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And then it was happening. His dragon was emerging, gleeful to be free to burn hotly from him. The shift was quick. There was more smoke than usual, and when he reared up, wings spread, the first thing he heard were screams.
He threw back his head and blasted flames into the sky. The relief of getting rid of some of the frustration created a roar that came deep from his throat.
“Ivor!” Nisha’s voice. He could only just hear her over the cries of terror.
He looked around, wings still spread. The congregation were toppling over one another to escape, to run away. Scattering like ants toward the car park and the cover of trees. A fast rush of panic.
“What the—?” Rishi stepped back, banging his shoulder into the marigold archway. His eyes were wide, his fists no longer clenched.
Ivor directed a jet stream of fire at the citrus-orange flowers, scorching them. They went up easily and quickly, the archway turning into a smoldering mess.
“Fuck.” Rishi’s eyes widened as he stumbled to the left, landing on his knees.
“Rishi!” His brother grabbed his arm and tugged. “We gotta get out of here.”
Without so much as glancing at Nisha, Rishi scrambled to his feet and ran, his legs pounding and feet scrambling. His brother was at his side.
Ivor puffed up his chest and went up on his back legs in a full-attack stance. He’d burn the clothes off Rishi’s back.
“Ivor, please, don’t,” Nisha cried. “No!”
Her father still had hold of her arm. “Nisha, run. We have to go.” His eyes were wide and frightened. “He’s going to kill us all.”
“Father!” She shook her head and wriggled, trying to shake his grip on her. “Let me go.”
“Run! Run, my child.” He dragged her past a pile of scattered chairs.
“No. He will not hurt me. He would never hurt me.”
“He will, Nisha, run.” Her mother hauled herself up to her feet. “We have summoned demons. I don’t know how, but we have. Now we must run or pay the terrible price.”
“He is not a demon.” Nisha finally managed to remove her father’s hold. She took several steps away from him and toward Ivor. “He’s a dragon. A rare Welsh dragon, and I love him.”
“Love him?” Her mother shook her head. “What are you saying? This is madness.”
Ivor stomped from one foot to the other. Smoke snorted from his nostrils, and he flicked his tail from side to side, crashing against an elaborate flower display and sending ittoppling. His woman loved him. That was all that mattered in his world.
“What are you talking about?” her father said. “You have gone crazy, child. This beast wants to kill us.” He backed up to Nisha’s mother and put his arm around her waist. “We have arrived at the end of our lives.”
“No, he doesn’t want to kill us. He’s in love with me. Why would he hurt us?” Nisha held her hands out. “You have to understand. You have to understand him the way I do.”
I love her so much.
Ivor lowered his head and pushed his snout against Nisha’s back. A gentle nudge that he hoped she’d understand as affectionate.
She rested her henna-decorated hand on his head. Stroked him. “This man can give me what Rishi can’t. I knew it from the moment I saw him, the moment he saved me from monsters in the dark. He is my destiny, not an arranged marriage. I grew up here in Wales, not Pakistan, and I want to make my own path.”
“You have no idea what you are saying or what you want.” Her mother shook her head. “Quickly, come here.”
“No.”
“Yes. We must flee. We must find Rishi.”
“Mother, I am not marrying Rishi. I am going with Ivor. I want to marry him and Iwillmarry him.” She stepped backward, then again and again, moving down the length of Ivor’s neck.
Ivor lowered further, his chin almost touching the ground. His wings were twitching. He wanted to fly, fly fast and far and forget all of these people who had tried to stand in his way of having Nisha as his woman—as his bride.
“What are you doing?” her mother cried. “Nisha. What are you doing? Don’t move.”
