Page 21 of The Fire Dragon's Mate
“Easy! Declan, it’s alright.”
I gulped a few times and tried to stop panting. It helped that when I pulled, Cighyss rested himself on my chest and tucked his face beside mine. His heat, the scent of him, calmed me down soon enough. But the memories of what had happened would never leave me.
“Are they gone?”
He nodded as he sat back, our hands still clasped. “They ran. None of them tried to follow us back here.”
“That’s good.”
“It isn’t,” he whispered, looking miserable.
“Why not? They’ll just go back to where they came from with a story about the dragon.”
“Where the dragon killed fifteen of them.”
I hadn’t realized it had been so many. But it didn’t matter. “You’ve been blamed for far more deaths than that.”
“But these were true. I did that.”
I tried to sit up, wanting to comfort him, and felt a strange pull in my abdomen. Moving the blanket aside, I saw that there was a puckered pink scar to the right of my navel. It looked like it had been healing for months. “How long was I unconscious?”
“I don’t know. Not long, though.”
Delicately, I touched my wound. It was sensitive but not painful. “This is incredible.”
Cighyss kissed my forehead and helped me finish sitting up. “I’m grateful we were so wicked today.”
I huffed a laugh and cupped his cheek to kiss his lips. “Please don’t feel bad about what you did. We were leaving. They attacked. Of course you’re going to defend us. They fully intended for those arrows to kill me.”
“I couldn’t…” He closed his eyes and ducked his head. “I couldn’t chase them down. I wanted to, but…” He swallowed hard and shook his head.
How had I ever thought he could be a killer?
“It’s alright.” I tucked a finger under his chin and made him look at me again. “I understand.”
He held my hand and kissed my palm. “They could come back. Declan, by not slaughtering them, I may have put all of us in danger.”
Nine
SHARING THE LOVE
Preparations began that night. We had no way of knowing what might happen, but to assume anything less than the sailors returning to Xanthous and telling their gruesome tale seemed ill-advised. After all, I’d come here to slay the dragon on an unsubstantiated rumor that he’d destroyed our winemaking industry. Couldn’t the burning of fifteen men spur the citizens of Xanthous to send ships full of actual soldiers?
And though they might not know who I was, they now knew the illusive dragon didn’t live on this island alone. To them, I could be dead from my injuries, but they knew that attacking me had resulted in fifteen dead men. Revenge was a very compelling motivator.
It was while I sat bundled in blankets near the fire that I realized some of us had formal positions amongst the hoard. Aside from Zelig and Reynard being the doctors, Eglantine was in charge of the food stores with Fatima overseeing livestock and Errol managing the gardens. The three of them were convinced that we could survive for upwards of two years if we had to endure a siege on the mountain.
That lead to the decision to seal us inside.
“Not fully,” Cighyss said, “but the main entrance and all the rest that are easy to find. We can leave the one in the back open.”
“The one in the livestock room?” Bromley asked.
“Yes.”
Warfield added, “Then we should keep it guarded. Four hour shifts by all of us.” He hesitated and waved to a few of the women. “Well, anyone who isn’t pregnant.”
Coral Rexana, who’s baby was due any minute now, drew a dagger from her boot. “If someone’s going to threaten my people, I’ll happily gut them.”
