Page 15 of Lady Dragon
A clash brought them face-to-face over the bind of their blades. Neither of them gave ground, even though Samansa’s arms were shaking under the force of the dragon girl’s swing.
“Where did you learn this?” Kirek demanded, her bright eyes narrowed in suspicion, almost.
“You think I can’t know such things?” Samansa panted, and then disengaged such that she sent Kirek stumbling. “Jamsens taught me. And my brother. Mymotheras well.” She twirled her blade. “All queens learn how to handle themselves in battle.”
Kirek flicked her own sword, as if unimpressed that it couldn’t do the same trick as Samansa’s. And then she charged, her blade lashing out. It was like trying to defend against a firestorm. All Samansa could do was give ground until her heel hit a wall. Technique or not, the dragon girl was as strong as stone and as quick as lightning.
You know what beats rock? Molten rock.Samansa could still hear those words as if whispered in her ear.
She thought the fight would end there—and she was proud of herself for lasting as long as she had—but surprisingly Kirek pressed closer, until their crossed blades were the only thing that separated them. She even leaned in, flattening the princess’s back against the wall, looming over her. Samansa couldn’t meet her eyes at first. Her chest was heaving between them, pressing against Kirek’s leather armor with each breath, sweat beaded on her skin. So close—they were so close.
The princess looked up, flushed from more than exertion, to see the feral light in the dragon girl’s eyes. She was staring down at her as if she wanted to eat her.
Samansa should have been afraid. Instead, she breathed, “I would love to see you go truly wild.”
Abruptly, Kirek disengaged and stepped back. “No,” she said shortly. “You wouldn’t.”
Samansa pushed off the wall, looking away and letting her own sword droop. She could feel her cheeks burning even more. What had she been thinking, to say such a thing? She cleared her throat. “Perhaps I misspoke. I didn’t mean to offend.”
Kirek abruptly looked abashed.
Why?Samansa wondered.
“If my eating habits frighten you, I don’t think you want to see me lose control in this body. I’m less stable like this. Wilder. If you mean you wish to see me as the dragon I truly am, I might disappoint with my steadiness.”
It was odd to hear her refer tothisbody as not hers when she was standing right in front of Samansa, waving a sword about—odd to imagine her having any other form but this brilliantly honed one. But, of course, Kirek wasn’t human.
“I would think with the greater strength and ferocity of a dragon’s body,” Samansa started, “you would be more…”Beastly.She didn’t want to finish the thought and destroy diplomatic relations between their species in one fell swoop. “Uninhibited,” she said instead. “How is this body wilder?”
She remembered a flash of those silver eyes over bloody meat. Yes, watching her eat had been frightening, but also thrilling. Watching her fight—and then fighting with her—even more so.
Kirek rubbed her chin in thought. “I don’t have as many… emotions… I would say, in my true form. Those we feel, we feel strongly, but they’re not as varied or unbridled.” She shrugged, and then moved to put her practice sword back on the rack.
“Such as?” Samansa asked, following her at a distance.
The dragon girl turned to meet her eyes. “We feel anger, but it’s not hot like yours. It’s cold. Deep and abiding. It doesn’t burn itself out quickly.”
Samansa stepped closer, but kept the rack between them. She wasn’t afraid, but it somehow felt safer that way, to have something separating them. “What else?”
Kirek’s lips twitched. “Irritation.Greatirritation.”
Cat, Samansa thought with a smile. “What about pleasure?” she asked, hanging up her own sword on the other side of the rack. In placing her hilt, her fingers nearly brushed Kirek’s, but the dragon girl pulled away.
“I assume you mean more than the pleasure of having an itch scratched.”
“Joy, rather,” Samansa said quickly, not wanting to hint at other types of pleasure. “Happiness.”
Kirek considered. “We’re more amused. Or satisfied when expectations are exceeded. We feel pride very strongly—as strongly as anger.”
Definitely a cat, Samansa thought. She hesitated. “Love?”
Kirek moved toward the bench where her own sword was propped. “We feel protectiveness and concern for our eggs and hatchlings. We take great pride in one another, especially daughters and mothers, and possess fierce loyalty to those we pair-bond with as mature adults. Butloveas you humans mean it…” She shook her head as she tested the edge of her blade with her finger.
Samansa felt bold enough to ask, “What is a pair-bond? You mentioned it before, and I didn’t want to pry. But I’m supposed to learn about you, too, after all.”
Kirek sheathed her blade in one smooth motion. “Guardinga nest, keeping the eggs warm,andfeeding oneself all on your own is difficult. So if there’s one you trust above any other, the bond just… happens, on both sides, or so I’ve been told. I haven’t experienced it myself. But the not-brooding partner feels compelled to protect the one brooding—with her life, if necessary—and the brooding partner will in return be unwaveringly loyal to her.”
Samansa couldn’t help wandering a few steps closer. Something about such an arrangement was fascinating. Or maybe it was just the dragon girl who drew her—which probably made Samansa as intelligent as a moth drawn to flame. “And pairs continue to feel this way toward each other after the eggs hatch?”
