately, it’s only been maybe twenty minutes and my back is already cramping. I’ve never had to sit ramrod straight on Vada before, but with Rorin and I awkwardly hooked together, there is no shot in hell I am going to relax back.

“Just so I have an idea…what exactly are we going to do?” My mouth stays clamped shut, my body shifting forward again. He sighs, annoyed. “Fine, don’t answer me but at least stop sitting like you have a sword up your ass.”

Excuse me?

“You’re the one who wrapped my arms around your waist. So before you end up pulling us both off to our deaths from your squirming, I suggest you lean back.”

He’s right,my conscience sings. I concede and lean into him. “Don’t enjoy it too much,princeling.” My back relaxes and what was originally a stone wall suddenly seemed a lot more soft.Dammit.I try very hard to ignore how he doesn’t feel like I hoped he would. Quite the opposite in fact, he feelsbetter.

Rorin

I was screwed the moment she grabbed my arms and if she weren’t so obnoxious this would be a lot easier. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. There is nothing about this I am enjoying.” I catch her scent and have to stop myself from breathing her in.

Liar.

The only response I get from her is an ungraceful snort. “I might suggest the same to you but, you’re more into blondes.” I say, making her tense. The dragon makes a sudden decline causing me to squeeze her waist tighter.

Her lungs suck in a sharp breath. “Oh myGODS. You don’t have to grip the life out of me! You’re going to leave bruises andnotthe good kind.” The words come out in a snarl, and I nearly choke on whatever I had planned to say.This woman and her mouth.

“Are we landing this thing anytime soon?” The stiffness in my legs from flying is going to make me look crippled.Maybe she ought to have a saddle,I think. Not that it would matter, I probably wouldn’t ever be on the beast again.

She moves her head to scowl at me. “Thisthing, has a name, you idiot.”

“Right. Of course, how could I forget that you’ve named your pet dragon.” The beast banks heavily to the right putting us parallel to the ground. My already sore legs do their best to squeeze tighter and hold my place against Eveera. Her right hand loosely grips onto Vada’s spines, while the left keeps me tightly against her.

The heavy draft from Vada’s wings causes the forest floor debris to pitch upwards around us. For the first few moments after landing the two of us sit there somewhat clinging to one another.

When sense crawls back into her mind she breaks out of my hold, sliding down the scaled flanks. Following suit, I swing my leg around; while mid slide the beast decides she’s had enough of me. She angles her body so that the rest of my descent sends me tumbling to the ground where the queen stares down at me, lip curled.

My hands dust my clothes off as I take in the surrounding ominous woods. We’re not too far outside the expansive city, but you’d think we’d entered a wasteland. Bare trees with their grayish bark are far as the eyes can see. The shadows dance around, their horrors hiding within them.

“Is this your idea of helping? Sitting there still as a statue?” She smirks and reluctantly extends her hand towards me. “Oh, thank the gods, how would I have ever survived without your help?” Eveera turns in a circle, scouting the area.

“See anything—” Her hand comes up to clamp against my mouth.

“SHH!” Her body pushes at me, backing us into a tree. Startled by the sudden change, it takes me a moment to notice the dozen pairs of red eyes that surround us. A twig snaps to our left and,swish!,one of her coveted daggers flies out of her hand burying itself in an eye socket. The dozen quickly turns intodozensafter that.

I peel her hand off my mouth and reach for my sword. My left hand grips her shoulder, inching her to the side. When I glance down I see that her eyes are that inhuman black. No trace of gold remaining.

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