Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Eira broke off at hearing a swishing sound that had her fearfully raising her gaze.
Ryu, in his dragon form, was hovering above the boat.
Her grandmother, still looking at her, raised her eyes to see what Eira was looking at and started screaming. Her grandfather did the same.
“Ryu, don’t—”
A loud oomph came out of her when she slid off her seat and onto the floor of the boat as the dragon lifted the boat between his claws and started flying back to the island.
Grabbing her grandmother’s skirt, Eira pulled her down to do the same. Her grandfather quickly did, too, needing no urging, his face ashen.
“Eira, now that we’re going to die, I have to admit that we thought you were all crazy when you said Ryu was a dragon.” She gulped, still in disbelief that this was happening. “But you meant he was really a dragon.”
“Obviously!” she screamed loudly at her over the sound of whooshing air.
Grandmother started to practically cry now. “Now he’s carrying us off to eat us.”
Her husband looked at his plump wife pityingly. “You know he’s going to eat you first, don’t you?”
“Ryu is not going to eat Grandmother!” she chastised them, but her grandmother only became more hysterical.
“Eira, you cannot have children. My grandchildren can’t eat me. My ancestors would never let me rest in peace. They can eat your grandfather when they get hungry.”
Eira only buried her face in her curled-up knees, praying that Ryu couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“Quit yelling!” her grandfather yelled. “He’s going to drop us to shut you up!”
“He’s not going to drop his dinner.” Her grandmother snorted.
“Ryu is not going to eat either of you,” Eira repeated again.
“He doesn’t eat humans?”
She sighed not only at the situation she was in, but Eira really hated to lie to her grandmother.
“He does when he’s protecting me,” she finally admitted.
Now real tears formed in her grandmother’s eyes. “You’ve seen Ryu eat someone?”
There was a time to be truthful, and then there was a time when it was better to lie like hell. This is one of those times.
“No.”
“Then how do you know he eats people to protect you?”
“A wild guess,” she quipped, just wishing Ryu would drop them to their death at this point.
“You should be surer before making that kind of statement. Your grandfather has a weak heart,” her grandmother said, not happy.
“My heart is just fine … when I’m not flying under a dragon!”
Eira knew she had fucked up the moment Ryu shifted back into his human form the second he had dropped the boat off on the palace’s front doorstep.
Her grandmother, concerned about Eira’s safety, bravely stepped between them before he could get to her. “Eira’s not safe here. Your little friends are evil, so how do we know you aren’t, too?”
“Yeah,” Grandfather gruffly agreed with a nod when his wife hit his shoulder.
It was a simple and harshly frank answer that the dragon, still raging within from the flight, burst out, “Because I ripped Kage’s windpipe out, and then I dropped Yuri off in the middle of the ocean right before I picked you all up in the boat.”
All of them stared blankly back at him with their jaws on the ground.
It took her grandmother a few moments to put her still worried thoughts together. “How close did you drop her off next to the shore? She could swim back and want reven—”
“I was flying about a hundred feet high, and if she did survive the fall, she can’t swim.”
“Welp, that’ll do it.” Grandfather wiped his hands clean. “I’m going to get some fresh iced tea.”
With only her grandmother still standing in his way, she noticed the weak smile she gave her, letting Eira know she was shit out of luck.
“What happens between husband and wife should stay between them.”
Watching her grandmother scurry off after her husband, Eira couldn’t believe the betrayal. She guessed knowing Ryu wouldn’t hurt her was good enough for them, but Eira was still frightened by the way he was furiously staring at her.
“Bedroom—now.”
Jumping at his command, she knew better than to defy him as she hurried into the palace and up the steps. Shivers went down her spine the second she entered the confines of her room. She was afraid to turn around and face the dragon, and his next command sent up another chill.
“Eira, look at me.”
Slowly turning, she could see the reflection of his dragon in his eyes.
“Why didn’t you directly come to me?”
It was a simple question put in a rather harsh tone, yet Eira could hear the hurt in his voice underneath, and along with it was the fear of losing her behind his dragon eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she confessed, unable to keep looking into his eyes at the hurt and worry she had caused. “I heard them talking in the library about not only killing me but my grandparents. I know how important Kage and even Yuri were to you, and I was afraid it would take too long to convince you of their plan. Because I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t heard it. I knew you would just fly over and meet us at our old home, and you’d find me in a place that was safe, so then I could tell you. I just couldn’t risk my grandparents’ safety. I’m so sorry, Ryu. I hope you understand.”