Time Slipping (27 page)

I shook my head as I used my feet to drag the tray closer and closer to the edge. “You seriously need to work on your rallying cry.”

“Fine, you don’t like Donkeh? How about … Hang ten! Bust a nut! Ride that bull, cowgirl!”

“Oh, God,” I said, the tray teetering on the edge. “Here we goooo!” I tried not to scream on my way down. I really did.

Chapter Thirty-Four

THE FIRST PART OF THE slope was really steep, and there was no way I could keep my mouth shut. “Aaaaayyeeeeeee!” Coins went flying everywhere — off to the sides, up onto my legs, several of them hitting me in the face, chest, and head.

As I got to the center of the pile where the curve moved more parallel with the ground, I slowed, but then larger items of treasure tried to jump on my bandwagon. First a bowl of some sort hit my kneecap and then a big, heavy cup leaped up after being banged by my foot, hitting me right in the chin.

“Oooph!” My head snapped back and the thing landed in my lap. “Holy shit, that hurt.” As my surfing tray reached a spot that was fairly level, it slowed. I took that moment to use my tongue to feel around in my mouth. One of my front teeth was loosened from the impact of the damn cup.

The sound of a thousand metal things clanking around slowly finished out as my silver surfboard came to a stop in the midst of a bunch of furniture. I rolled off the side of it, my body too battered and bruised to do any better than that. The cup that had been in my lap came with me, rolling until it landed just next to my face. I was on my stomach looking at its strange green surface when the dragon woke up.

A blast of fire rose up from above the ledge.

“Uh-oh,” I whispered, my bladder threatening to let go.

Tim was suddenly there next to my face, his hands cupped over his nuts. “We’re doomed!” he squeaked out, staring up at the dragon’s ledge.

“What did you expect?” I hissed at him. “You told me to slide down a noisy coin slope on a metal platter!”

“Hey! That was a good rescue plan and you know it! And it would have worked if you’d kept your big mouth shut and not screamed the entire way down!”

He had a point. “Okay, fine. What do I do now?” The edge of a dragon wing and the tip of its tail appeared at the ledge.

“Run.”

“Run?” I looked behind me as he flew off and left me lying there.

“Yeah! Meet you outside! Bottom of the mountain!” I heard his tiny voice echoing through the corridor behind me. “Run, everyone! The dragon’s awake! Run! Don’t just stand there looking at me! Go! Go! Go!”

I prayed my friends noticed the panic on Tim’s face and just ran away without being able to hear him, because there was no way to stop this freight train from going down this track. The dragon’s head was now peering over the edge of the ledge, and his eyes were busy scanning his treasure.

I couldn’t decide what to do. Should I just wait for him to complete his scan, hoping he’d miss me and fly off, giving me a chance to sneak out? How well could dragons smell a scent? Were they like bloodhounds or birds? Could he see even the slightest movement like an eagle? My horrible lack of dragon knowledge was a serious hindrance to me coming up with a decent escape plan. It made me wish I’d attended some sort of training program with Ishmail. If I ever saw him again, I was going to recommend he start doing that — training idiots who were going to come into contact with these beasts.

The dragon spouted off another round of fire, and this time, I was looking at that stupid cup that had hitched a ride on my surf platter. It glowed red for a few seconds and then quit when the flame stopped and went back to green. When it was lit from within like that, I saw the relief of a man carved on the side of it, and he had vines wrapped around his neck that were definitely not there to give him a hug; they were strangling him. It struck me as completely familiar to my own life, how the vines I communicated with through the Earth element had been there to both hinder and help my enemies and friends. I reached out slowly and took the treasure, pulling it toward me.
You’re coming with me, cup.
Hopefully the dragon didn’t do inventory and wouldn’t miss this tiny thing. It was no bigger than the lump of crud under his talons, so I doubted he’d mind.

“Biad!”

His deep voice resonated in my bones. I wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t just an echo, either. I really felt like he was
inside
me somehow.
Oh, shit. Did I have sex with a dragon while I was sleeping?!
Are we like, One, now? Spike’s going to be pissed.

“Come to me, Biad.” It was like Darth Vader talking or something. There was no way to deny him.

I sighed really deeply. It wasn’t like I felt compelled to answer him, the way I did it to people in my dreams. Nothing was pulling me to him or making me think I’d better listen. It was just that the scale in the palm of my hand started to glow, and the eyeball was there again, and it looked so sad. I got the distinct impression that if I walked away, I would be causing irreparable harm to the dragon who I’d sworn to be a companion to.

