Starlight (The Dragonian Series Book 5) (5 page)

My eyes immediately saw Blake baking in the sun, still in his dragon form.

Professor Vladimir was laughing at something he said.

Something I didn’t catch.

George was the first to take off his shirt and I looked away as he pulled off his trousers. After the plop and tear sound, a Moon-Bolt stood majestically in the place of George, and he was busy making his way over to Blake.

It always reminded me of giant puppies whenever a pack of dragons hadn’t seen one another in a long time. George leaped for Blake and Blake pushed him back with a lazy paw, which was hilarious.

Becky just shook her head.

“Guess we will be finally having you up in the sky too,” Sammy said and smiled as she took off her robe and transformed.

A beautiful brass dragon stood in her place and she ran over to her brother and George with a couple of other dragons.

Being naked in front of others was the most natural thing for dragons. They were so free. Something I envied.

When we finally reached them I couldn’t help chuckling. “Seriously,” I looked at Blake. Tabitha’s Snow dragon was on the total opposite side, with Peter putting a saddle on her back.

I still felt bad, as if I was now the reason he didn’t want to be with her.

He shook his head as if it was his way of shrugging and he lowered it inches from mine.

I couldn’t help but smile at his mug. I touched one of his tendrils and admired it softly in my hands. Everything seemed to disappear around us and for a short while, as I admired all the colors that sparkled off the tendril in my hand, we were alone.

I don’t know how anybody could say he was ugly. He was really such a beautiful dragon.

He closed his beady eyes and a loud fast clucking noise I heard once on our trip came from his torso. It stopped after a few seconds when his eyes opened.

“What the hell was that?” Becky asked and stopped for a second, putting her saddle on George’s back.

George laughed. “I’m so glad I’m not the only idiot doing that anymore.”

“Shut up.” His huge paw pushed George again, and he fell over, away from Becky.

“Okay,” Becky said and stepped away. “Let me know when you two are done.” She looked at Blake and George.

“Sorry, Becks. I’m done,” George said as he rolled back onto his stomach for her to put her saddle on his back.

Oh hell, I didn’t have a saddle for him at all. “How are we going to do this?”

“Easy, I’ll stay a dragon till it sinks in.”

I laughed. “Not that, Blake. Flying.”

“Oh,” he gurgled. “Just trust me.”

I HAD TO admit I was so scared because there was absolutely nothing to hold me in place on Blake’s back. No saddle, just bare back with plenty of horns and scales. I climbed on via his wing, the same way I had with Cheng, but it was not as easy because he was twice Cheng’s size and I kept sliding off.

“Elena, is it going to be today!” Becky yelled in a teasing tone and the entire class laughed.

“A little help, please.” I begged as I clung like a monkey on his wing and couldn’t find a way further up his back. Blake flipped his wing up gently, which made me fly into the air and come crashing down on his back.

“Thanks for that graceful landing.” I sounded sarcastic.

His entire body shook, a tremble of sorts as I pushed myself onto my feet and climbed to the first horn on his back, nearest his neck.

The feeling was overpowering. No one other than Lucian had ever taken a ride with Blake. And here I was, the girl that didn’t even know dragons existed, on the back of the most powerful dragon in the entire world.

I stationed myself in front of the huge horn, grabbed two of the long tendrils that covered his neck, and smiled as I remembered the way he’d held mine tight in his hand when I’d given him a dragon ride a couple of months back when Cara was still with me.

“Ouch,” he said. “That is actually attached to me.”

“See it as a bit of payback.”

“Payback? You really want to go there?”

“Okay, don’t see it as payback.” I loosened my grip. “How is this?”

“Much better, you ready?”

“No, but then again I might never be.”

“C’mon Elena, you are past the heights thing.”

“It’s not the heights that I’m afraid of this time, it’s the falling off.”

“What, no faith in me? That’s not a good way to start off your first riding lesson, Princess.”

Professor Vladimir, who was already stationed on Professor Alexandra, gave the class the order and one by one they ran a couple of steps and took off.

I took a deep breath and put my flying goggles over my eyes.

