Chapter Forty
Laurie
I spread my arms wide, eyes closed to the breeze as we took off, leaving the Rift behind and heading up the long tunnel out of Mount Drakonus. It was only my third time on dragon back and only my second conscious trip, but I was quickly coming to love the experience.
“Are you sure about this?” Rip asked, his wings beating a steady metronomic pulse that threatened to lull me to sleep.
“What? Of course I am!” I said, jerking awake as a fresh wave of anxiety poured through me. “Why? Are you having doubts?”
I bit my lip waiting for a response, nervous he was suddenly changing his mind about all of this. About me.
When Rip had told me about the Test, I’d initially freaked out. It was pretty rational, I think, after being told I had to be judged by the literal god of dragons. As if that wasn’t enough, if I failed, if he deemed me an unsuitable mate for Rip, he would kill us both.
Yet strangely, despite the death threat hanging over my head, I never truly doubted my decision to go through with it.
The moment I had told him that I’d go, that I harbored no doubts, no illusions, about the bond we shared and what it meant for our future, I had felt relief.
Like we were supposed to do this, a logical next step.
So if Rip was now having doubts, second thoughts, or anything linked to that, I needed him to speak up. I would rather suffer the indignity of being dumped mid-flight and sent back home in embarrassment than continue on and die because he was no longer sure he wanted to be with me forever.
“Only about your health,” Rip said, twisting his snout so one large eye could stare back at me.
“I’m worried you should still be in the hospital, Laurie.
That is my concern. I have been ready to take this journey since the moment I laid eyes on you, and now that we are, I cannot wait for it. You are mine.”
I shivered at his words, a thrill of excitement running down my spine and spiking my adrenaline. It was so possessive of him to claim me like that, but hearing him say it only made me more excited for today, tomorrow, and the future. I was his, and just as importantly, he was mine.
And today, I would proclaim that to a god.
“I’m fine,” I assured him, patting one of his shield-sized scales. “Ever since I was rehydrated, as long as I drink lots of water, I feel perfectly fine.”
Putting action to word, I pulled my water bottle free from its shoulder strap and took several big swigs just to reassure him everything was as it should be.
“I just worry about you.”
I smiled and lay forward, resting my head on the base of his neck. “Says the guy who has to go fight evil creatures on the regular. I think I have a few more things to worry about than you.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t worry about you,” he countered as we broke out of the massive tunnel and into the sky. It was nearing night in the dragon realm, and I stared at the sunset, the sky a beautiful shade of pink glittering across the fluffy clouds.
Below, twinkles of light could be seen in certain places, indicating signs of civilization. But we didn’t head for any of those. Instead, Rip soared higher and higher, circling upward and into the gray-blue clouds ringing the mountain peak.
As we entered them, a green light emanated from his front paw.
“What’s that?” I asked, staring as the clouds seemed to part around us, the paw pulsing with power.
“A bracelet,” he said. “Given to each family by the God-King. It guides us through the cloud cover. Without it, we would never find our way.”
Sure enough, within a few minutes, the clouds parted for us, revealing the side of the mountain.
A giant ledge with a flat top invited us to land.
Once we did, I slid from his wing, moving slowly.
I knew I wanted to be there, but that didn’t preclude me from having nerves. After all, I’d never met a god before.
“Shall we?” Rip asked, offering me his arm.
I looked around. “Shall we what, darling?” I asked, slipping my hand through the crook of his elbow anyway. Any excuse to touch him was okay in my books. “There’s nowhere to go.”
The ledge certainly looked like a landing platform, but there was no entrance deeper into the mountain itself. No cave or formal door as far as I could see. Just a blank rock wall.
“I’m sure we’ll find one soon enough,” Rip said, walking toward the far side of the ledge, bringing me with him.
“I bet this would be an amazing place to watch the sunsets from if it weren’t for the clouds,” I said, looking around, trying to ascertain where the light was coming from, but I couldn’t. There was just this ambient light to everything, but it was a little off.
Then I got it. There were no shadows. It wasn’t bright enough to really matter, but now that I’d noticed it, I couldn’t unsee it.
“You okay?” Rip asked.
“Huh?”
“Your fingers just tightened on my arm, but I don’t see any reason for it.”
“Have you noticed there are no shadows here?” I asked.
Rip looked around, then down at our feet and behind us. “You’re right,” he said with a frown. “There aren’t.”
“You don’t seem concerned,” I said as he simply shrugged and continued walking.
“Magic of the God-King,” he said, coming to a halt as the mountain in front of us just disappeared.
Not all of it, but an arched walkway easily wide enough for a large dragon to walk through. It swallowed us up easily as we entered the mountain's interior, only to find ourselves on another ledge that stuck out into the empty chasm of the inside of the mountain.
“Now, what?” I asked as we paused halfway out, looking around.
“We wait,” Rip said softly.
I looked at him. His face was tight.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“Listen.”
I did. At first, I heard nothing. But then.
Bump … Bump.
There was a short pause between the drums, then a long pause. It was a rhythm, though.
Bump … Bump … … Bump … Bump … … Bump … Bump
“What is it?” I whispered. “What are the drums for?”
“Those aren’t drums,” Rip said.
“What are they?”
“Heartbeats, I think.”
“Heartbeats? That’s impossible. It’s way too slow. And loud,” I said, shaking my head in denial. “Can’t be.”
“Unless we’re simply not thinking big enough,” he said uncomfortably as movement sounded in the darkness of the chasm below the ledge.
Big movement.
“Um,” I whimpered as a gargantuan snow-white dragon head heaved itself up and over the edge of the platform.
The size defied comprehension. Rip’s dragon could fit in its eye. One eye. His dragon wasn’t big enough to be a toothpick; the thing was so huge.
Rip, of Tides.
Laurie, of Earth.
I spun, trying to figure out who had spoken, unable to comprehend for a moment that I’d heard the voice in my head.
“Did he speak to your mind as well?” Rip asked out of the corner of his mouth a little uneasily.
“Yes,” I squeaked.
Rip, of Tides. Laurie, of Earth, the voice repeated.
“That is me,” Rip said in a loud voice.
“I am Laurie,” I echoed. Was it some sort of ritual?
You have come for judgment. As Eternal Mates.
“What?” I asked, looking at Rip. “What’s that?”
“Eternal Mates are those who are bonded by fate to be together. Like you and me. Not all dragons are willing to be judged. They are simply comfortable settling down. A prince, however, cannot sit on the throne without his Eternal Mate. Hence, here we are.”
“Ah.” I nodded in comprehension, then looked up at the impossibly large white-scaled dragon. “Yes, we are here to be judged.”
Then let the Judgment begin, the voice intoned.
The dragon head withdrew into the depths of the mountain. I tried to scale up the rest of the body to go with the head and got to something about the size of several aircraft carriers. Probably even larger than that.
“So, now, what?” I asked, turning to Rip.
But he was gone.