Goddammit, this is confusing.
I got to my feet and held up my glowing hand. “I’m over here.” I had the cup behind my back. “Fell off the ledge while I was sleeping.”

The dragon leaped from the ledge and soared down to where I was, landing on a giant, ornate horse carriage to my left. It started to sag under his weight. “You tried to leave me,” he rumbled.

“Well, I’m here, aren’t I? I could’ve stayed hidden, but I didn’t.”

“You cannot hide from me. We are bound.”

That made me kind of mad. “Did you have dragon sex with me? Because if you did, I’m going to be pissed. I don’t know how it works in Dragon Town, but where I come from, you ask and you get a
yes
before you proceed to the deed.”

“We slept together. We shared a dream. We are bound.”

I had to think about that for a minute.
We dreamed together? Did that happen?
A hazy memory started to come back.

The dragon reached out when I was distracted and took me into his big claw, but he didn’t hurt me. As we made contact and I was brought up to his head, visions assailed my mind.

Dammit. I did dream when I was sleeping.
I dreamed of … clouds. Of clouds and rainbows and warm air billowing out around me. I was flying, and I was doing it from the back of a dragon.

“Oh, shiiit.”
 
I think I did have dragon sex.

Othello placed me on his head, between the two big horns that were there, both of them about as big around as a decent-sized log and curved toward his back. I held onto one with my hand and gripped the cup with the other.

“Hold onto me. We will fly.” He started walking out of the big chamber and into the hallway Tim had disappeared through. The stagecoach he was standing on cracked and fell apart when he left it, but it just felt like a gentle bump in the road to me. Dragons are awesome shock absorbers.

“I, uh, can’t.”

He stopped, his eyeball rolling up to look at me.

I held out the cup. “I want to keep this with me, and I don’t have any way to hold onto it if I’m holding onto you.” I felt better already, admitting to stealing something from him.
The truth shall set you free.
I thought of Céline who had said those words to me a long time ago, and realized then how much I missed her. I missed everyone, and I wanted to go home.

“My treasure is yours.” He reached out and hooked something with his talon from his pile of gold. It was leather, a satchel that would easily fit over my shoulder. It rose up to me, showing me just how limber a dragon’s legs are.
Impressive.

I took it from him and smiled a little. “Huh. That’s handy.”

“It is from Ishmail. My human-partner. I like to take things from him. It is a game we both enjoy.”

My smile faded. “He’s not going to like that I’m using it.” Ish was super possessive of his dragon, that much was clear, and this felt like a second girlfriend wearing the first girlfriend’s shirt or something.

“He will understand. You are my mate.”

“Uh, Othello? We need to talk about this mate thing.” He re-started his trip through the cave corridors as I adjusted the satchel over my body and slid the cup into it. It fit perfectly. “You see, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m a girl. A
fae
girl. And you’re a dragon. You’re not even from the same species as I am, and that doesn’t even address the issue of size differential.” I was totally channeling Tony in that moment with my awesome math vocabulary and it made me miss him with the fury of a thousand dragon flames. “It could never work between us.”

“Love knows no bounds, no enemies, no hurdles, no size differential.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but I really didn’t have any fuel for that. He was right. If he wanted to love me, who was I to say that he couldn’t? Love is love. I’d learned that as a fae.

“Okay, so you love me, which is seriously flattering, especially considering the fact that you haven’t even smelled my morning breath yet, but … um … not to be mean or anything, but I love someone else.”

“Love knows no bounds, no enemies…”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. But the thing is … I’m kind of a one-man type of girl. And that position has already been filled by this fae named Spike, who you’d really like, not only because he’s nice, but he’s also a great musician. Do you like guitar?”

“I will eat Spike.”

I shook my head vehemently. “Nope, you can’t eat him. No enemies, remember? My love is your love.”

He huffed out some smoke, his great lumbering form not slowing. “I will not eat Spike if it would displease you.”

“It would more than displease me. It would make me stab you with my sword.”

“Love does not know violence.”

“See, that’s the thing…” I leaned down and patted his gently undulating head. “I like you, Othello, I really do. But I don’t
love
you. So if you make me do it, I will kill you.”

“We are mated. You will not kill me. You cannot.”

