To Wake a Dragon - Naomi Lucas Page 0,44

it’s going to come down fast. Be ready to move.”

Once I reach Drazak, I start digging and tossing rocks where they might have lodged under the boulder. Drazak watches me, waiting for my cue before pushing again. I move to safety behind him.

He pushes. The crackle of dirt fills my ears, then more grunting. He stops. I get back down and start digging at the rocks again. We do this several times, and by the third, the boulder shifts. He pushes harder, putting all his strength behind it.

I suck in my stomach. Drazak grits his teeth, his jaw ticks, and beads of sweat pour down his face. His muscles bulge, smoke pools out of his jewel like it’s a waterfall, and the plume of it nearly drowns out the light. It eats at it, making parts of the streak vanish entirely.

I’ve never seen anything like it. Was it doing the same to the campfire?

The boulder drops, and I’m barely aware of it. Drazak falls to his knees in a huff as it crashes down, grinding the stones beneath, building momentum as it falls. I put my arm under his arm, helping him stand.

Sunlight is bathing us.

We’re free.

We’re free because of Drazak.

There would be no way I could have moved that boulder by myself, and I realize those scratches could have been mine… In another life.

There is silence as the boulder and other tumbling rocks come to a stop. Silence as we stare into the light. It’s painful.

Drazak pulls me into him and presses his face to the top of my head. I hear something move behind me, and Drazak stiffens. I look up just as the naga slithers by, sneaking past us and out of the cave. He disappears into the bright light beyond.

16

Drazak’s New World

Milaye takes my hand, and we leave the cave together. It is not an easy thing to do. The sunlight burns my eyes—hers too, I have noticed—and we are forced to go slow.

Adjusting takes a long time. And strangely, my eyes shift before hers. We pause and she sits on a rock next to me, continuously rubbing her eyes and blinking tears. I watch her curiously.

She is different in the light. All the colors I have not seen in ages return fast and swift, blazing my head with stimuli. I see them for the first time again on Milaye’s clothes, her skin, her hair. The jungle goes ignored as I feast on the sight of my mate. Have I ever seen hair so black? Skin so golden and sun-kissed? And her clothes… They are adorned with shells and feathers, details I failed to notice before, each a splash of Venys I have long forgotten.

She is radiant.

She grumbles and peeks at me through her fingers. I smell fresh tears.

“It hurts,” she whines.

‘Humans don’t belong in the dark.’ Her words come back to me. I brush my fingers through a strand of her hair. “It will get better. I can always lick them?” I tease.

“Ugh.” She turns away and rubs at her eyes again. “No thank you. Just be on the lookout since, apparently, you can see perfectly,” she says with a little annoyance I don’t miss.

I peer down at her hair in my hand. Has her hair always been this long? Has it always been this soft? I played with it for hours when she slept, but that now seems like an eternity ago.

There are other things I discover as well. Things I do not care for…

My human’s skin is marred and dirty. There are bruises and scratches all over her. Even though I have mouthed her much recently, I have failed to cover her everywhere. I will have to remedy that soon. Also, there is a tired, shrunken appearance to her that does not look right. Like she is sickly, wasting away… perhaps starving.

I am hungry, and if I am hungry, she must be famished.

I cannot have this. Seeing her like this—not realizing how bad it was before—I am angry. Angry at myself that I wanted to keep her locked away in my den, a place where she would have surely gotten worse. My hand fists at my side. I need to fix this.

Now.

I take in my surroundings. Trees rise up all around us, large and blindingly green. Vines hang like unfallen tears, and above, I find that I do not see the sky, not entirely. Whatever sunlight that reaches us comes through a maze of branches. Flowers are sprouting from trunks, and colorful critters