The Witch and the Dragon - Beta

Chapter Nineteen

Alannah winced on his behalf. She turned to Dameon but the dragon had already stood and was striding off towards the capitol. William and Rose followed him. For a moment, she was left on her own.

Screw him, she decided. He was probably having a mood. Or he'd finally gotten tired of humans. It didn't matter. After they'd delivered Rose, Dameon had no reason to stick around.

That should have been reassuring. It wasn't.

Alannah tightened her belt, squared her shoulders, and joined the others.

They walked with Dameon at the front, leading, and William and Rose walking side by side in the middle. Alannah brought up the rear. They didn't talk. Alannah because she had no reason to, William and Rose presumably because it was two painful and Dameon for reasons he kept to himself. The sun moved over the canopy and the day wore on. Before long Alannah was finding it difficult to see the thread when she cast it.

"All right, enough," she called, finally. "We camp here tonight. There's no point moving on when it's too dark to travel."

"I can smell iron," Dameon replied. "We'll reach the city tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," echoed Rose. "That's – that's soon." She snuck a glance at William.

The knight bent and picked up a handful of dry twigs. "I'll make a fire," he said and circled the area. Dameon disappeared among the trees and Alannah sighed. This was fast becoming a habit.

She settled down beside the princess. "Did the Fae treat you well?" she asked. "They didn't hurt you?"

"They did not," Rose replied. "Winter treated me without punishment. I was merely a pretty bauble to add to his collection." The girl didn't even sound angry about it.

If it had been her, she would have screamed, stamped and generally done her best to claw her way free, Fae magic or no Fae magic. "I'm glad you weren't hurt," was all she said.

Rose glanced at her. "Thank you for escorting me to the city," she said. "You didn't have to do this."

"Yeah, well." Alannah tossed a pinecone into the pit that would soon be their fire, if William got a move on. "I figured you'd find it pretty difficult by yourself."

"William holds you in high regard," Rose carefully and Alannah shrugged.

"I suppose. He had a crush on me not long ago." Not long at all, but she wasn't going to tell Rose that. "All over now, of course. I look out for him when he's too stup – uh, too busy to look out for himself."

"And I hope that you'll continue to do so," said Rose. It felt like a formal request. Manipulative little – no wonder she was so good at this princess thing.

"I'll do my best." Then William appeared, dumping an armful of wood into the pit. Alannah stood, stretching. "I'll see if I can find some food." She walked away, leaving an awkward silence around the fire.

The forest was dark under the twilight sky and shadows hid the spaces between the branches. Alannah put a little distance between her and the star-crossed couple. Her carriage ride home with William was going to be painful.

Something rustled. She turned and caught the gleam of eyes in the darkness. Dameon stepped out, still in his human form.

"I wondered where you'd got to," said Alannah. "Find anything to eat?"

"No." His voice sounded tight and his hands were twitching at his sides.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He walked by her and then stopped, turned around. "Tomorrow you reach the city. This is where I leave you."

Her throat went dry. "So soon?"

"I can't approach the walls; it wouldn't go well, for me," he explained, with a wry smile. His gaze clung to her face. "I thought you said you weren't in love with him."

She blinked. "What?"

"The knight. I thought –"

"I heard you." She shook her head. "Where did this come from?"

"You've gone out of your way to save him twice now," he said. "And you seem very keen to take him back to your village."

"Well, of course I am," she said. "He needs to get home. We both do."

The dragon swallowed. "And you seem pretty familiar with him."

"You're not seriously arguing with me about this. Why do you care?" He was a dragon. He wouldn't - shouldn't - care.

"Why were you holding his hand?" he countered.

"For comfort," she replied.

He held out his hand wordlessly, palm up, and something painful swelled in her throat. Moonlight glimmered off the jet black curve of his horns.

"His comfort," she whispered and Dameon dropped his hand.

"I see," he replied, levelly.

She exhaled. "I'm not in love with him."

"Then come with me."

She thought she'd misheard him. "With you? Where?"

"Anywhere." Dameon stepped forward until he was standing almost flush against her. When she inhaled she could smell him, that coal and wind scent. "Come with me," he repeated, dropping his voice into a low, rough growl. "Right now."

The thought tempted her more than it should. And Dameon was a dragon; when he said anywhere, he meant anywhere. But this time they wouldn't come back. Alannah swallowed. "And leave William and Rose?"

Dameon watched her, his mouth tight. "You didn't seem to care this much for them when we first met."

"Maybe I was wrong," she said. "But it's different, now. If I leave, William will screw up the betrothal and they'll probably run away together."

"Why does it matter?"

"What do you mean, why does it matter?" she replied, fisting her hands. "If she doesn't reach the King, that means war. I can't let that happen."

"You are one person," he shot back. "You can't control everything."

"And what about my shop?" she continued. "I can't just drop everything my Grandmother built for some half-baked trip around the kingdom-"

"You can't tell me you were thinking about your Grandmother's shop in the Darkforest," he interrupted. "I saw you: with that blade in your hand, you actually looked alive. You looked happy."

"I can't." Alannah stopped, wet her lips. "I can't do this," she whispered.

"You mean you can't be with me."

"You're not even human," she said, and then winced.

"Not even human," he repeated, slowly, his expression eerily blank. "You still think I'm a monster."

"Wait," she said, reaching for him. "I didn't mean-"

His eyes narrowed into slits. The pupil inside them was thin; he was partway through transforming. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am just a monster." And with that, he let go of the spell. Wings ripped from his back and he burst into the sky.

Alannah shielded her eyes from the wind. When it died, she peered upwards, but the dragon's shape had disappeared among the stars.