About a Dragon (Dragon Kin #2)(47)

In battle, the queen’s forced separation from her mate made Annwyl a formidable foe. But when the battles were over, the men avoided the woman like she bore the plague. Unless Fearghus was near to keep her…uh…occupied.

“All right. I’ll wait until she wakes.”

“Is it something you can tell me about?”

Those blue eyes he dreamed of almost every night turned toward him. “It’s nothing to worry about, Brastias.” She patted his shoulder and his entire body tightened. She had to stop doing that. She kept touching him like a friend or one of her brothers. The last thing he felt for Morfyd the White Dragonwitch of Dark Plains was brotherly.

“You sure? I can be quite helpful.”

Finally, she smiled. Good. He loved seeing her smile. “I know you are, my friend.”

Friend? “Morfyd, I—”

Lightning flashed and storm clouds suddenly appeared. Morfyd looked up at the sky. “Dammit.”

Brastias sensed her concern went beyond getting Annwyl back to Fearghus. “What is it, Morfyd? What aren’t you telling me?”

Shaking her head, the woman turned from him and walked off. He watched her until she disappeared into her tent, then the skies opened up and rain poured down on him.

* * *

“Hold on.”

“Hold on? Why?” Talaith finally lifted her head from where she had it buried in Briec’s mane of silver hair. She should have never looked. The dragon was heading right for a waterfall…and he wasn’t stopping.

“What are you doing? Have you gone mad?” she yelled over the brutal storm. It had plagued them all the way from Gwenvael’s den to Briec’s. The dragon had been able to keep ahead of it until a bit ago.

“Don’t you trust me, sweet Talaith?”

“No!”

He chuckled as the waterfall—and the stone wall behind it—came closer and closer.

With a screech, Talaith buried her face into Briec’s neck, her hands gripping his mane. She knew the moment they hit the waterfall as even more water drenched her and a roaring sound assaulted her ears, then it stopped and she was in complete darkness. She thought it was over, until the dragon went free-falling into the blackness.

His humming during all this didn’t help either. It competed with her screams.

When the dragon suddenly stopped, she thought for sure whatever remained in her stomach would come flying back up. He spoke a charm and torches lining the cave walls burst with light.

“Finally. Home.”

Without releasing the beast, Talaith looked up and saw the enormous cavern the dragon had dropped down to get to this level. Bastard. He could have warned her he wasn’t planning on some kind of poetic suicide.

Briec flew slowly down the cavern and Talaith marveled at the size of Briec’s cave. Gwenvael’s hadn’t been this large.

The deeper they went, the brighter it became with more and more torches lighting the way.

After a good fifteen minutes, the dragon pulled to a stop, gently landing.

“You all right?”

She yanked his hair and he rewarded her with a short grunt of pain. “No. I’m not all right.”

He began walking, heading deeper into his cave. “You really need to get used to flying. And stop pulling my hair. It’s irritating.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s attached to my head.”

“Not why should I stop pulling your hair, dragon. Why should I get used to flying?”

“Because, it’s the easiest way to get out of here. Unless, of course, you’d prefer the long walk out.”

Knowing there was another way out, even one, gave her much ease. She’d have to find it later when the dragon slept.

“Do I have to ride bareback all the time? Can’t you wear a saddle or something?”

Briec abruptly stopped walking. “Don’t ever say that to me again.”

She didn’t know he’d be so sensitive about it. “Sorry.”

He nodded his enormous horned head and walked on. After another ten minutes, Talaith noticed large caverns filled with treasure. Also like Gwenvael’s cave. Eventually, he entered an enormous chamber and that’s when he finally stopped walking. Briec lowered himself to the ground and Talaith slid off his back. She leaned against him as her legs took a moment getting steady again.

Once she had some control, she pushed away from his body and slowly made her way deep inside. She gasped in surprise. “Briec…it’s…um…”

“Yes?”

“It’s beautiful.” She stared at the tapestries covering the walls. Beautiful ones that told stories of dragon heroes from long ago. He also had an immense dining table, silver-accented chairs surrounding it; couches for lounging, and one of the alcoves from the main chamber held the biggest bookshelf she’d ever seen, filled from top to bottom with books. More couches and chairs littered the alcove as well so one could rest and read.

It was warm. Cozy. And she’d never felt safer in her life. She fell in love with all of it immediately.

“I thought it would be like Gwenvael’s. Maybe even a little worse.”

Briec moved up beside her, his tail encircling her feet but not touching her. “Gwenvael doesn’t stay in his home much.”

She could believe that. The few days they all stayed in due to the storms, Gwenvael kept leaving and risking the weather so he could get a few minutes outside. He was not a dragon who liked being away from other beings for too long, unlike his brothers.