AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A human from my realm would know these things,” he observed, finally meeting my gaze with interest.
“I’m not from here,” I replied warily.
“Where do you come from, human?” he asked as his gaze furrowed with suspicion.
“Earth,” I sighed. He jolted back like someone had slapped him across the face.
“This is Terraheim. There has not been an Earth human in my realm for more than a thousand years,” he stated.
The gravity of his words was not lost on me.
“You are not human, are you?”
“I am not. I am Dragonborne.”
I didn’t know what he meant, but I nodded quietly anyway. He must have seen the confusion flittering across my face, because he took pity on me and smiled gently with understanding.
“I am man, and I am also dragon. I can shift between one form and the other,” he explained.
I stared at him in disbelief for a moment. As much as I wanted to discount his theory, it made at least a little sense. I’d seen magic portals, a werewolf, and the way he’d fought. I’d known he wasn’t human. I didn’t see any reason not to believe him, but it was a big pill to swallow that he was a dragon shifter, and that dragons were real and not just some mythical creatures that existed in books and in the movies.
At least he wasn’t a sparkly vampire. A girl should count her blessings.
“Why keep me here?”
“Because I don’t want to find your severed head on an orc’s spike,” he said through gritted teeth. His tension rattled me, like he was growing angry that I had no understanding of his world, or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, he didn’t explain any further, and I sat there stewing with my own frustration.
“And you? Will you not hurt me, too?” I snapped back.
“No more questions. I cannot risk being around you any longer,” he barked, and in a flash, he left the cabin. I opened and closed my mouth in disbelief, not knowing whether to be angry or hurt.
What had gone wrong?
Eventually, I sighed and got out of bed, walking over to the table where there was breakfast still waiting for me.
It was a stack of waffles.
Apparently, the breakfast treat spanned his realm and mine. With a growling stomach, I dug in. This particular recipe tasted a lot like pumpkin and gingerbread cookies, slathered in sugary syrup and a thick slab of partially melted butter. By the time I finished it, I felt full and a little better, albeit not by much.
I sat back with a sigh and noticed the wooden box next to me. I’d forgotten all about it.
I stood up and moved in front of it, reaching for the intricate top. For a moment, I appreciated the hand carved design woven into the wood, a series of vines and roses that hinted that this had once belonged to a woman.
For some reason, I held my breath as I pulled the top off.
Inside the box was a fairytale gown, a deep forest green silk embroidered with golden thread. The torso was covered in metallic beading. With a sharp gasp, I gripped the shoulders and pulled it out of the box so that I could see the whole thing at once.
It was the prettiest gown I’d ever seen, the kind that must have belonged to a princess or maybe even a queen in the past. The A-line skirt consisted of several lustrous forest green silk layers, and the beaded torso was meant to hug a woman’s upper body like a corset. There was lace cording to cinch it shut in the front.
It looked to be my size. Could I really be that lucky?
All alone, I shucked Roken’s shirt over my head, a bit in a rush to get his belongings off my body after our ill-fated meeting this morning. I unlaced the front of the dress and stepped inside, pulling it up over my hips and around my waist. There were draped sleeves that hung off the shoulder with more delicate beadwork that emulated a feathery design.
It fit my body like a glove.
The sweetheart neckline cupped my breasts perfectly, lifting them up so they appeared perky and seductive. The waistline hugged my own, cinching me in just the slightest bit to make me feel even slimmer, and when I caught my reflection in the glass of the window, I gasped.
I wasn’t moonlighting as a princess, but a queen. The only thing I was missing was a crown.
