B00CGOH3US EBOK (11 page)

Jill was the one to walk ahead this time, but he was soon by her side, the thump of his booted feet drumming out a steady rhythm.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't like flying in the twenty-first century either, and compared to the dragon method, that's relatively safe considering you're strapped inside a metal tube with explosive fuel tanks hurtling you through the sky. With you, it's like hanging onto the wing of a barnstormer with no parachute as a backup if you drop me. You'll have to humor me—I've never been the daredevil type."

"Dare devil? What sort of demon is that?"

Jill shook her head. It never ceased to amaze her how words so common to her could have such a different meaning to Baelin. She felt like she was becoming a walking dictionary.

"It's not a real demon. It means someone who's adventurous, willing to take dangerous, death-defying risks with their life on a daily basis, which definitely doesn't describe me."

"You are brave enough to walk with a dragon."

She glanced at his profile. In another time and place, she might consider him hot if she weren't constantly aware of the dragon part of him hidden beneath his cloak. "You're not so bad, in a warped fairy tale kind of way."

He turned a raised brow at her. "Was that intended to be a compliment?"

"It was." She grinned.

When he smiled back, her stomach did an odd flip.

Whoa. Definitely hot.

Jill turned her attention to the vast, open hills ahead. She needed to get her mind off handsome dragon men and onto something safer. But with his tall, broad form walking so close to her, it was nearly impossible. His presence surrounded her, the girlish fantasy of a real-life knight in shining armor filling her senses.

"So, that dragon-to-man metamorphosis was pretty impressive last night. Can you shift back and forth whenever you want to?"

"Nay, I can only become human one month out of each year."

"Yeah, you told me. But when you're human, can you turn back into a dragon?"

He looked at her as if she was insane. "Why would I wish to?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe just because you can?"

"If you were forced to live eleven months out of every year as a flying
lizard
,
would you wish to waste your time in human form being that which you despise?"

Jill grimaced. Had she really called him that? "When you put it like that, I guess not."

He was silent for a long time before he spoke again. "To answer your question, I cannot take dragon form while I am human any more than I can shift into human form while I am a dragon. I have no choice in the matter."

"I understand." Not really, but she was trying hard to wrap her mind around the reality of the dragon-man walking at her side. "So, since you've been a dragon for over two centuries, how old does that make you?"

Baelin shrugged. "I am not certain. I was cursed when I was in my twentieth year and have lived most of that time since as a dragon."

"You don't look like you're still twenty." Jill studied the lines beginning to form around his eyes, the kind that usually only came with age or smiling a lot. Somehow, she didn't think he smiled very often. "You look like you're more in your mid-thirties or so."

"It only appears that way. Because of the curse, I am only human for one moon's cycle and as such, I age but one month each year."

"Oh, kinda like the dog years thing."

"I do not understand."

"Well, they say a dog ages seven years for every human one. It sounds as if you age one month for every dragon year."

"'Tis possible. I never thought on it over much. The seasons come and go very much the same. After the first century, I stopped counting them."

He said the words so casually and yet it tore her apart to think of him living in that cave, year after year, decade after decade, all alone.

"When you're a dragon, do you still think and feel like a human?"

He looked at her and the toll his isolation had taken on his soul nearly broke her heart.

"Aye."

Jill's throat tightened and she had to look away. She knew then that he hadn't been completely honest with her.

He had counted those years. Each and every one of them.

"We will camp here for the night."

Jill plopped down where she stood and proceeded to tear off her shoes and massage her aching feet. She'd been ready to stop an hour earlier when they first entered the forest, but she'd bit her tongue and didn't complain. She knew if she had, Baelin would only suggest flying again, and she would endure blisters the size of watermelons over medieval hang gliding any day.

Glancing around at the small clearing within a stand of tall birch trees and thick holly bushes, she noted there were more leaves than grass on the ground and not a bed in sight. That didn't matter. She was so tired from walking, she could sleep on a pile of rocks and not notice the difference.

Baelin dropped his satchel and shield beside her, and then he swung the crossbow and quiver of arrows from his back. He drew back the bowstring and cocked it. Looking down the sight, he released the trigger, firing an imaginary arrow at an invisible target.

"What are you doing?"

"I shall attempt to find us fresh game. The supplies from the village will only last so long, and we do not know when or if we shall pass another to procure more. It would be wise to make what food we have last."

Jill halted her foot rub and glanced up at him. "You're going hunting now?"

"Aye, before the light fades."

"What about me?"

"Would you care to accompany me?"

At the mere thought of taking another step, her feet screamed in protest. "Not really."

Baelin nodded, as if he'd anticipated her answer.

"Wait a minute. After all your dire warnings about how dangerous it is for a woman to be traveling alone, you're going to go off and leave me here by myself?"

"You should be safe enough as long as you do not wander off into the forest. I shall not be gone long."

He pulled a wicked-looking dagger from his belt and tossed it to the ground beside her, its sharp blade embedding itself deep in the dirt, while the jewelled hilt glinted in the sunlight filtering through the trees.

