it here, but it will not sustain us. This cave is too cold for us without hides.”
“I am a dark creature,” he says, and as he does so, I sense darkness rising from the jewel on his brow. Darkness that even I can’t see through with my new sight.
“I feast off of the shadows,” he continues. “They comfort and heal me. I create darkness in return. Here I can be invisible, I will always have the upper hand. We will find a way.”
“We won’t. We need to leave.”
He growls. “So you will leave me? The blush on your cheeks has not even left, and you have proven to be a liar.”
I jerk my hand from his. “I am not a liar. I am being realistic! We must leave and go to my tribe if we want to survive. If we want our children to survive. The jungle is too dangerous for two humans, even if we are lethal!”
“With me there is no danger! I will provide everything. I will take care of you as it should be done.”
“You are no longer a dragon! And I am not that kind of female!”
His nostrils flare, and he steps right up to me. I straighten, meeting him head-on. The tension has returned to us tenfold, but not in the way it was before.
“I am what you have touched, what you are bound to, human.” His voice is low and menacing. “You are mine. You will defer to me.”
I return his scowl. “I won’t be yours for long if you keep me here.” I push past him and storm to my supplies. I hear him following behind me. I drop down, gathering what I can into the remaining pouches and tie them to my waistband. I see my dagger by the dead fire and take that too.
“Female—”
“Milaye. My name is Milaye,” I correct angrily.
“Milaye,” his voice remains grave but softens when I rise to face him again. “You swore.”
“I did.”
His tail wraps around my ankle. “Then let me take care of us.”
“I will.”
Relief floods his eyes.
“But not here,” I say. “I need to get back to my tribe, if possible. I have responsibilities.”
“Haime?”
I tense. Hearing her name pummels me with all sorts of unwanted emotions. “Yes.” I push past him again and head back to the ledge. “Haime. She’s my ward. She… needs me.” I hope she needs me, but only the living have needs. I make it to the ledge and turn around. He’s right behind me. “You can choose to come with me or not.”
“And if I do not?”
I shudder. Just thinking of us splitting apart sends terrible jabs of pain through me. But I can’t stay here, and neither can he. I have to convince him. I peer up at him and inhale.
“You will,” I say, keeping my voice level. “Because I need you and I need this. It’s not only about our survival. Now that you’re better, I need to return to my tribe, I need that more than anything, and to do so, I need you to come with me.”
I watch him studying my face. Finally, he asks, “Why? What is out there that you need more than… than this—us?”
“Haime’s my ward,” I start, though my chest squeezes. “But there’s more to it than that. She’s like a daughter to me and…”
“And what?”
It hurts to say it, to even think of voicing this. As if speaking it might make it true. “And I don’t know if she got out in time.” I wrench my eyes tightly shut. “That’s why I need to leave, and I still would, even if you provided everything you say and more. I’ll never rest not knowing if I failed. If I failed her.”
There, I said it.
And I still don’t know if Haime survived or not. I twitch, fearing what I’ve said, praying there aren’t larger forces at work. Ones that aren’t on my side.
Drazak sighs. My eyes snap open when his brow comes down to rest on mine. “You madden me.”
“I know.”
“We will leave.”
I exhale. “Thank you.”
“Do not thank me, Milaye, Warden of Haime. I will not be good company under the sun.”
I embrace him and burrow my face into his chest. His arms and tails wrap around me. “Thank you,” I tell him again. After a moment, I pull out of his embrace, there is work to do.
He lifts me and pushes me onto the ledge like I weigh nothing. I rock on my feet, steadying myself as he climbs up behind me.