We were the last to leave and I laughed again as Becky and George lifted off after a short run. She whooped loudly and I could tell she was made for the sky. She should’ve been a dragon.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I said, and he didn’t run at all, he just flapped his wings gracefully and we reached the sky in four flaps.

The class was a couple of miles in front of us and I laughed as Blake went higher and higher.

“We are losing them.”

“See if I care. You don’t need these stupid classes, Elena.” And we carried on flapping through clouds. I looked back down and could hardly see the outline of the coliseum.

He stopped flapping and dove.

I shrieked from excitement as he darted forward fast, back down again. The coliseum and everything came back instantly as the clouds disappeared and adrenaline pumped through my veins as it came nearer and nearer. Then he changed his direction just as we were about to collide with the ground.

His paws took a short run and he darted back up.

It was like I was Cara. I was finally free, and it was something I hadn’t felt in a long, long time. I didn’t want this feeling to end.

The only thing I didn’t like much was not having a saddle under me, but the wind blowing through my hair and brushing against my skin made up for it.

We were disappearing into the clouds again. The class was gone and I couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear.

“Where the hell are you going?”

“You’ll see,” he said as we went higher and higher until we broke through the clouds and were on top of a bed of white fluff.

I gasped at its beauty. The fluff appeared solid, like one could actually stand on it and not fall through. The sky was the most beautiful blue with the sun sparkling slightly off Blake’s scales.

We flew past a flock of wild geese. I couldn’t stop staring at them, seeing how the wind beneath their wings kept them afloat.

My heart stammered from pure excitement.

“You missed this?” Blake asked.

“You have no idea.”

Silence followed for at least a minute.

“I’m sorry about Cara, Elena,” his voice was coarse, but different. I knew he meant it.

My heart clenched as I thought about her. I missed being with her, in the sky. “She was never supposed to wake up, Blake.”

“It’s not what I mean,” he said. “I’m sorry that you had to kill her in order to claim me.”

I thought about that night immediately. The night I had to say goodbye. I hated him so much back then. “It’s in the past,” I simply said and he left it there.

None of us spoke for a long time and for the first time ever I wished that I could hear what was going on in his mind. To know what he was thinking, what he was feeling, the way he used to connect to my emotions.

I closed my eyes, and tried to embrace this feeling. It was our very first flight and I really didn’t want it to be a sad one.

I opened them again when I felt a change in the direction and saw mountains.

I noticed they weren’t any that I remembered as he aimed for a landing. The treetops were right below his paws, and then he just disappeared, revealing an opening where he could land.

He stopped in midair, and his wings flapped once again, making a huge whooshing sound until we were safely on the ground. It was a graceful landing, even if he was a hulking giant of a dragon, and I slid off his wing, which was extremely fun and much easier than climbing on.

“That was fun!” I said and turned away from him to look around. It was a meadow and the sun shone brightly on all the boulders around us. The sound of a stream could be heard nearby and the scent of wet moss lingered in the air.

Trees covered the rest of the mountain. It was simply beautiful and I hated the fact that I didn’t know all of Paegeia’s beauty yet. “Where are we?”

He didn’t reply, and when I turned back to him the dragon was gone and I was in his arms.

His lips brushed mind softly, and then it broke into a kiss.

I wasn’t even afraid. I felt safe with him, like nothing on this earth could ever harm me again as long as he was alive. His kiss grew, not vigorously like that time in my room, but deeper. His kisses were AMAZING.

It made me feel all sorts of things at once. It made my stomach flip, it made me want more, and I forgot where and who I was. Nothing mattered anymore.

The strong smell of fire and acid mixed with sweet musky essence filled my nose. It was a real dragon smell, and so strong, but I couldn’t stop kissing him, and when our breathing became heavy, he stopped.

My back was against a tree, something I hadn’t even felt when he pushed me against it. My eyes were still closed and I knew he was buck-naked.

A chuckle escaped his lips. “Sorry about that.” He spoke softly, which made me smile, but I refused to open my eyes.

“You really need to get used to me being naked, Elena. It’s the most natural thing in the world,” he said close to my ear, which brought on a million goose bumps.

