The Dragon Mistress: Book 3 (PAPERBACK, LGBT)

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ONE

“I REALLY DON’T think this is a good idea,” I told Nyx, as I tried to avoid looking down at the grassy valley spread out below us. A long, long way below us.

There were times when having a healthy dislike of heights was more than a little problematic. When you needed to escape out of a second-story window, for instance. Or when one of the men with whom you were living in the mountains decided that today would be a great day to find out if his dragon’s broken wing had healed well enough that he could ride her in flight.

The stiff breeze sweeping up the cliff face ruffled Nyx’s dark hair, but his striking hazel-green eyes remained intent on the vista below us. His right hand rested on Lisha’s scaled neck.

“Now that she can fly on her own again, I need to know if she’ll be able to carry me when we leave, or if I’ll have to ride with one of the others,” he said—his quiet, diffident voice nearly swallowed by the rush of wind in my ears.

My eyebrows drew together. “Yeah, I get that. But could you maybe have found a place to try that wasn’t quite so… high up?”

Nyx shot me a sideways glance. “High up means more time to flap before you hit the ground,” he pointed out, his tone quizzical. “She thinks she can do it. And if she’s wrong, we’ll splash down in the lake. See?”

He pointed at the sparkling blue stretch of water visible on one side of the valley we’d both called home for these last several weeks. Given how large I knew that lake to be, it looked distressingly small from up here. I chewed my lower lip.

“Can dragons swim?” I asked.

A smile twitched at Nyx’s lips for only an instant before it was gone. “If they have to.”

Lisha bleated—a small, unhappy noise. Nyx’s eyes flashed emerald with the dragon-bond, and he scratched her neck soothingly.

“Look at it this way. It’s extra motivation not to crash,” he said with a hint of humor.

On the one hand, it was nice to see Nyx acting a bit happier and more confident these days. On the other, listening to him joke about something that could potentially be fatal made me want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him until his teeth rattled.

“You could wait a few more days,” I told him, trying not to let on how worried I was for him. For them. Because the very nature of a dragon-bond meant that Nyx’s life was inexorably tied to Lisha’s now. The death of one would mean the death of the other.

Nyx sighed and turned his full attention to me, some of his natural hazel eye color showing through the unearthly green glow of the bond.

“We can only wait so long, Frella. There’s no way of knowing how much longer we’ll be safe here.” He tilted his head appraisingly at me. “Besides, weren’t you the one who told me that if you don’t fight past your fears, you let them win?”

And… damn it, anyway. Why did Nyx have to go using logic on me while we were arguing? Without meaning to, I let my mind slide back to the day I’d said those words to him, and my belly tightened for a reason that had nothing to do with my dislike of heights.

“That’s different,” I muttered. “I was talking about irrational fears, all right?” I gestured a hand insistently toward the valley. “The fear of ending up as a smooshed little grease puddle on the valley floor is not an irrational fear!”

His twitch of a half-smile returned. “I told you. We’ll aim for the lake if anything goes wrong. Even if she’s not quite strong enough to fly with me yet, she can still glide. We’re not just going to plummet to earth like a dropped stone, Frella.”

“Even so, I’d feel better about this if you’d wait for the others to get back first,” I said, playing my last card.

His shoulders stiffened, some of his earlier good humor draining away. “And I’d feel about a hundred times more nervous if they were here watching.”

I let out a sigh and crossed my arms, defeated.
Not only was Nyx using my own words against me… he was also right about time not being on our side. Our safe haven in the mountains had been compromised, and it wouldn’t remain safe forever. Bandits had tracked Rayth and Aristede here from the town of Dhakar after they’d descended to the trading post in the foothills to purchase supplies. One of the cutthroats had escaped the resulting battle to tell the tale, so now it was only a matter of time until the king of Utrea and his asshole of a son, Prince Oblisii, heard about the existence of the last five living dragons.

And when they did, they would send his army to ensure that the old king’s quest to eradicate the species was completed once and for all.

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “But if you get hurt, I swear I will never let you hear the end of it.”

His eyes slid to me. “At least you have recent practice setting broken bones and stitching up wounds,” he teased.

“Yeah,” I shot back, schooling my features into severity. “I do. Which might be more helpful if Aristede’s sewing needle and wound-stitching thread were here, rather than packed away in his saddle bags, leagues away in whatever the hell that village they’re visiting is called.”

“Fa’allarhan,” he said helpfully. “And stop worrying so much. I told you—Lisha says she can do it.”

I pressed my lips together in a thin line and stopped trying to dissuade him. Sensing that he’d won the argument, Nyx turned to the green dragon and started double-checking the straps holding the modified saddle in place. Fortunately, our battle against the mercenary bandit forces had netted us enough saddles, cinches, and leather straps to cobble together riding equipment for all three of the tame dragons—though it had definitely taken some creative repurposing to work around the beasts’ massive wings.

Rayth and Eldris had tested their dragons’ flying ability soon after the battle to great success, but Nyx had wanted to hold off a few more days for Lisha to recover from her injuries. I was still irritated that he’d waited until the other three left to sell the bandits’ surviving horses in the town with the tongue-twisting name… but I also knew why he’d done it.

Nyx and Rayth had an ugly history. There was also some weirdness between him and Aristede, though I thought it had a lot more to do with memories of someone from Nyx’s murky past rather than Aristede himself. Whatever the case, Nyx was a lot more relaxed when they weren’t around. I really wished that Eldris, at least, had stayed behind… but there were too many captured horses for Rayth and Aristede to manage on their own. And besides, the last time those two had ridden off by themselves, it hadn’t gone well for anyone.

