Someone who forced me into uncomfortable growth.
Theo.
Not only was I fighting for him to keep his dragon, I was fighting for the life I desperately wanted the chance to explore with him once we got the answers to break this damnable curse.
To see if we’d still choose each other when we no longer had to for the sake of a treaty.
My chest expanded as I took a deep breath, seeing the talons of the ember descending in front of the opening. A strange sense of peace passed over me as my truth poured through my mind.
I would choose Theo, over and over again.
He may drive me absolutely insane at times and have his own personal work to do, but I wanted to be there when he finally realized he could let others in and heal from the scars of his past.
I didn’t want to picture anyone else at my side, infuriating me until my hair turned gray and my skin wrinkled, belying the beauty of the time that we’d spent together.
The ground shook beneath my boots as the ember settled down onto the arena floor, far enough away that there was still a gap between the opening and him. That same space allowed his snout the room to lower until it was level with me. He thought he had me right where he needed me to char me down to bones.
Yet a smirk of determination pulled my lips up at the edges. It bounced on the balls of my feet, mustering the arrogance needed to bluster myself into actually implementing this truly insane plan.
It was now or never.
Tingles spread through my body as I planted my foot back, kicking off toward the beast.
I rushed in with my blade following behind me, watching in anticipation as the fire built in his belly. It felt like déjà vu rolling through my body as I stared directly into the jaws of death as they opened before me. This time I didn’t run away. I couldn’t evade him, needing him to think he had me trapped and unable to escape the hellfire of his breath weapon.
The orange glow of fire built from within his throat, and I knew I had to time this perfectly. I only had one shot to shift directions and take him by surprise, using his limited line of vision against him.
Once his jaws widened, stretching until they were fully open and prepared to spill fire down this tunnel, he wouldn’t be able to turn his head in order to see me. Turning would force the fire in a different direction, and what would be the point of trapping me just to waste his most devastating weapon? He may have enhanced long-distance vision, but what he didn’t have was excellent depth perception, due to his eyes facing out on the sides and not forward. I would exploit that very weakness of dragons here and now, but to do so would require a level of bravery I’ve never before had to conjure.
As his growl trembled through the ground and I watched the first flecks of a spark on his tongue, I bit down, my own jaw clenching as every nerve ending in my body screamed for me to flee.
Wait.
I pumped my legs faster as molten fire spewed into his mouth with the same force of a geyser spitting boiling water into the sky. Impending heat began to blister my cheeks just as I passed through the narrow opening between the arena floor and the opening in the wall. My eyes closed briefly as the fire consumed my vision, blinding me as I planted my right foot into the ground.
Now.
I threw my body over my shoulder at the last second with all the power I could muster, pulling the hilt of my sword and my elbow up to jaw level. I swung my sword around with me as I barrel rolled through the air and to his side.
I saw Brenson’s look of surprise flash through my mind when I’d initially come up with this move during our final morning of training. At the time, I’d used his poor depth perception due to his late night of drinking against him. Unlike that morning when I’d pulled short of cutting deeply into Brenson’s neck, I let out a scream as I drove all my energy through my arms, placing myother hand on the hilt as the tip of my blade flew toward the dragon’s eye. My aim was true, sinking deep within the orange serpentine eye all the way up to the hilt.
The dragon’s roar of pain reverberated through my body, shaking me in the seconds before he jerked his head away from the source of his anguish. I lost my grip on my weapon, the force of the dragon trying to escape his pain flinging me bodily away from him. Rolling over and over, all of my focus was on my stomach twisting with nausea…until my body hit the arena wall, forcing me to a hard stop as the breath was knocked forcefully from my lungs. Briefly I wondered if it hadn’t been enough as I picked my head up to watch my opponent.
Was the sword not long enough? The force of the thrust not great enough? The desperate determination I’d forced through my trembling limbs not feral enough?
Seconds later, the beast stilled and his slitted pupil blew out, round and lifeless as his head flopped to the side, the force of it shaking the ground beneath my feet. The hilt of my sword was barely visible with how deeply embedded it was.
I’d done it.
I’d slayed the beast on my own.
My nervous system was wrecked from adrenaline and fear, making me uncertain of whether I wanted to shake from the shock of it all or scream my relief. The decision was made for me as a figure climbed up from the other side of the dragon’s snout.
He shook his head, the waves of his white hair now long enough to cover his dragon eye. Soot was smeared across his cheeks and neck as he walked toward me, fury blazing in his eyes and swiftness in his gait.
“Theo…” I breathed out, shaking my head in disbelief of what I was seeing. My body trembled at the implications of seeing him here with me on the arena floor, my knees going weak before giving out beneath me. I crashed to the ground, falling hard onmy shins as I blinked away the tears stinging my eyes. “No. No. No.”
He’d jumped down.
