“Oh boy. It got to me, I’ve got to be honest. Turned my blood cold.” She rubbed her hands over her face, then glanced around. “Where are we?”
“Just a ways off from it. I didn’t want to set down there. It’s an easy walk from here, and I wanted a few moments first.”
“I’ll take them.”
He touched her cheek. “A long way from rainbows here.”
“The wrong side of them, I’d say. And I want to say something else, before we head back and face that place. That flight—the rainbow, the other dragons, the whole ball of it, it was the most incredible experience of my life.”
“Is that the truth of it?” He cocked his head. “I thought the most incredible experience of your life would be making love with me.”
“Oh yeah, right. Well, next to that.”
“All right then.” He tipped up her chin to kiss her. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“It was more than enjoyment. It was just flat down amazing. The best gift anyone’s ever given me.”
“Handy for me, that rainbow. Dragons can’t resist one.”
“Really? They’re so gorgeous. I thought my eyes would pop out of my head.”
“Happens you’ve seen a dragon befor
e,” he reminded her.
“And you’re the most gorgeous and handsome of them, blah blah, but honestly, Larkin, they’re extreme. All those colors, and the power…Hold on—do people ride them, the way I’ve been riding you?”
“No one rides like you, a stór. And they don’t, no. They’re not horses, after all.”
“But if they could. You talked to them.”
“It’s not what you’d call conversation. It’s a kind of communication to be sure. A sort of expression of thought of feeling. And something I can only do when I’m in the dragon, so to speak.”
“Aerial warfare would give us a big, fat advantage. I want to think about this.”
“They’re gentle creatures, Blair.”
“So, for the most part, are the women Glenna and I are training to fight. When worlds are on the line, pal, you use everything that comes to hand.” She could see the resistance clearly enough on his face. “Let me just play with it in my head awhile. It’s this way, right?”
“It is.”
They walked the narrow road, framed in hedges and lined with spears of orange lilies. He bent, plucked one, then passed it to her.
Blair stared down at it, delicate petals in a strong and vibrant color. Something wild and lovely.
She talked of war, she thought. And he gave her a flower.
Maybe it was foolish—maybe both of them were—but she slid its stem into one of the buttonholes of her coat. And she breathed in its sweet scent as they walked toward the battleground.
Chapter 18
They’d walked only minutes when Blair heard the sound of horses, and a rattle she assumed was a wagon or cart. When they cleared the curve in the road, she saw she’d been right. There were two wagons, both loaded with people and possessions. There were riders on horseback as well, some no more than children.
Mules were tethered to the back of each wagon and clopped along with a look she could only describe as extreme irritation.
The first wagon pulled up, with the man driving it lifting his cap to Blair, then addressing himself to Larkin.
“It’s the wrong way you’re traveling,” he said. “For by orders of the royal family all in this province are to go into Dunglas, or farther, even into Geall City itself if they can manage it. There are demons coming, it’s said, and war with them.”