“My lord, you’re going to give these poor young village girls a heart attack,” Regina warned as he stood in nothing but his undergarment.
His perfectly tanned body was chiseled perfection. Skin draped over muscle without an ounce of fat. He had scars along his arms, both long slices that looked like they were from swords, and small puckers from arrows. My heart did feel like it was seizing in my chest, but I couldn’t look away. I’d never seen a fully naked man before.
At Regina’s words, he gave us his back and then the undergarment dropped.
Bless the Maker.
Seeing Drae Valdren’s bare butt cheeks sent a wave of heat through my body as my whole chest warmed.
Regina turned to face me and bowed her head lightly. “Please excuse the impropriety. It’s an emergency.”
I nodded, feeling like my heart was going to jump out of my chest and fall to the floor. I didn’t mind it. There was a thrill in seeing the king of Embergate naked, a thrill that I liked.
I was about to ask exactly how we would be flying out of here when the king let out a low groan and I steeled myself. My gaze flicked to his naked form as he fell to the fetal position on the ground.
I watched in wonder as the tan of his skin transformed into shiny black dragon scales. A gasp ripped from my throat as nubs started to protrude from his back, growing like vines on a tree.
“Faster, my king, I fear the Nightfall army is close,” Regina told him, pulling out her sword.
Faster? As if he could control such a thing?
I of course knew about his ability to transform into a dragon, the only one of us with dragon magic who could, but seeing it was another wonder altogether.
The black vine-like protrusions on his back grew into leathery wings as dizziness washed over me and I feared I too might faint as Kendal did. His body bulked and he got onto all fours, his hands turning to claws.
“I brought your saddle in case of such an incident.” Regina rushed into the stall which held our carriage and retrieved a giant black leather saddle with a basket on top. I was so overwhelmed with witnessing the magical transformation of man to dragon that I’d totally forgotten Kendal in my arms. She roused then, took one look at the dragon now standing in the stable with yellow glowing eyes and smoking nostrils, and went limp again.
Regina looked at Kendal, disappointed. “Weak nerves.”
I wanted to stick up for Kendal but she was right. She was squeamish and fainted at the slightest sight of blood.
I marveled at the king’s dragon form. Those who lived in Jade City must see him fly past all the time, but way out in Cinder Village we’d only heard of such a display of power. His dragon stood over ten feet tall, a hulking mass of muscle and scales. His tail flicked to the side and my gaze rested on the razor-sharp spikes at the tip.
I watched as Regina, and now two other Royal Guards, strapped a saddle onto the king’s back and then urged us forward.
It was a basket saddle with stirrups, and once lowered in I was able to let Kendal rest peacefully inside of the basket at my feet while I sat.
“In case he has to spin in the air,” Regina explained, strapping my waist in.
What the Hades did she just say? Fly upside down?
She belted Kendal in, who was still unconscious, and then patted the dragon king’s shoulder. “Fly fast. Send reinforcements.”
He looked at her and nodded and then started to walk out of the barn. I gripped the sides of the basket as I was tossed left and right. A dragon’s walk was way different than I expected, and Kendal woke up with the jostling. She stared up at me panicked.
“The king has shifted into a dragon and is flying us to Jade City,” I told her quickly so she didn’t freak out and faint again.
The poor thing just kept staring at me wide-eyed and nodded, her bottom lip shaking. Kendal had always been a bit fragile, mentally speaking. I believed some things were just too much for her.
‘Hold on. I’m taking off.’ The king’s voice boomed in my mind and my eyes flew open.
‘You… you can mindspeak?’ I mentally thought at him, unsure if he would respond.
‘I am the king of all dragon-folk. What good would I be in my dragon form if I could not communicate with my people?’ he responded, and then took flight.
A yelp ripped from both Kendal and me as he kicked off the ground, flapping his outspread wings. They snapped out so fast that a gust of wind surrounded my body, throwing my hair all over the place.
As he pumped higher above Gypsy Rock, I glanced down at Regina and the Royal Guard that had assembled on horseback. I’d never seen Embergate from this vantage point. The sun was just waking, and early shafts of orange glow emanated over the land. Off in the distance, if I squinted, I could see the thatched gates of Cinder Village.