Page 41 of Dragon Valley
A pleasant,earthy aroma gently pulled me out of sleep. I rubbed my eyes open to see a clay mug next to the bed. Steam curled up in elegant tendrils from the hot liquid inside the mug.
“Try the tea. It’s good.” Caden’s mouth brushed a kiss against my jaw, bringing a smile to my face and awareness to the pleasant soreness in my body. “There’s breakfast in the dining room, too.”
I turned over to see that he was already dressed and awake with a steaming hot mug of his own.
“What are we doing today?” I yawned, stretching out long in bed before sitting up to drink my tea.
“I think we should move on soon, honestly,” he said with a frown. “Last night the mayor said there were more troops of bandits targeting small towns. We’re no help to them staying here. I say today we help clean up and rebuild. Maybe get Dusa to stockpile some meat for the winter and head out tomorrow. We can forge friendships between our people another time. Right now we need to save lives.”
“I agree.” I brought the steaming mug to my lips and took a tentative sip. It was really good!
Caden shot me a heart-melting smile then looked down bashfully.
“Hey, I want you to know,” he paused to lick his lips, “I want you to know that if you ever disagree with me, I want to know.”
I looked at him curiously. “Caden, I’m not fully awake yet. What are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” he ran a hair through his hair, which stuck up adorably, “I’m saying I respect your opinion Nadi, and I want to know how you perceive things even if it’s different from how I see things.” His eyes finally met mine. “Captain Aron says to be a strong leader, you need different perspectives to paint a complete picture. You have to consider all options and can’t let your ego or stubbornness get in the way.”
“Good thing I’m not his lieutenant then,” I giggled. “You’re so easygoing and I have enough stubbornness for both of us.”
“That’s what I like about you.” His hand smoothed up my leg still covered by the fur blanket. “You balance me out.”
I returned my tea to the side table and wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, tracing his strong jawline with my thumb. “You know what I like about you?”
“Hm?” His gaze dropped to my lips, eyes half-closing and sensual lips parting.
I crashed my mouth to his, falling back in bed and pulling him down with me. My attempted seduction became a playful wrestling session. He pinned me down, kissing and tickling me until I couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard. It almost reminded me of growing up with Azel, who I pushed from my mind just as quickly as the thought appeared. I couldn’t pine over him, couldn’t let my heart ache for him. Not until I knew for sure.
“Do we have to get out of bed?” I whined, lying breathlessly on Caden’s chest after our playful rolling around.
“Yes,” he said with an apologetic kiss to my forehead. “But it’ll be just us and Dusa before the day is over.”
That alone was enough motivation to drag me out of bed. I missed my big, scaly best friend something fierce.
We got a few curious looks from the inn staff as we left the room together. Caden’s hand rested at the small of my back as we walked through town, but nobody said a word. While at his side, the townspeople no longer looked at me like I was walking meat on a stick, which I was grateful for. Too bad they couldn’t remember to do that while I was not in the company of a man.
We spent the day helping with restoration and cleaning from the raid. I made some jaws drop but they eventually got used to seeing a woman getting her hands dirty.
“You gonna just stand there or are you gonna fix your own damn street?” I said around a mouthful of nails. The man blinked and finally stopped gaping. He ran off to do something while I resumed boarding up a broken window. Surprisingly, more women jumped in to work with no prompting, scrubbing the streets of blood and debris, hauling burnt wreckage out to a pile and providing food and drink to others working.
While Caden talked with the town officials about defense tactics against future raids, I overheard several of them trying to convince him to stay. When he refused, they tried to bargain for Dusa like she was a damn piece of livestock.
“The flying demon. Can it stay here to guard us against future invaders? Is there a way to train it to not attack us?”
“It’s a dragon. And no, not likely. She only obeys her Rider.”
“Oh, you?”
“No, her.”
I turned to wave at the two beady-eyed men next to Caden, squinting at me in disbelief.
“Excuse me, miss.” One stooped man leaned heavily on a cane as he approached me. “Where did you obtain such a creature and how did you make it obey your commands?”
I glanced over at Caden, who gave me a quick nod and the smallest hint of an encouraging smile.
“I raised her from birth in Dragon Valley, where I’m from. She obeys me because we’ve bonded for years and she trusts me.”