“You clearly haven’t been on the other side of that wall.”

He laughed. His lips brushed mine softly and he gave me a peck on the lips.

He inhaled deeply. “Fine, I’ll only be a minute.”

I opened my eyes when I heard his feet breaking twigs and leaves and I couldn’t help but watch his retreating figure.

I blushed scarlet as he was really buck-naked.

He disappeared behind another set of trees and I sat down and leaned against the one behind me.

It was really peaceful. The only sound was the sun baking on beetles.

Twigs snapped and I looked toward the direction Blake disappeared a few minutes ago. He was walking with a backpack in his hands, wearing a shirt and a pair of jeans.

“How did you…?”

“I told you before, I’m always prepared.”

“You planned this, didn’t you?”

“I’m a guy of many talents, and had free time in Art of War.”

I laughed as he came to sit next to me. “About that, everyone wants to know how long are you planning on staying a dragon?”

“I told you before, Elena, dragon is what I am.”

“So for a long time?”

He cocked his head and took a water bottle out of his pack, opened it and took a couple of gulps. “Until you break that stupid Tabitha promise.”

I smiled. “Blake, I feel really bad about that. She really loves you and I know you love her too. I’m not stupid.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Elena, I broke up with her about five months ago.”

“What?”
Why did she ask me…?
My jaw muscles jumped slightly as I thought about her interrogation. “But you are always with her.”

“To give you space. I couldn’t hang with you guys because of how you felt, so I hang with them.”

“No, I saw you guys.”

A huge grin broke over his face.

“Not what I meant, okay? But yes, I looked in your direction from time to time and you guys still looked like the happy couple you always were.”

“We were never a happy couple, Elena. Sure she has been one of my friends for a long time, but that was about it.”

“One of your friends?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Fine, friends with benefits, but it wasn’t real. She knows how I feel about her and how I feel about you.”

I took a huge breath and stretched out my arms in front of me. I told myself that I wasn’t going to fall for this and still felt that the Dent was a stupid spell. I buried my face on my knees. “Tell me how it works, please,” I mumbled.

“You need to be patient, Elena.”

Our eyes met again. “There is nobody here. Wield your shield or something.”

“Shields can be penetrated.” He looked with huge eyes and a slight smile at the trees.

“They don’t have ears.”

“We are inside Paegeia.”

“Then how do I trust this, Blake?”

He frowned slightly. “Trust what?”

“You can’t be mad at me. I can’t trust this.”

“You want me to become my old self again? I might just love the dark again and then you’ll have to spank me,” he joked.

I wanted to laugh, I really did, but this was a serious matter. “It’s not a joke. I’m serious.”

“I’m too, it’s real,” he simply said and touched my fingers. “And if you don’t believe that, then give it time.”

I just looked at him. “Time!” I pulled my fingers out of his hand and pushed myself from the ground, wanting to leave, but I couldn’t. I was here with him. I turned around. “For what, so that I can fall even harder for you and for you to just tell me again you don’t want me whenever this wears off?” My hands were everywhere in the air. I shook my head and pulled my hands through it, just to calm down.

I turned away from him because I couldn’t look at him. Pissed at myself again for telling him how I felt about him and about all of this. I was just opening myself up for more disappointment. I couldn’t trust this, I shouldn’t. I needed to know what the Dent was all about before I opened myself to him again. I needed to know how it made them change, where their love for their riders came from.

His arms wrapped around my waist from behind and his breath was in my ears. It really felt so good having him so near me. I grew so used to this, so quickly.

“I’m never going to change my mind, you hear? This is me. Or what I used to be like before the darkness set in. I’m yours Elena, forever and ever, if that is what you want. If not, I’ll be whatever you need.”

I turned my neck and looked at him.
Whatever I need? Who was this guy?

“Give it time, I’m sure that the bond will mend, hopefully soon, and I’ll show you that the Dent isn’t some spell or enslavement. Okay?”

I nodded and took a deep breath. I turned around and rested my head against his chest. I could feel his lips brushing my head softly.

“Now, there are a couple of things I have to get off my chest,” he said and I looked up at him.