51. Aurora
AURORA
“hurry, hurry! come, i cannot reach her—HURRY!” I heard L’eesha projecting wildly as I struggled to the surface of the water and took a gulp of air.
I wanted to cry for help, but when I opened my mouth, the hot water of the Baths went down my throat in and nearly drowned me.
I choked and gasped and went under again, feeling my dragon’s panic flooding me as surely as the water was.
“my Auri is drowning! hurry—she cannot breathe in water. she is not a fish! HURRY!” I heard her shouting.
I wondered who she was shouting to—possibly M’alex? But he was too far out to reach me—wasn’t he?
I kicked and flailed and managed to get another breath before the hot water sucked me under again. Oh God and Goddess, I couldn’t die like this! Not after I had finally gotten a dragon—I couldn’t leave L’eesha all alone! I couldn’t…
Suddenly a strong arm hooked around my waist and raised me to the surface of the water.
“What…who…?” I choked out, still thrashing.
“It’s all right—you’re all right,” I heard a familiar voice say. “Be still and let me tow you in!”
It was Ryse, though the God and Goddess alone knew how he had gotten to me so fast.
“M’alex brought him,” L’eesha informed me. Looking up, I saw her swimming to me as fast as she could. “are you all right, my Auri?”
“I think so,” I sent back. I was still in way over my head, but Ryse was swimming strongly, towing me back to the shallow end of the pool.
But when we got there, though I felt feelings of relief from my dragon, Ryse’s face was tight with anger.
“Why the hell did you go out into the deeper water if you couldn’t swim?” he demanded. “And why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t swim so I could teach you?”
“I’m sorry.” I coughed and sputtered, getting the last of the water out of my lungs. “It just…never occurred to me.”
“You know, you’re always so damn secretive—going off by yourself whenever we go to the Cook-pot,” he said, swiping his wet hair out of his golden eyes, the better to glare at me.
“I figured you were just shy and wanted your privacy. But if I had known you were a drowning risk, I never would have left you alone!”
“I’m not a drowning risk!” I protested but just then L’eesha reached me, splashing through the shallow water, and nearly bowled me over.
“my Auri, i am so sorry! i never should have asked you to go out deep!”
If a dragon could cry, she would have been weeping in my arms.
“It’s all right, sweetheart.” I put my arms around her neck and scratched her golden hide comfortingly. “I’m all right—I’m fine, I promise.”
“you are not fine but you will be,” she informed me as she nuzzled her soft snout against my cheek. “i have told M’alex to tell Ryse to teach you to swim and he has promised that he will.”
I looked up at Ryse, who had a strange expression on his face.
“M’alex informs me that the Queen has ordered him to tell me to teach you to swim,” he said.
“Oh, you don’t have to,” I protested quickly.
“Oh, yes I do,” he said grimly. “I agree with L’eesha—I don’t want to risk you drowning again.”
“Well…I guess I’m getting swimming lessons,” I said helplessly.
L’eesha nuzzled me happily.
“yes you are—because i said so,” she told me.
“Come here,” Ryse said to me, but then he came to me instead, because I still had my arms full of my dragon. “Let go of her for a minute,” he said.
I slipped my arms from around my dragon’s neck and found myself drawn into his strong embrace.
Both of us were wearing the standard issue swimming shorts since the Dragon Baths were considered a public area, not just for bathing like the Cook-pot, and I was wearing a thin, white, short-sleeved shirt that clung to my breasts.
I hoped my Dragon Glass pendant would keep him from noticing them pressing against his hard chest.
“God and Goddess, when L’eesha was shouting at M’alex that you were drowning, I felt so much panic I could barely breathe,” he murmured in my ear. “I thought I was going to lose you, Auri!”
I shifted in his embrace, not sure what to say. I wanted to hug him back. I wanted to kiss him like I had the night of the Hatching…and hadn’t ever since.
Neither of us had spoken about the “kissing lesson” or what had almost happened between us, though there was still a red mark on my neck where he’d kissed and sucked me and I had left a mark on his throat as well.
I think we both knew it was dangerous and had decided by silent but mutual consent not to pursue our feelings.
Also, I’d been distracted enough with L’eesha that I’d been able to push the desire I felt for Ryse to the back of my mind.
Now I felt it roaring to life again, rushing through me like dragon fire as Ryse held me close to his big, muscular body and I remembered how sweet his kisses were.
“if you want to put your mouth on Ryse’s mouth, why don’t you?” I heard L’eesha say. She was watching us with her head cocked to one side, like we were some kind of experiment she couldn’t figure out.
“Because it’s not that simple,” I sent back.
“why not? it is a want—a need—like when I need to eat, I just eat,” she pointed out. “mating is a need too—isn’t it?”
I wasn’t about to explain the facts of life to my dragon—not right then, anyway.
“It’s complicated with people,” I told her. “You can’t just mate with someone whenever you feel like it.”
“why not? here—i will help you.”
I had a bad feeling about this.
“L’eesha, no—what are you doing?” I demanded, turning to look at her.
But she had already done it.
When I turned back to look at Ryse, he had that look on his face again.
“M’alex tells me that L’eesha says I need to put my mouth on yours because you want to mate with me,” he said.
“Oh, God and Goddess!” I took a step back from him, feeling my face go hot with a blush. “I never said that!”
He laughed, a low, amused rumble that I felt all through my body.
“She’s quite a little matchmaker, your Golden Queen.”
“She’s a little meddler,” I said fiercely and frowned at her.
L’eesha was immediately contrite. Though she rarely apologized for anything she did, she felt bad if I got upset with her.
“i’m sorry, my Auri!” She pressed her soft nose against my side and looked up at me with the saddest puppy-dog eyes. “i was just trying to help you mate with Ryse. he wants to mate with you too, you know. M’alex says it’s all he thinks about.”
It was my turn to give Ryse a look.
“What? What is it? What are they saying?” he demanded. Then M’alex must have bespoken him because his face turned red. “You said what?” he exclaimed, and I knew he was talking to his dragon, not to me. “You can’t go telling people things like that!”
“see? i am not the only one who is in trouble,” L’eesha said in my mind, sounding exceedingly smug. “anyway,” she continued. “M’alex says the two of you are just being foolish. he says eventually you will mate.”
I didn’t know about that, but when I looked back at Ryse, he had a troubled look on his face.
Of course he doesn’t really want to “mate” with you—he still thinks you’re a boy!
Another male cadet! I told myself, being careful to keep that little nugget of information to myself and not pass it on to L’eesha.
I loved my little golden dragon with all my heart, but she couldn’t keep a secret to save her life.
I didn’t need her telling Ryse or anyone else that I was hiding my true identity.
“Well…” Ryse said and cleared his throat.
“I guess you’d better teach me how to swim,” I said brightly, doing my level best to change the subject. “Since the ‘Golden Queen’ commands it.”
“You laugh but the dragons really do listen to her and obey her,” he said seriously. “At least, M’alex does. And he’s the biggest and most powerful dragon at the Academy.”
I frowned.
“Does that ever happen? I mean, a hatchling telling a full-grown dragon what to do?”
He shook his head.
“Not that I’ve ever heard of. They mostly treat the hatchlings the way you or I would treat a baby or a toddler. But M’alex takes everything L’eesha says seriously.”
“that is because i am smart and i am the Queen,” L’eesha said, butting in as usual.
I had to laugh as I turned to scratch behind her eye-ridges again.
“You’re incorrigible, you know that?”
“i know you love me,” was her answer. “and that is all that matters, my Auri.”
And for that moment, she was right—the love we had was all that mattered…but I had a feeling that there were more problems coming soon.
I wasn’t wrong.