Redeeming the Dragon (Into the Enchanted)

Chapter 19

I f my silent pleading the night before had been prayers, they were answered the next night. I’d passed into gentle slumber when motion in my room disturbed me. My eyelids fluttered awake. I knew already who had disturbed my rest, and my heart leapt with hope.

“Dragon?”

“It is me,” he answered quietly. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

Of all the things he had to apologize for, this was surely the least. However, I kept quiet on that score, fearing to irritate him when I so badly needed his help.

“Think nothing of it,” I replied. He settled in next to me, moving around for a moment, then released a weary breath.

“Dragon?” I asked again.

“Aye, lass?”

He must know what I was going to request. Did he want to hear me say it again?

“Have you pondered… Have you considered…?” I faltered .

Again, he released a heavy breath. This time, not of weariness—of thought. As if he weighed a heavy matter.

“I have considered it,” he replied.

I could scarcely draw breath. The air was trapped in my chest until I heard his reply.

“I do not oppose taking you to visit your family,” he said, his tone low. “But I fear they will try to separate us.”

My breath released in a rush as I realized he’d not said no, nor had he said yes.

“Separate us?” I repeated, truly puzzled. “How could they do that?”

“I cannot say,” he replied. “It is a premonition. It is more than that. It is a warning. Your mother, in particular, will try.”

I frowned up at the ceiling, aware that he couldn’t see my face.

How could my mother try to separate us? Would she, if she could? Aye. I didn’t doubt that. And yet, my mother had been just as compliant as my father when it came to offering me as a sacrifice to a dragon.

“I will not let my family separate us,” I told him, though my heart pricked with a strange guilt knowing I was promising this Warkin the very thing that I was, in reality, attempting to do. I was lying to him. It was alright to lie when you were being held captive, wasn’t it?

“It isn’t a matter of what you will do,” he said slowly. “It is a matter of what they will convince you to do. Your mother, especially.”

What sort of power did he ascribe to my mother? My mother was neither a particularly vindictive nor deceitful person. She would be overwhelmed with joy to learn I was alive and unharmed. She would doubtless see the value in me feigning compliance until Father or some of the other Sanlyn could find a way to break the magical bond between the dragon and me.

Then, she would do what she must to free me .

But now?

Even as I opened my mouth to speak up in my mother’s defense, my captor went on.“I hate to see you unhappy, Lorna. I want to take you home, if only briefly. You must understand that I will have to bring you back.”

I swallowed hard. It was no more than I’d expected, yet it pained me to hear it.

“I know,” I said softly.

“You must make me a promise,” he said, “not to be alone with your mother.”

Not to be alone with Mama? What did he expect from her?

“She will turn you against me,” he warned. “She will ruin everything.”

Ruin everything? What did he think would be ruined? Me, living as his lonely captive in this gloomy cave?

“I don’t understand, Dragon,” I said honestly. “But I will make you a promise not to be alone with my mother if you will take me home. And, when the time comes, I promise you that I will come back. I will not run from you.”

Not this time, I added in my mind, crossing my fingers beneath the blankets. Not this time. But the time will come when I will run from you. And you’ll not be able to bring me back.

Had he read my mind? I half-feared, given his supernatural abilities, that he might have, as I waited for him to either accept or reject my spoken vow.

At last, reluctantly, he replied, “I’ve no wish to make you miserable, Lorna. If you will keep your word not to run from me, and not to be alone with your mother, I will take you home tomorrow for a brief visit. However, you must return. ”

I drew a deep breath. My plan had worked! I’d wrung a pledge from him to take me home! I knew this was not permanent. I couldn’t plan to escape yet. But the first ground had been won.

One day. One day, I’d have my freedom from this strange beast who clutched me in his talons.

“I will keep my word,” I said.

His fingers shifted under the blankets, reaching out to find mine. Not simply find—clutch, as though he feared by releasing my hand he might lose me as well.

The thrill of victory in my heart transformed into the taste of ash in my mouth.

How could a beast so terrifying as a dragon be afraid? How could a man with the ability to shapeshift into a monster know fright?

And yet…fright was what I sensed from him, as I lay next to him in the gloom, his fingers intertwined with mine.

He fears losing me, I realized.

I should not care. He’d kidnapped me and held me prisoner, albeit in a gentle prison.

I’ve no reason to feel guilt, I assured myself as his thumb began to move, gently rubbing over my knuckles, caressing my skin in a way that spoke of true feelings. True care. True emotion.

I do not feel guilt.

I will not feel guilty.

I do him no wrong by pursuing freedom.

That is what I told myself.

Why did my heart rebel?