The Dragon's Slave

Chapter 15

The wild forest was not as inviting in the daylight as I had imagined. Branches drooping with rotten bark and slime tangled with brilliant flowers and bright leaves. Death and life, a struggle before my eyes. Twice I spotted what I thought was a vine slither off into the shadows after we passed. Unease struck me both times. How many of those had I run beneath?

Some of the snakes must have been venomous as well, for when the warriors came close to them they sliced the head from the body eagerly.

Of course, I couldn't be sure, regulated to the single carriage in the processions, I was left alone with only my thoughts for company.

I frowned down at my fingers, laced on the brown simple travel skirts. The one outfit I had insisted on during our shopping excursion. Practical, despite being warned that human women rarely were.

I unlaced my hands and then folded them again. I did not like being shuttered away. But it was not only Dynarys who insisted this time. When I voiced my protest every Dragon Lord within earshot glared my direction. The shifters had simply closed in around me, physically crowding me into the carriage.

But there was no way I was going to learn anything in there.

I felt grouchy from the late night, and the havoc the banquet played with my emotions, leaving me sleepless and aching for something I had no business aching for. That, and feeling the weight of my task caused me to glower at Dynarys when he opened the door while the carriage moved and hopped in opposite me.

I squelched the urge to slide to his feet as I had been taught, and it did not improve my disposition.

"Tell me about Celcath," I demanded.

Dynarys blinked at me, his bafflement pulling a string of guilt from me. Great Six help me but I wanted to please the man.

"Good morning to you as well," he looked down to a bundle of cheese-cloth folded between his large hands. "Breakfast?"

He held out a skinned mango and a chunk of cheese. A little abashed I accepted.

"I need to know Dynarys, so far I know nothing of your culture."

Dynarys sighed, and leaned back against the cushions. I ignored the way his biceps rippled each time he moved and focused on his words.

"The Onyx Aerie is, in many ways, the same as the Amber. Our 'culture', as you put it, stems around survival. Dragons are tough and fierce fighters, you will never have a better protector," he raised a speculative eye, "or a more passionate lover. The dragon in us intensifies all of our primal urges. Some Lords have a great deal of control over their beast, others not so much."

He paused and leaned forward. "Celcath is a man in control. I have heard that passion never so much as touches him. But do not let that fool you into complacency, his dragon is beneath the surface, and they dislike such restraint. Should you invoke the beast I have no doubt he would kill without a thought."

"Great," I muttered, taking a bite of mango. I swiped at the juice that tried to escape down my chin. How was I going to seduce a man with no passion?

"Once you enter Celcath's chambers, you will locate the safe and allow me entrance from the inside."

"Wait. How am I going to do that? If I have been invited in, Celcath will likely be there too. It is not like he's going to allow me to just open the door for you."

"Then you will have to endeavor to get him to leave," Dynarys shrugged.

Did he realize what he was asking of me?