Page 53 of Lady Dragon
Kirek couldn’t help the twitch that overcame her lips. It soothed her to see Samansa relax and seem to enjoy herself, even as a dragon. Maybe Kirek should try to do the same—even trapped in this human form.
Before she knew it, her hands were moving, unfastening her leathers and weapons, stripping them off. She took more care than Samansa had in easing into the pool in case of rocks that might scour her fragile flesh, but once she was waist-deep, she threw herself under. The cool water closing over her scalp felt blissful.
When she surfaced, the red dragon wasn’t moving, only staring intently at her, her golden eyes almost hungry. Kirek remembered she was naked. Whereas she would have expectedthe usual Samansa to flush or turn away, this time the dragon did no such thing. Flushing, of course, was impossible with scales, but that piercing metallic stare that seemed to want to strip the meat from Kirek’s bones was all too draconic.
Instinctively, Kirek’s knees dipped, and she ducked until the water came over her shoulders. Only then did Samansa blink and look away. The dragon’s regard didn’t embarrass Kirek; it only made her wary because of how un-Samansa-like it was. If the princess was feeling less like herself and more like a dragon, then she mighttrulybe hungry. She’d only eaten some apples as a human, and nothing as a dragon. Kirek had eaten a cow.
I didn’t mean to…,Samansa began, but didn’t finish.
Whichdidn’tanswer any of Kirek’s lingering questions. But she wasn’t about to ask them.
“No matter,” Kirek said, swimming farther into the spring. Not toward the dragon, exactly, but not away. One should never show fear in front of a dragon. Not even a dragon that was a human princess. And wariness didn’t hamper her desire to be close to Samansa—to protect her, even down to the princess’s feelings.
So she took her time scrubbing the dirt, soot, and blood from her skin and hair, the picture of unconcern, even carefully splashing the still-tender ridge of flesh around the broken Heartstone to ensure the healing wound was clean. Once more, in the sunlit dawn, she noticed how much darker of a midnight blue the jewel was from its previous rich purple. Not to mention how much smaller and more irregularly shaped. She couldn’t see where the other half of the stone lay within Samansa’s now-armored breast, but she’d caught glimpses when the princesswas in human form: a red shard, making it look even more like a deep wound in the princess’s chest than it actually was. Kirek couldn’t help but wonder if the change in color had something to do with the curse as she watched water glitter over the dragon’s red scales. But what might it mean?
Samansa slunk out of the pool, no longer exuding any languid pleasure but something more sheepish, shaking off water before taking cover under some trees well away from the spring, dragging the saddle and straps with her. Even though it was a good idea—hiding herself and avoiding where others might stop for a drink—the sight of her retreat tugged on Kirek. She finished up her own washing, gathered up her things, and followed the red dragon into the shade, dripping over the sand as she went. This time, Samansa watched her approach uneasily rather than hungrily, as if Kirek were the unknown entity.
Just as in the pool, instead of avoiding proximity, Kirek tugged on her leathers with effort over her wet skin, refastened her weapons, and strode right to her. She flopped down in the crook of a massive elbow and leaned back against the dragon as if she had not a care in the world. She held up the floral silk kerchief—Samansa’s mark of favor—flapping it for the red dragon to see, instead of folding it back where she usually kept it, tucked underneath her leathers over her heart.
“To tie around your neck when next we transform, such that it hides the shard of Heartstone. We don’t want anyone seeing it.” Not until Kirek could figure out how to explain it, if she ever could. “Now youcangrant yourself your own mark of favor.”
The red dragon only snorted softly while Kirek tucked the kerchief into the saddlebag and dug out a strip of dried meat,making a face as she bit into it. Fresh cow was far better; this was as good as leather. At least the spring let them preserve their water.
“Since it’s probably not wise to dry off in the sun while we’re trying to hide, do you mind helping me?” Kirek made her voice light even as she felt something weighted in her chest, squeezing it. “Since this inferior vessel doesn’t have its own internal fire.”
Samansa huffed at that, a sound that turned into a deep hum in her chest as warmth began to kick off of her. Kirek wasn’t cold but never minded heat, and she wanted the excuse to prove that she wasn’t afraid of Samansa. And maybe she herself wanted the contact for reasons she didn’t examine too closely. She didn’t mean to, precisely, but found herself nestling in closer as she finished her meat-leather, resting her cheek against the warm scales, and it wasn’t because of her damp hair. Samansa shifted her head and tail to wrap protectively around her, and the two of them drifted off into a warm, bright sleep.
Kirek startled awake in the dying light to feel a shift within her. Samansa was already back in human form, sprawled in a fading ray of sun, her red hair aflame, her yellow dress spun from gold. Her pale skin looked luminous, wrapping over her soft curves that rose and fell with her sleeping breath, the shard of Heartstone winking at her breast like a bright wound, now healed. Kirek’s first instinct to waking with her so close wasn’t to leap away to keep from hurting her; it was to reach for her. Even as the shift within her grew stronger and she began to sink into the sand with her weight, she saw her yet human-shaped hand stretching toward the princess.
Samansa’s eyes popped open at that moment, and Kirek found her own longing reflected back at her in that swimming amber gaze.
“Kirek,” the princess gasped, and her own hand lifted.
Their fingers almost touched, just before claws burst forth from the tips of Kirek’s.
With a startled cry that became a screech, Kirek lurched away, only narrowly avoiding crushing Samansa with a suddenly massive limb. The force of her flapping wings buffeted the princess and threw her back against the ground. Those amber eyes were only wide and filled with fear now.
For a moment, they stared at each other, dragon and girl. Both of them were panting, but Kirek’s breath tossed Samansa’s red curls around her freckled face.
“Kirek…,” the princess said again, sounding unbearably sad this time.
Kirek felt like there was something caving in within her own massive chest. It was her own weakness—these feelings she had for this human girl—that were hollowing her out, making her crumble.
She had to stop this. She had to fix it—the Heartstone.Herself.
Abruptly, she spun away from Samansa, her claws digging into the sand, her tail whipping.
Eat and drink quickly, hide the Heartstone with your kerchief, and then help me with the saddle. I don’t know how long I’ll be in this form, and this is how I need to be when I greet the Queen Mother. We must end this, one way or another.
Kirek didn’t hear anything behind her, and when she turned, Samansa looked small and lost. The dragon hardened her heartagainst the sight, even though she wanted to bend toward the princess like a sapling toward water.
This could not continue.
Kirek forced strength into her silent voice.Let’s go meet my mother.
15
SAMANSA
