"And you knew those were the girls.Mygirls."
I knew they were the females you intended to rescue.The reply is calm, but the emotions flowing through ourconnection aren't calm at all. Even now I can feel echoes of the fury that must have gripped him when he heard it.
I lower my hand from his scales and fold my arms across my chest. "So you chose us."
The great dragon's eyes narrow.I believed I was making a temporary delay. Gold would remain where it was. Treasure does not usually walk away. Females surrounded by hostile tribes are less dependable in that regard.The dragon looks pleased with himself for perhaps half a second.I told myself I would rescue you, then return for the treasure. The plan seemed perfectly sensible.
"Yet you never did."
A curious expression crosses his face. At least I think it's an expression. Dragon faces aren't always easy to read.As it turns out, there’s no need for it.
For a while neither of us speaks. The silence feels comfortable now, filled with things that no longer need saying. Somewhere behind me I can hear Beth and the others talking quietly. The Plood wander through the clearing collecting their wounded with the same eerie calm they've always possessed.
Eventually Vyrathion lets out a slow breath.The truth is that I should have understood much sooner.
His gaze settles on me again.During the journey to the village, I thought constantly about gold. I planned for it. I imagined it. I carried that absurd little cup and spent entirely too much time touching the gold leaf on it.
A smile pulls at my lips. "That sounds familiar."
It should. You mocked me for it.
"I did."
And yet every time I stopped walking, I found myself wondering where you were.
The warmth flowing through our connection deepens.
I wondered whether you had crossed the rivers safely. I wondered whether you had found shelter before nightfall. I wondered whether something in the jungle had attempted to eat you. When I reached the village, I found myself thinking about you more often than I thought about the treasure.
I don't answer, because the admission feels too important to interrupt.
Vyrathion curls up more.At first I assumed that was because you were useful. Then I assumed it was because I had become accustomed to your presence. That explanation also seemed reasonable.
The warmth in the connection grows stronger still.Eventually I was forced to admit that neither explanation survived serious examination.
For the first time since he landed, the mighty dragon looks almost embarrassed. The sight is so unexpected that it nearly breaks me.
Morgan, I spent years believing that gold would complete me. Then I finally held enough gold tobecome whole again, and the first thing I did was use it to saveyou.
My eyes start to sting. The statement is delivered so matter-of-factly that I doubt he fully appreciates what he's saying. But I do. “Those tribesmen damn near killed you.”
Only nearly. It seemed less than ideal, and yet somehow right. Where did you find that gold, by the way? Did you always have it? Or was it the females?
I point to the hillside. “That’s the side of a crater. It’s the crater of a meteorite that hit eons ago. It was shattered when it hit, and it had a high content of gold. Those rocks are strewn around the ground of the crater. Little fragments of rock, most of them with seams of gold in them. The girls collected them before they realized they were useless.”
Smart girls,Vyrathion says into my mind.They realized the truth before I did. My love, do we have to stay here?
The love in him washes over me and makes me dizzy. “No, my love. We can leave. As soon as the girls are safe.”
I will command the Plood to keep them safe on their way to the Borok village,the dragon says into my mind.Assuming that’s where they want to go.
“It is,” I tell him. “The Plood know the way.”
For a moment neither of us moves. The clearing still smells of blood and churned earth, and beyond it the jungle settles back into its evening rhythm as if hundreds of warriors hadn't fled from a dragon only minutes ago.
Then Vyrathion lowers one massive foreleg and stretches a wing away from his body.
My love,he says, and warmth floods through the connection between us.Come here.
