“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Get them to listen to you.”
“I think they’re just tired,” she says simply.
“No, it’s more than that. I’ve been watching you.”
“Oh?” She looks amused.
“You aren’t an ordinary human.”
“And you aren’t an ordinary dragon,” she tells me. “We should get some sleep. At dusk, we need to go to Fablestone.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask her.
“Doing what?”
“Why do you need to get there so desperately?”
She doesn’t say anything for a minute. Instead, she begins to rub her wrist anxiously as she looks around. She has long sleeves on, so I can’t see her wrist, but suddenly, I desperately want to.
“Peggy?”
“Hmm?” She says, absentmindedly.
“Why do you want to get to Fablestone?”
She looks up at me sharply.
“I just need to, okay? What’s with all of the questions?”
I move across the room then, ignoring the fact that I’m naked and she’s not. I ignore the fact that she’s human and I’m not. I ignore the fact that I need her, that I want her, that I desire her. I ignore all of that, and I crowd her space.
“Tell me,” I ask. It’s not mean. It’s not a command. It’s a request.
From a man to a woman.
“I made a promise,” she says finally, and I reach for her wrist. Peggy is quiet as I push her sleeve back and find the mark on her wrist. Of course. She swore an oath. To do what, though? What exactly was her promise? And why would she make it?
A dragon’s oath is binding and cannot be broken, which is why so few people ever swear them. Most of the time, people plan to double-cross the shifters, so making promises and taking oaths are out of the question.
Not Peggy, though.
She didn’t shy away from honesty and loyalty, and I need to know why.
“You swore a dragon’s oath, Peggy.”
“I may have,” she admits.
“Why?”
“Someone needed me,” she says.
Who?
Ellie?