Page 40 of Lady Dragon
Kirek chuffed, billowing the princess’s skirts around her.I didn’twantto.
“Youintendedto kill me, then.”
And it felt like trying to rip out my own heart to do so. Now I would kill for you. I would die for you. I would rip out my own heart tosaveyou. Without hesitation.
The princess could only stand there and stare, stunned to her toes.
It was doubtlessly the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her. Not that Kirek intended it to be romantic in the slightest.
Samansa shook herself. “That doesn’t mean anythingreal. Pair-bonding is just another dragon rule that you all decided upon somewhere along the line.”
No, it is as instinctual as breathing. I would throw myself in front of a dragon’s flame to shield you without a blink. If we fell from the sky, I would cushion you with my broken body if it meant even the slightest chance you would live. And it’s something that every dragon understands. How is that not real?
Kirek didn’t exactly sound happy about it, but even so—itdidsound real.
“Oh. Well.” Samansa smoothed her filthy hands over hertattered skirts, utterly flustered. “That’s still not good enough. But it’s better,” she admitted grudgingly. “And yet you think we’re cursed for feeling how we do?”
Not that Samansa had confessed precisely howshefelt, and she wasn’t about to, not with how repulsed the dragon seemed to be about it all.
Well, caring for a human is forbidden, Kirek said,and the Heartstone’s reaction seems to be the proof.
“Is pair-bonding, itself, forbidden with a human?”
It’s likely only not forbidden because it’s unheard of. It should be impossible.
The princess flapped her arms. “Then maybe the Heartstone just… broke! It’s old, right?”
It broke at the exact moment I pair-bonded with you, a jewel that has been indestructible for centuries?Somehow, those silent words conveyed dry amusement.This is our punishment.
“Maybe we’re not cursed, and the stone is just infused with essence of arrogant, arsehole dragon, to break in protest when it did.” Samansa covered her mouth in shock. “Oops, I’m not supposed to say things like that.”
Kirek’s great silver eyes closed briefly in exasperation.I’m pretty sure you can say whatever you please now.
The princess choked on a laugh. “Because we’re deep in the stewpot?”
Yes—at least I’m assuming what you mean by that. And because you’vebeena dragon now.
Samansa took a few furious paces. “I don’t understand how that’s even possible, and I hope I can’t become one, anymore! I certainly can’t at will, either. All the better for that. Being adragon feels…” She rubbed near her chest, not close enough to tug at the wound. “Unpleasant.”
Like being in a human body feels for me?Kirek suggested as if it were obvious.
The princess shook her head. “No, for me, it’s… dangerous. Like I don’t have control.”
More like an overwhelming force had taken control of her, down to her very bones. She shuddered.
Exactly as I’ve described human emotions.
“No,” Samansa insisted, a stubborn note rising in her voice, one that her mother hated. “It’s like I’m not myselfat all. Like I’m going to drown. Lose myself entirely.”
Oh.Kirek’s eyes narrowed in consideration.Hmm. That’snotexactly what I feel. And thatisconcerning.
“Thank youfor the acknowledgment,” Samansa said through gritted teeth. “Lords and ladies, it’s like pulling teeth with you.”
I assume not literally.
Samansa wanted to scream. And so, she did, in a release of frustration.
The dragon flinched.That was loud. We don’t want to be discovered.