Time was of the essence. One female bandit had managed to escape the recent battle with her life. There was no way to know how long it would take her to reach the palace in Safaad, but once she got there, she would doubtless tell her tale of dragons to Prince Oblisii. There was also no way to know if she would be immediately believed. But to be safe, Rayth intended for us to flee the country of Utrea altogether, flying out with the dragons before the royal army could descend on us with weapons and orders to kill.

Of course, there was one very significant problem with Rayth’s plan, as things stood now.

As though my dark thoughts had summoned him somehow, a stunning white dragon soared toward our vantage point with a piercing cry. Lisha stretched out her neck and returned his call, her wings unfurling restlessly.

There was only one male dragon. Until he bonded with a human, he was essentially a wild animal, dangerous and uncontrollable. If we couldn’t tame him—if we couldn’t get him away from the danger posed by Utrea’s army—the species would be doomed. And he’d only ever shown an interest in me.

Nyx, Eldris, and Rayth had all bonded with their dragons. Aristede hadn’t yet bonded with the red female—but while that was regrettable, if worse came to worst, there were still three tame females, and Aristede could ride double with one of the others when we left. If I didn’t bond with the lone surviving male, however, we were screwed.

The thought terrified me. I wasn’t remotely ready to tie my soul so tightly to another creature that our deaths would be forever linked. And yet… I had to. The catch was, as long as I was petrified by the very idea, it didn’t seem at all likely that the bond would happen.

I had no freaking clue what I was supposed to do about that.

The pearlescent white beast swooped past us, letting out another cry as he dipped and banked in an aerial display, tempting Lisha to join him. Nyx settled her with a murmured word and climbed into the saddle. I saw his chest rise and fall as he drew in a steadying breath. Apparently, he wasn’t quite as blasé about his upcoming flight as he’d like me to believe, but before I could call him on it, he tightened his knees against Lisha’s side. She reared back, launching herself from the rocky ledge and hurtling through the air, wings spread wide.

My breath caught in my chest and I hurried forward, closer to the edge. My fear of heights was momentarily forgotten in the face of my fear for Nyx as I stared down at Lisha’s rapidly descending green form. She glided for the space of several heartbeats, describing a shallow arc in the general direction of the distant lake. Then, her wings beat against the updraft.

She bobbled in midair for a heart-stopping moment, her muscles still partially atrophied on the side where her wing had been broken. Nyx was a darker dot against her back, hanging on for dear life. Finally, she steadied in flight, leveling out and banking into a gentle curve that followed the shape of the valley.

My breath whooshed out in relief, leaving me feeling lightheaded. The white dragon soared and looped around her, showing off. I watched for another few seconds to make sure they were truly stable in the air. When it became apparent that they were, I started down the steep trail leading back to the valley floor—trying to balance my desire to get there so I could meet them with the need not to break an ankle and go tumbling the rest of the way down.

No doubt about it. Having short legs sucked.

As it turned out, I needn’t have worried about missing the dragon’s landing. The pair were still soaring in the sky above when I finally made it to flat ground, sweaty and out of breath, with my cloak flapping behind me. I waved my arms to get their attention. Not long after, Lisha spiraled lower, flapping rapidly and dropping her powerful haunches in preparation for landing.

She came in hard, perhaps a hundred paces away from where I was standing. I imagined I could feel the ground tremble through the soles of my boots as I heard the double thump of her hind legs hitting the ground, followed by her forelegs.

Nyx lurched forward, coming half out of the saddle and catching himself awkwardly against her neck. Lisha threw her head up to compensate, managing to stay on her feet. Her vast wings hovered, outstretched, fluttering lightly as she used them to balance. Nyx freed his left foot from the stirrup—he’d already lost the other one. He executed a marginally controlled slide down to the ground, still hanging onto the dragon’s neck as though for dear life.

As I closed the distance separating us, I tried to tell myself that the violent pounding of my heart was due to my hurried descent from the overlook. “Nyx!” I cried. “Are you all right?”

Nyx pushed away from Lisha’s support just as I got to him. “Yes… I’m—”

He took a single step toward me and his legs started to buckle. I ducked in and caught him as best I could, jamming a shoulder beneath his arm to keep him upright. He wavered for only an instant before taking his own weight.

“—fine,” he finished, and gave a shaky laugh. “I’m fine.”

I blinked up at him, trying to remember if I’d ever heard him laugh out loud before. Beside us, Lisha gave herself a full-body shake, scales rattling.

“Sorry,” Nyx said, straightening away from me and grasping me by the upper arms. His hair was a windswept mess. His cheeks were ruddy and his eyes glowed from within, but not with the dragon-bond. Several different expressions sculled across his face like quicksilver. “That… was…”

I grasped him in return, mirroring his grip on my arms. “Nyx, you did it,” I breathed, my panic-fueled heartbeat starting to slow, replaced by a new kind of excitement. “You did it! You rode a dragon.”

Another unsteady laugh. “She did it, you mean,” he retorted. “I just hung on for dear life. But, Frella… her wing. It’s all better. You healed her.”

Before I knew what was happening, we were spinning each other around and around like excited children, laughing and gasping. When we finally stopped, dizzy and clinging to each other, I looked up to find that Nyx’s lips suddenly seemed very close to mine. It was the most natural thing in the world to close that distance… so I did.