I shivered. “Please don’t say
mated
.” I shivered again. “That implies some sort of copulation, and I am
not
okay with that.”

“A mating of the minds is not the same as the physical type. It is deeper.”

Deeper?
Aaaand the shit just keeps getting worse.
“How about we change the subject, ‘kay? Let’s talk about … me getting out of here.”

“We are almost to our destination.”

“We are?” I grabbed both horns and leaned out far, catching a glimpse of light just ahead. “Wow. How long did I sleep?” It looked like full sun outside the cave, but I distinctly remembered arriving in the dead of night.

“Long enough.”

“Oh boy,” I said mostly to myself, “I don’t think I like the sound of that.” As we got closer and closer to the entrance to the cave, my panic rose higher. “Listen, Othello? I feel like I should warn you … I have friends outside who might not understand that you’re not going to hurt me. And I don’t want anything to happen to them.”

“If they do not try to harm us, they will not be harmed.”

“Yeah, see, that’s the thing … I can’t guarantee they won’t try to harm us. They might misunderstand this mating thing.” I swallowed with difficulty, forcing myself to move on and sound casual about the whole affair, even though inside I was feeling very vomity with the stress. “So even if they try to hurt you … us … I want you to give them a pass. Don’t hurt them. Don’t flame them or smoke them out or anything.”

“You are my mate. I will obey you.”

“Obey me?”
Now we’re talking
. For the first time in what felt like hours or days, I felt some hope. “You mean, you’ll do what I say?”

“Yes. Mates are loyal to one another. Loyalty includes being willing to sacrifice my will for yours.”

I frowned. “Then how come when I said I wanted to leave, you wouldn’t let me?”

“We are leaving. Just as you asked.”

“So that means we … uh … mated, while I slept?”

He didn’t say anything, and I was kind of glad for that. I wasn’t ready for any of the details.

Chapter Thirty-Five

THE SUN WAS BRIGHT, WHICH meant I’d slept at least six hours. What had my friends done while I was gone? Had they worried? Panicked? Celebrated? I knew I’d been paranoid and hateful earlier. It must have been the demon cut making me feel so negative about everything, like Tim said. That didn’t change the fact that I felt bad about it. I hoped I’d have a chance to apologize.

I looked down at my arm expecting to see the evidence of my stupidity glaring out at me, but the wound seemed better than before. It wasn’t oozing anymore, and the edges were closing together, the beginnings of a pink scar forming. Flexing my hand and elbow, I realized it was less painful too.
An after-effect of dragon mind-screwing or something else?
I didn’t know and would probably never find out, because as soon as this dragon let me out of his cave, I was
gone
. Gone-ski. Gone-o-Rama. Gonesville. Gone like the wind. Gone girl. Gone…

“Hey! Jayne!” Tim yelled from off to my right. “Over here!” He was hiding behind a boulder, just his head peeking over the top of it.

“Hold on a second, Othello.” I tapped him on the head with my foot. Using the two horns to steady me, I leaned out toward the bottom of the mountain and yelled as loud as I could. “Friends! Fae and Ish! Listen up! Do not hurt or kill the dragon, okay? He’s with me! We’re just going to do a little flyover, and we’ll be right back!”

“Jayne!” It was Spike’s voice, coming from some trees not far below where I was.

Guilt assailed me. Did he know? Did he somehow sense that I’d cheated on him? Could I convince him I hadn’t meant to do whatever I’d done? I wanted to cry with the unfairness. I still wasn’t even sure what I’d done or not done, but it all felt wrong. It was like someone else had taken over my life and steered it in the wrong direction, which really sucked because I was totally capable of doing that all on my own; I didn’t need help.

“Jayne!” His voice was strong. Proud. Fearless. “Are you okay? Do you want me to come up there?”

I thought about it for a few seconds. Did I want him up there? Hell yes, I did. Did I want to risk his life by having him come up there just to make me feel better? Hell no, I didn’t. I searched my mind to determine if my motivations for keeping him back on the ground were entirely unselfish. I didn’t want to think that somewhere deep inside me, I wanted to be alone with this beast — with Othello, the seriously misguided dragon who thought I was his mate. He said love knows none of that garbage he listed, but jealousy was a pretty strong emotion. Would he sense how much I loved Spike and want to lash out?
Maybe
. If I were him, I would, and that made it not worth the risk.