Page 53 of The Dragon Warlord
Someday. Until then, I’m afraid you have to wake up.
When he says the words, my eyes spring open from half slits to wide. “You, arse! Whatever I say under the influence of magic is not consent.”
He laughs a growly dragon laugh.Are you sure you were drugged? Or did I simply remove all inhibitions and allow you to say what you really feel?
“No. Now, c’mon. I assume that’s Amira down there. Time wastes away while you engage in this nonsense.”
I hop down from his neck and race over to Amira who’s still hanging on by a thread even though we aren’t in that literal predicament anymore. The dragon lord shifts into his humanesque form. It’s more majestic than I envisioned, but I have a hunch that it takes practice to have it look that easy. If only he’d allow the rest of us to practice. He’s … naked? Not quite, but close to it. I guess he couldn’t plan to bring a bag of clothes with him as he jumped out the window to save my arse.
White scales spread over half of his face, around his right eye, and down his neck. The scales carry on down the right side of his torso and over his hip, glittering in the sun that has made a reappearance in this place we are. They trail over his right arm and define his abdomen. There are smattering of them over his thighs. A thatch of white hair mostly hides his junk, which is thankfully dormant at the moment, or we would see it poking out. Scales decorate the right side of his plump arse, but the left side is bare.
He joins me over Amira’s body. She must be delirious from the pain. She’s laughing with her eyes closed.
“Stop it, Amira. You were right, okay? No need to talk about it,” the dragon lord says.
“But I want to, Tristan. What will you do to me if I don’t? Kill me?” She laughs again and turns to me. “I told him that he’d rescue you.”
I don’t get it. She can see things, so she knew something, yet, she’s acting as if it’s some big revelation. Maybe dragons get weird before they die.
“He said that if you wanted to be an idiot and careen off a building with me that you could. That he wouldn’t give a fuck. Clearly, he gave a fuck.”
“Or the bond. Or he wasn’t ready to relinquish his plaything. Or he’s not done using me in his grand design.” I list off the many other reasons he could have for saving me.
“Actions, like words, can mean more than one thing,” she says.
Her lids flutter. We’re losing her. “Do something, Alpha, or are you finished with her? She bore you a child and now you couldn’t care less what happens to her?”
“I can’t save her,” he hisses. “She was stabbed with magic that has already bound itself to her insides irrevocably. She used what she had left of herself to harness the magic to kill that thing. There is nothing to save.”
“Bullocks. We’re just your pawns. When you’re done with us, out we go.”
He rolls his eyes like I’m being dramatic, but if this isn’t proof, I don’t know what is. He’s not even trying. “You won’t believe me, but I care about all of my children’s mothers.”
“You let River’s die too.”
That pisses him off. “River’s mother and I had a special relationship. She was incredibly special to me.”
“It’s why River’s his favorite,” Amira says. “Ikara comes in at a close second because I’m so wonderful.”
The dragon lord sighs and holds her hand. “You are, my dear.”
It’s weird seeing the dragon lord like this. As if he’s a normal person with feelings. Maybe I’m hallucinating.
“Ikara, she has to join the Council,” Amira wheezes out. “Promise me, Kanes.”
“I promise.”
“She’ll hate you, but you’ve got to do it anyway. It’s vital that she’s on that Council.” She turns to me. “I know you wanted her as a warrior, but I’m not just being a meddling mother when I say she has to put her focus elsewhere.”
“Why? Why not both?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I wish I knew.”
“If you don’t know, then maybe you’re wrong.”
“I’m not wrong.”
Gods, she reminds me of Corrik.
