I shivered, my throat suddenly dry. Part of his plan.
“Ah…” The dragon groans as he pushes himself upright. He braces himself on the sofa arm, and my eyes track his movement. “Because. How informative.”
My house has three rooms: front room, bathroom, staircase. The dragon’s in the front room, propped against a worn sofa facing the street-front windows. I’m in the bathroom. I could tell myself it’s because it gives me a clear path out to where I’ve tied the kayak, so I can escape if I need to, but that would be a lie.
Even if the dragon’s not in any shape to chase me, he wouldn’t need to. It would only take a word to make me throw myself at his feet. Not even that. Just a glance. He proved that yesterday.
He half-turns and my eyes flit to his lips, just for a moment, before I catch myself and stare at the ground between us instead. Damn it, damn it, damn it.
Going limp and noodly when I caught his eyes… that’s normal. Sure, it almost killed me, but everyone whites out when they catch a dragon’s gaze. It’s some sort of predator-prey thing. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the kiss all night, and that’s not normal.
It has to be part of the glamour. Some underlying thread of compulsion. It can’t be me.
“Regardless of why, I am alive. And you…”
I hold my breath. My skin’s stinging from being scrubbed with cold water, but it’s not enough. As hard as I scrubbed, it was nothing compared to the sensation of the dragon’s attention. I keep my eyes locked on a knot in the woode
n floorboards, but my whole being is focused on Ygdris, waiting, ready for him to look at me again.
But he doesn’t.
“Because.” He sighs. “Then I take it you’re accepting my offer.” His voice is colourless, and when I glance up at him, he’s steadfastly looking at the wall. “Why?”
I push the washbasin away and pull on a fresh t-shirt, wincing as the fabric scrapes over a long cut on my side. Why? He didn’t seem that interested in what I wanted yesterday. What’s changed?
“Take it that I don’t have a choice.” My lips tingle, but he’s still not looking at me. “You said my reward for this job would be salvation. I figured that’d be tricky to do if you were dead.”
“You seemed less convinced by my promise of salvation yesterday.”
I shrug tightly. “Believe what you want. Maybe I did it because I don’t want a dragon corpse drawing attention from the Protectorate.”
Ygdris laughs softly and I stalk to the bathroom door, bracing my hands on the doorframe.
I lick my lips. “You could make me tell you.”
That stops his laughter. “Ah, yes. Perhaps I could wait to command you until we’re back on the water, and watch you drown yourself again,” he says, his voice like a winter frost. “Except my commands don’t seem to have the power over you that they should. I told you to save yourself.”
“And I did.”
My fingers tighten on the doorframe as he starts to stand up, moving slowly as though he’s testing every muscle. I lick my lips.
“You told me to save myself. Well, if your corpse had washed up on shore and the Protectorate destroyed the city in revenge, I’d be dead. And now there’s a hole in the Dome, and creatures coming in from the sea and I know I can’t stay off the water so one of them’s going to get me eventually. But maybe whatever this salvation you’re offering me is, it’ll help with the Dome. At least that’s what I told myself.” I hug myself. “See. I was saving myself. Long-term instead of short-term.”
And it worked. It shouldn’t have. I should be dead. When I grabbed my harpoon and dived down after the monster and the dragon…
Black. Black water, black muck, black greasy scales coiling in the shadows. I kick down, down into the darkness. I know I’m probably going to die. I should be afraid.
But I’m not. Because I’m doing what the dragon told me. I’m obeying his will. Nothing else matters.
I shake myself, and I’m back in my room. Sunlight’s pouring through the windows and the only blackness left is in the memory clings to edges of my mind. I draw a ragged breath. Obeying Ygdris felt good. And now…
Ygdris is standing like a statue. “You actually… sun and stars. You have no idea. I can’t do this. I can’t lose…” His head drops. “No. I’ve come this far. I can’t give up now. You will do this for me.”
“Sure, well, no one says no to the Protectorate,” I mutter. Just get it over with. Order me to do… whatever it is you hunted me down for.
“Protectorate.”
I raise my head; I’m used to hearing the word said with that sort of venom by humans, but from a dragon’s mouth?