Page 30 of The Dragon’s Captive

“Oh, yes, I am practical,” she said. “That’s part of the problem. You see, your son tried to keep me prisoner, but it’s actually pretty hard to keep me prisoner, so it’s been difficult, but you shouldn’t hold that against him either, because probably nobody could keep me prisoner for as long as he has, and I am still here, so…” She trailed off, realizing that she was babbling nervously—and realizing that the reason that she was nervous was because this dragon man was Vilka’s father, and she actually cared about that.

Dammit. She could not afford to totally give into her feelings for Vilka. That wouldn’t work. A relationship between a human and a dragon was literally impossible. What realm would they even live in? What sort of holidays would they take? The lifespans wouldn’t line up either, and that would just be sad.

“I’m somewhat familiar with how difficult humans, especially young human women can be to keep in any way contained,” Vyktor said, surprising her.

“Oh?”

“He hasn’t told you, has he?” Vyktor let out a chuckle. “He is still ashamed of it, I think.”

“Ashamed of what?” Kate was now thoroughly confused.

“His human side.”

“What?”

Vyktor let out a laugh. “For a perceptive scientist, you have missed an awful lot about the man who has taken you.”

“Well, I can’t be perceptive all the time about everything,” she mumbled, embarrassed. “I have been trying to escape, that takes up a lot of my time… what do you mean, Vilka has a human side?”

“I think you will enjoy meeting my wife,” Vyktor said. “She has taken to the sky for the moment, but she will land soon, I believe. She wished to look at the portal.”

“Well, it’s a big one,” Kate said.

“Not as large as some we have seen,” Vyktor noted. “But significant enough,” he added, as if she might be disappointed by his assessment. “Large enough to allow a world eater to pass through.”

“It squeezed right through it, like it couldn’t help itself,” Kate mused, remembering. “Are world eaters like cats? Do they have to see if they can fit in small spaces?”

“I don’t know,” Vyktor chuckled. “Perhaps.”

He was very different from the elders, and not just because he was Vilka’s father. The other elders were tense and angry and stiff and unhappy. Vyktor seemed to be quite comfortable standing there on the verge of the chaos she had created. He seemed to almost be enjoying it.

“This reminds me of when I met my wife,” he said. “The air was then as it is now, charged with the winds of change. They have been stale in this realm too long, I think. What seems to be a disaster may yet prove to be an opportunity.”

“Tell that to Vilka,” Kate said. “He needs to hear it.”

“I will speak with my son soon. For now, come meet my wife, I believe she is about to land.”

He led Kate out of a balcony door that looked out over the landing. Looking into the sky, Kate saw the strangest dragon she had ever laid eyes on circling above.

“What kind of dragon is that?”

It really didn’t look like a dragon. It was partially see-through, structured in a way that dragons were not. It seemed to have struts and gears and… was it somehow mechanical?

The creature swooped lower and Kate strained to get a good look at it, leaning so far over the balcony ledge that Vyktor grabbed the back of her dress in order to ensure that she did not tumble out of it completely.

“Easy,” he rumbled. “You’ll see soon enough.”

Kate felt a rush of shyness sufficient enough to make her stand back and wait for the dragon to land. It did so on the landing a few dozen feet from the window, and with wide, stunned eyes, Kate saw that it was not a dragon, but a flying machine made to very much resemble one. It was the most sophisticated piece of machinery she had seen in all her time in the dragon realm—but what, or rather who was inside it was even more of a shock. It was a woman, wearing a silken flight suit. Even at a distance, Kate was certain that it was not a dragon who sat there, but a human.

The woman stepped out of the contraption and waved in Vyktor’s direction. Kate saw a broad smile establish itself on the older man’s face. The look on his visage was one of pure adoration.

Kate put two and two together and came up with the only solution that fitted: Vilka’s mother was human. Vilka was half-dragon, half-human.

He had kept that very quiet, and she couldn’t help but wonder why. Though perhaps, she did not have to. He had told her in some way, in the story of the events that had led up to him stealing the king’s crown—the reason he had been passed over for promotions, ostracized from the higher echelons of society. He was half human, and he was obviously still suffering for it.

Kate felt a wave of protective anger rush through her. No wonder he was so conflicted, and no wonder he was so insistent about holding on to her. She was the only human he had ever known that was not his mother. Maybe she was a lifeline to the world that he clearly rejected in spite of it being part of him.

There was a thin gangway between the landing pad and the room in which they were standing. Kate watched as the woman drew closer, and was puzzled to see that she had to be in her early fifties. Her hair was streaked with gray and her face was lined with the effects of the sun, but that in no way marred her beauty, or took anything away from the adventurous gleam in her eyes. She had a youthful demeanor, and as she drew closer, Kate could see touches of Vilka in her face.