“So…”
“Nollie. I don’t have time. The king will notice I’m gone.”
I nodded, storing the information that he was leaving as soon as wegot there. Not that I expected him to stay. He had no reason to leave the castle, but still…
This wasn’t good. I thought that traveling with Hael meant I’d havedaysof getting to know him, not hours. I thought we’d have to camp out at night, and I’d be able to use the time to figure out his weaknesses. But now I was going to be dangling from his dragon’s claw… kinda hard to have a conversation that way, and I was running out of time.
Having Dahes inside my head today put fear back into me. I needed to do this…
“You spend hours dangling from a claw and then tell me you wouldn’t protest,” I snapped, hoping I could change his mind.
He rolled his eyes. “You aren’t going in her claw.”
“What? But you said?—”
He cut me off. “You’re riding with me.”
My brows furrowed, still not understanding.
“On her back.”
Aside from the beat of wings and a soft rattle, silence stretched out before us. I had to have heard him wrong.
The rattle grew louder and the next second his dragon landed on the pad, immediately crouching as Hael made his way toward her.
I backed up a step without meaning to. The pad was massive, easily able to fit three or four dragons, but I still couldn’t get over how monstrous they were.
Her scales looked more pearl than white under the glow of the moons, and each long white talon was half the size of me. I kept staring at them, at her claws?—
“Nollie.” Hael held his hand out, ready to mount.
I shook my head.
“You’re riding with me,” he said again.
“What happened to dragons burning anyone that’s not a drakin that tries to ride them?”
“She won’t burn you.”
I backed up another step. Then another.
He frowned, stepping away from his dragon and started walkingtoward me. “Nollie, I wouldn’t work so hard on convincing you to leave Elion’s castle only for you to get killed now.”
He took another step toward me while I was simultaneously backing away, but his strides were longer, faster.
“You can either ride on her back with me or in her claw. The choice is yours, but we are flying.”
“I changed my mind,” I said. “I don’t want to go.”
He laughed, his dimple poking out across his cheek as he stopped in front of me. “You can trust me, Nollie. I won’t ever do anything to harm you.”
His words shook me. I didn’t trust anyone, and even if I could, I didn’t deserve it.
He couldn’t trustme.
His gaze locked onto mine. “I promise,” he said again.
I still didn’t move. I kept envisioning getting burned to a crisp.
