‘I’m here.’
Entering through an opening wide enough to engulf half of my Ortensian castle, I found it mesmerising. The stone walls were covered in carved art depicting dragons and people soaring the skies, entire herds flying together, as well as individual dragons feeding on sheep—that one made me chuckle.
The silent shadow stirred, as if interested, and though I refused, I felt a strange urge to pet it. Within a minute, my winged companion landed beside me.
‘Anya, this is spectacular,’ I said, unable to tear my eyes away.
‘What is that you have around your neck?’ the beast cringed.
Was she jealous? ‘Oh, it’s some sort of stray, I don’t know. It seems gentle enough.’
‘It’s disgusting,’ she bit out.
‘Hey, don’t offend it. It has feelings too, probably.’
She stared like I had grown two heads. ‘It’s a clump of shadows. And it can’t hear us.’
We walked together as I took in the new environment, huge empty territories tall enough to let several dragons fly inside, with ample space left and what seemed like individual chambers carved in stone.
It reminded me that I had never asked Anya whether dragons preferred privacy.
Anya scoffed. ‘Did you think dragons mated with the herd, cheering them on?’
‘I didn’t think about dragon matings,’ I said, blushing.
‘Just the fae ones?’ my winged companion teased.
I turned my back on her. ‘Nothing of that sort.’
‘Right… I’ve seen a dream or two of your making.’
Pitch higher than I cared for, I raised my voice to make her back off. ‘I can’t control my dreams!’
As usual, at the mention of intimacy, I felt the invasive heat assaulting my face, at which my dragon laughed and ridiculed me more.
Subconsciously, I started to pet the clump of shadows for comfort, and the serpent purred happily as ever. It disintegrated before when I tried to remove it, yet now its body was corporeal.
We explored the Cave City for a while before resting against a polished pillar.
‘Anya, my mother might be a blood witch,’ I shared, humiliated by everything I had learnt recently.
‘I suspected…’
‘What? You did? Why didn’t you say anything?’
Anya let out a huff. ‘Because you would just get yourself in trouble like you always do.’
Sneaky beast. ‘That’s not… Okay, it might be true. How did you know?’
‘It’s her smell. Like decay.’ The dragon snarled at the memory.
‘She’s a soullesswretch; that would explain it, too.’
‘Not quite,’ Anya explained. ‘Your sister smells like it too.’
Oh, no. ‘Which one?’
‘Lilian.’