"What's that for?"

"In case I am wrong." Baelin looked down at her, his humor fading as wariness narrowed his eyes. "I trust you to remain here until I return."

"Where would I go?"

"You might try escape."

Jill huffed. "Now why would I do that? I told you I would help you."

"Once I am out of sight, you may have a change of heart. I advise you not to attempt it." With that, he turned and walked away.

Stunned by his lack of trust, she watched his broad back blend into the trees until he disappeared.

"Fine," she shouted. "Go off and hunt, Daniel Boone. Leave me alone here to…what? What the heck am I supposed to do while you're out stalking some poor, defenseless animal?"

"A fire would be beneficial," his disembodied voice answered from the forest. "Unless you prefer sitting in the dark and eating your meat raw."

"Ha, ha. Very funny."

The tall trees offered no further comment and suddenly she felt terribly alone in the clearing. The forest probably hid all manner of creatures hunting their own dinner. She'd already met a dragon. There was no telling what else roamed this strange land with an appetite for human flesh.

She jumped, startled by the call of a bird, then took a calming breath as she tried to get a grip on her overactive imagination. Vulnerable was not a feeling that sat well with her. She glanced at the knife sticking out of the dirt. She was more apt to cut herself and bleed to death than be able to use it in self-defense. Mace or pepper spray was definitely more up her alley.

Stop thinking that way
, she chided herself. After all, they hadn't seen another human being all day as they traipsed across the countryside. What were the chances someone would come jumping out of the bushes now?

A twig snapped somewhere behind her. Apparently, the chances were high. Jill reached for the dagger. She may not know how to use it but whatever was lurking in the woods didn't know that.

When a snarling wild beast or sex-crazed maniac didn't immediately pounce on her, she let out her breath and tried to relax.
There you go again
, she thought.
Psyching yourself out over nothing. It was probably just a squirrel chewing on a nut
.

Steeling herself, she rose to her feet. She needed to gain control of this situation before she completely lost her mind. So, first things first. She did not want to be sitting here in the dark all night long if, for some reason, Baelin didn't come back.

A fire. She could build a fire, couldn't she?

After gathering several armloads of downed branches without venturing too far into the dark woods, Jill stacked them high and eyed the pile of wood as if staring at it would be enough to catch it on fire. It didn't work.

Okay, so what did people use to start fires these days? Spying Baelin's satchel, Jill knelt to rummage through it. Knowing she wouldn't find a cigarette lighter of any kind, she hoped he had something that could be used to create a spark. Had matches been invented yet? She hoped so.

As she searched around in his belongings, her fingers brushed across the rolled form of the tapestry. She unfurled it in her lap and once again, her image stared back at her. It was hard to believe one piece of embroidered fabric controlled her fate.

Two people's fates, she corrected herself. Baelin needed the answers hidden within the threads as much as she did. But if what he said was true, then that meant he was probably also right about her having to pass those darn challenges. Wonderful. She'd had a hard enough time passing high school algebra. Damn remnant table reject. Jill rolled it up and retied the string around it before shoving it back into the satchel.

Blowing a wayward lock of hair out of her face, she turned her attention to the stacked firewood that should already be giving off heat. Instead, the branches lay on the ground where she dropped them, mocking her with her inability to do something so simple as light a fire.

Gritting her teeth in determination and still fuming in the face of Baelin's distrust, Jill stomped over and knelt by the wood pile.

"Oh, I'll light a fire all right. When Baelin gets his alligator ass back here, I'll have a freakin' bonfire going."

Baelin stepped out of the forest to spy Lady Jill bent over a pile of wood, rubbing two sticks together with furious effort.

"My lady. What, pray tell, are you doing?"

She glared at him, a fine sheen of sweat wetting her brow. "What does it look like? I'm giving myself a pedicure."

She tossed the sticks on the woodpile in disgust and arched her back with a groan, thrusting her breasts against the neckline of her gown. Baelin was forced to bite back his own groan. Would that he could cup those plump mounds in his hands, test their weight in his palms, taste their dusky peaks with his tongue.

To combat his errant thoughts, he tried to turn his attention elsewhere. "Are you having trouble with the fire?"

"You caught me. I flunked out of the Girl Scouts and never got my fire-starter badge."

Ignoring a response he did not even attempt to understand, he stepped up beside her. "If you will stand back, I shall light it for you."

She rose and dusted off the front of her gown. "By all means, knock yourself out."

When he was certain she stood a safe distance away, Baelin drew in a deep breath and spat a ball of fire, instantly igniting the dry kindling.

Lady Jill jumped back, nearly falling over the satchels behind her.

"Holy cow! Remind me not to kiss you. I don't think my tonsils could handle the heat."

Baelin stiffened, any thought of wanting her vanishing in an instant. He needed no further reminder he was no more than a monster to her, though the beast now wore a man's face.

"I shall make every effort to keep my distance."