6. Dragonfire. #2
“They’ll rust, Your Royal Highness,” the captain says, coming closer. I must have hesitated for too long.
He pulls the glasses off my nose gently, and I’m forced to face him for the first time since last night. He has braided his long hair back, and it looks like he got a fresh haircut. His dark eyes shine, and there’s the shadow of a smile on his lips.
Blood rushes to my face, and I’m thankful for the hot water and steam as an excuse for it.
Jayce walks out of the pool stark naked to set my glasses on a wooden bench.
Water runs down his muscular back and ass— oh my gods, his ass and thighs .
His thighs are twice the size of mine. He has a worrying number of scars from what I’m guessing were stab wounds and sword cuts.
Bullets, too? But they don’t ruin his appeal. Not at all.
I squint, already missing my glasses.
He’s… he’s…
“Pick your jaw off the floor, will you?” says Alara, laughing.
“I’m not—” I sputter, tearing my eyes away from the captain, who’s already walking back to the water.
She snorts.
Luckily, the other crew members are too busy talking to each other to notice my poorly disguised yearning. Kuroki is describing something excitedly to Wilbur, gesturing wildly and splashing water all over the place, and Gia is discussing dinner with Freddy.
I focus my attention on Alara’s grinning face.
Do not look at his genitals, Harlow. Do not stare at your captain’s… massive cock , I realize one second before he lowers himself in the pool.
Oh, gods, I’ve seen too much. Or not enough.
My face must have shown my entire thought process, because Alara cackles loudly.
I’m mortified, but she gathers me in her toned arms and pulls me closer to the others.
I avoid Jayce’s eyes more than ever as I join the talks.
Soon enough, I relax. I’m still astonished at how easy it’s been to fit in with the crew of fire scroungers. We all laugh at Kuroki’s adventures from last night, when he ended up following Wilbur’s cousins until the crack of dawn. Eventually, Gia distributes soaps from the basket she brought.
“I’ll wash your hair if you wash mine,” she says, going around me. Then, seconds later, “Wow, Harlow! You have a tattoo?”
I freeze. The towel must have fallen in the water when Alara got a hold of me. I was too busy lusting after the captain to realize it.
I close my eyes, defeated. “Yes… It’s not a big deal.”
But it’s too late, Kuroki is already coming toward us. “A tattoo?”
Both of them are now behind me, staring at my back.
“A dragoner with a dragon tattoo!” Kuroki shouts. “Wicked!”
I know what they’re seeing. I’ve stared at it a hundred times in the long mirror at my adoptive father’s estate.
The artist inked a dragon all over my back.
Its head starts on my left shoulder, its scaly body and wings snaking down, before having its tail end on my right butt cheek.
The dragon’s claws appear to be buried in my ribs.
And I also know what they’ll realize soon.
“Harlow…” Gia says. “Is that a scar?” She trails her fingertips along the tender skin of my back, along the deep ridges of where it melted over muscles and bones.
I swallow painfully and nod.
For some reason, my eyes meet the captain’s. He’s not seeing what the others are seeing, but he’s watching me with a frown.
“Guys,” he says. “Leave our poor dragoner alone.”
Gia’s touch disappears. “Sorry, Harlow…”
I sigh. They’ve seen it. Better get it over with now. I know from experience that trying to hide my scars like a dirty secret makes it worse. Humans are curious by nature, and it’ll only fuel their interest.
“No, it’s okay. I’ve—” I take a deep breath. “I’ve got burn scars all over my back. Dragonfire. I was tired of seeing them, so when I came of age, I paid an artist to ink a dragon on my skin to hide them.”
And to satisfy my growing obsession with dragons.
The attack scared me out of my mind, and I refused to walk outside for weeks. And when I finally did, I spent years looking up at the sky, fearing the winged creatures. In my desire to tame my fear and understand what happened that day, an obsession was born.
I turn toward Gia, offering a view of my back to the others. She has her hand over her mouth; her face stricken. I grab her hand and squeeze.
“Tattooing on scars hurts like hell,” Alara says. “You’re a tough motherfucker, Harlow. It’s a beautiful piece.”
For some reason, it makes me laugh. Nobody ever called me a tough motherfucker before. I like it.
Not one of them asks me how I was so extensively burned by dragonfire, and I’m grateful. It’s a story I don’t enjoy retelling.
“So, are you washing my hair?” I ask Gia. “Then I’ll do yours.”
She nods eagerly and pats my shoulder, urging me to turn.
I close my eyes and lower my head, but not before I meet the captain’s eyes once again. There’s a strange expression on his face, one I don’t know how to read. I stare at the steam rising from the pool and into the night sky, hiding the stars.
The rest of our soak in the hot spring was uneventful. We washed and talked and laughed. I tried not to think too much about Jayce’s naked body under the water. He might be gay, but that doesn’t mean he’s interested in me.
And who says I’m interested in him?
Even so, it was hard not to let my eyes linger on him as we went out of the pool some time later. By then, the water had wrinkled my hands and feet like a too-ripe fruit, and I was starving.
By the time we get back to the Blunder , a young messenger has found us with a letter for Jayce.
“So?” Alara asks once he’s done reading it.
He frowns. “A dragon attacked a village in the Highlands yesterday. She burned everything to the ground.”
“What?” Kuroki says from where he’s sitting on the bulwark. “Dragons don’t attack us if we leave them alone.” He turns to me for answers. “Right?”
We’re below the attention of dragons, just as the worms in the dirt under our feet are to ours, as Jayce so aptly compared us to.
They know we’re here, crawling on the land, but we don’t bother them, so they let us live.
Dragons don’t even like eating humans, and much prefer the meat of great herbivores like wild horses and buffaloes.
“Rarely,” I say, answering Kuroki’s question.
But it can happen. I’m living proof of it.
This is why I’m here, chasing dragons with fire scroungers. I need to understand why dragons have been attacking more often in recent years.
“A female crossed into an old male’s territory to attack, and he tried to mate with her,” Jayce continues. “She didn’t agree, and they fought over the sea. The female killed him, and his carcass fell somewhere along the coast.” He turns to his cousin. “We’re taking off.”
“Yes!” Kuroki says, running to his control room.
Wilbur has already disappeared below to start the liquid-fire engine. Freddy and Alara jump overboard to untie the Blunder from the airdock. Gia is turning on all the lamps to light up the ship. I find myself alone amidst the activity, unsure of what I should do.
“Harlow, should I be worried about the safety of my crew?” Jayce asks.
I shake my head. “If she’s burned the village to the ground, then she’s moved on.”
Moved on to burn another town, another forest or farm, until the fire of her fury goes out.
“I hope you’re right, dragoner,” he says, holding my gaze.
I bite my lip, worry gnawing at my sanity.
Out of the blue, Jayce reaches for me and brushes an errant lock of hair from my face before walking away.
For a moment, I almost leaned into his touch.