I Married A Dragon (Prime Mating Agency)(33)

“Thank you,” Kaida said with a genuine gratitude that reflected the one I felt towards my friend. “All of this is a little intimidating. But Cedros has been a brilliant teacher so far. Knowing it’s normal to struggle with the rifts will make it easier on my overachiever ego when I fail. And I would love to meet your mate. Having another Ejaya to learn from will be great.”

“I will arrange it,” Rovain said. “Just be prepared that—now that Cedros has you to protect him from the unpleasantness of other people’s proximity—my Trinit will insist on you both joining us in the countless social events she keeps dragging me to.”

Kaida burst out laughing at the long-suffering way in which he said that last sentence. I couldn’t help a smile, either. I had mixed feelings about that prospect. Some apprehension, but also a great deal of excitement to finally experience all that I had missed out on. I could only hope freeloaders wouldn’t make it unpleasant.

“I look forward to it!” Kaida replied with a glowing smile.

“Well, I should get back to work,” Rovain said. “Be warned that you should avoid the Vessant sector. The Lelvians are on a pilgrimage again, and aqrats have been roaming nearby. Elros has been quite busy dealing with them.”

I nodded with a frown. “Sounds like I will have my hands full tomorrow when I relieve him.”

“Fighting?” Kaida said, with a sliver of worry in her voice.

“Mm hmm. Fighting and looking for lost pilgrims. For void creatures, the Lelvians are quite terrible at navigating it,” I said in a playful tone before sobering as Kaida continued to frown. “Do not fret, my Ejaya. I will return. We fight aqrats all the time.”

“But you’ve been very sick. You’ve gone into rage,” she argued.

“True. But now I have you. You’ve brought me back from the brink in only a few hours instead of weeks or months,” I said in a reassuring tone. “Plus, this will give me an excuse to cuddle with you more.”

Rovain snorted while Kaida shook her head at me.

I gave Rovain an assessing look. “That said, you look strained, brother.”

He nodded. “I am, but do not worry. I’m almost done here. Trinit will be by in the next thirty minutes. Then I’ll be doing a great deal of hugging and cuddling myself.”

This time, both Kaida and I chuckled.

“Very well, brother. We’ll see you later,” I said.

He nodded, smiled at my Kaida, then shifted back to his combat form to resume his work.

We reached the Storm Lands, named as such for the frequent lightning that ripped through the sky, and the electricity that charged the air all around us. No one lived here, but a number of companies with high needs in power leveraged this bounty in the more stable parts of that region. My Ejaya and I went straight to the most unstable area for her to practice avoiding rifts.

Saying she struggled was the understatement of a lifetime.

After two hours, she kept walking right inside them or freezing in place while debating which direction to go, until she got swallowed in the expanding rift. Her dejected expression every time I came to get her out was adorable. But for all that, my Kaida was a good sport and a great pupil. She’d taken to timing how long it took me to rescue her, making it a game of her trying to last the longest without getting sucked into a rift, and of me getting her out as fast as possible.

I couldn’t recall ever feeling this happy and carefree. As I trained her, images of me teaching little human-Derakeen hybrids how to avoid or get out of rifts wouldn’t stop flashing before my eyes. A powerful longing accompanied it as countless questions fired off in my mind. Could I get Kaida to share that desire?

“I’ve tortured you enough for one day, my Ejaya,” I said in a gentle voice after one of countless rescues. “You deserve a break. And then I must take you home to feed you.”

She chuckled, and looked at me as if I’d said something cute. “Normally, I would argue for one more round, but I believe I’ve gotten lost enough for one day.”

“Give me a second to morph, my Kaida, and I will show you some more beauties of your new world.”





Chapter 10





Kaida





I would never cease to be amazed by Cedros’s transformation into his dragon form. Besides the awesomeness of the visual itself, I always felt so tiny and vulnerable next to him—which I effectively was. Cedros was a stunning dragon, even though he mostly stood upright rather than on all fours.

Once again, he reached for me with his massive paw, then held me with both hands, my back pressed to his chest. As soon as he took flight, a huge portal opened before us in the air. The same queasy feeling I was beginning to get used to gave my stomach a whirl as we passed through it. We emerged a second later over a vast plain.

Unlike Oddran, it didn’t have the plethora of floating plateaus. If not for the horizon fading into a darker shimmer where the region faded into the void, I would have believed myself in a normal world. A long rocky cliff framed one side of the valley, ending in a waterfall and a river. Along the valley, herds were running wild. Some appeared to have their refuges carved into the cliff face, while others disappeared inside the forest to the west.

However, despite the lack of floating islands, a series of large rings cluttered the sky in one area.