The Priestess and the Dragon (Dragon Saga Book 1, Wattpad Version)

Chapter Eleven

Footsteps on the landing outside startled Suzume from her sleep. She sat up and held her robe close to her chest. Moonlight poured in through the screens and it sent slatted shadows across the woven mat floors. A human shape disrupted the pattern before disappearing, as if it were a trick of the eye. Suzume sat up a bit straighter. The night was silent except for the sound of cicadas, which did not make sense since they should be out this time of the year.

“Who’s there?” She called out. “You have no reason to be stalking around my bedroom at this hour!”

Her heart was in her throat and she hoped her sharp tongue would be enough to dispel the intruder. The shadow reappeared. The shadow was not deterred by her coarse words. The screen slid open. A male, silhouetted by moonlight, blocked the entryway. The pale light cast by the moon caught his ebony hair which was tied in a top knot. He stood with his hands on his hips.

“There you are, I thought you had wandered off,” the man scolded her.

His flipping greeting upon intruding upon her bed chamber left her momentarily without words. Who was he to come into her room late at night like some kind of secret lover? “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Suzume stood up and her hair fell loose around her shoulders and cascaded over her chest. It was unseemly for a man to see her like this without a screen to protect her regal features. What if this man wanted to take advantage of her? She should scream. But if she screamed, the servants would find the man and might think the worst of her. What if Daiki found out and thought she had been unfaithful. Would he call off the wedding?

“Did you hit your head when you got out of the hot spring?” he peered at her with a raised brow and moved in close examining her face.

She stumbled back and away from him. “I have no idea what you are talking about or who you are. Now get out before I call for the guards.” She inhaled deeply to show she was preparing to scream.

He chuckled. “What are you talking about? What guards?” he came closer to her and could better see his features. He was very young and handsome. He had dark almond shaped eyes and thin lips that some woman might call kissable. He also seemed familiar but she could not quite place him. Perhaps he was the son of a minor lord?

“Do I know you?” She asked as she racked her brain for the affiliation. She must have been tired because her brain felt foggy and slow to process.

“Of course you know me; you’re my pet-priestess.” He came over to her, a hands breath away. His breath fanned over her face and it felt like a cool breeze. How unusual. She thought.

She began to shiver. Why do I feel so cold? She glanced down and her fine silk robe had been replaced by a tattered priestess garb. She was kneeling on the ground, her arms were bound against a wall with something tight and sticky. The man stood above her. She blinked up at him her head swimming with confusion.

“Who are you? What is going on here, what happened to the compound?”

The man frowned and then knelt down in front of her. His eyes were dancing with delight and a smirk was placed on his lips. He sighed with dramatic flair. “I can’t leave you alone for a moment can you or you get tangled up in all kinds of messes.” He laughed to himself and took a step back.

Her vision was blurry but it appeared she was in a cave of some-sort and there was a white residue on the walls that was hard to make out in the darkness. Something shuffled behind her and the man glanced back that way.

“I’m going to let you hang out for a bit longer while I take a look around,” he strode past her.

“Wait, you can’t just leave me here?” She wrenched her arms and tried to break free but found them bound tight.