Chapter 12 Valen
VALEN
Fuck—I barely made it! I swear it seemed like that fucking sandstorm was aimed right at us—is there some force that doesn’t want us to pass over the Poison Desert?
Whatever the case, I made it across—but not without some damage. The tiny grains of sand didn’t hurt my Drake’s hide much, but the poison winds irritated his throat.
I feel fucking weak—which I hate. I don’t know if the poison got to me or if it’s just the fact that I’ve been living mostly on bread and water with the occasional fatty, half-rotten slab of beef thrown in for almost a year.
The Princess’s blood—no matter how magical—isn’t enough to sustain a beast the size of my Drake indefinitely.
I need to eat and I need to be cleaned—the poison is still all over my Drake’s underside. Which, when I take my human form again, will be my chest and the entire front of my body.
Irena will have to wash it off me. By the laws of the ring and collar, only her hands can get me clean. Wonder how she’s going to like that?
Speaking of the princess, I can feel her stirring on my Drake’s back, but I can’t hold this form any longer. Being in my Drake form takes enormous amounts of energy and I can feel that he’s at the end of his—our—strength.
With a low, pained groan, I let myself Shift back, taking human form once more. I hear her exclaim something, but the effort of changing forms drains the last of my strength.
The worlds goes dark and I know no more.