Then the creatures from the storybooks became real, and he let himself be bitten by a dragon. Now he had this otherworldly connection to a giant, intelligent reptile that he still barely understood.
However, he did understand Anna’s point of view. Two days ago, he’d have been using this opportunity to smuggle the girl down the mountain while Puff wasn’t looking.
But that bite had done more than simply given him the ability to translate for Puff. Nik understood the dragon at a deeper level than any of them could comprehend. The spirit of the Seventeen Year had emblazoned through his bones, becoming part of him. Every time Puff even had a passing thought about the current dragon king, the need to overthrow the beast became all the more concrete. This dragon, Gale, couldn’t be allowed to rule. And if bringing this girl up the side of the mountain was the only way to stop his tyranny, then so be it.
The old Nik cringed. Forcing a girl to do something she didn’t want grated at his humanity. No. He couldn’t force her. He wouldn’t. She deserved better. He loved her enough to let her go, if that was what she wanted.
Nik balked, gasping at his own thoughts, when a dragon-shaped shadow fell over him. He breathed a sigh of relief. These weren’t his thoughts, but Puff’s. Soon, hopefully, he’d be able to distinguish between the two.
He turned to the dragon. “Are you seriously going to let her go?”
*Yes.*
“But what about all that stuff with Connor? He went to get help.”
*I will accept any help to heal my injuries. I still want to return to the mountain, even if it will be in defeat.*
Nik stepped towards him. “But Gale will kill you.”
“What’s going on?” Anna asked.
*Tell her.*
Nik’s gaze dropped to the sand at his feet. So many dragons depended on this hunt. Hundreds lay in the back of dark caves under lock and key, hoping for the little dragon they’d sent out as a long shot to come home and save them from their oppressor. But Puff had failed them. He never had a chance to begin with. He never deserved the hope they had in him.
Grunting, Nik pushed Puff’s thoughts out of his head again and advanced on the dragon. “Now wait a goddamn minute. You are not giving up so easily.” He pointed at Anna. “You have the girl. You’ve already won. You just need to reach the finish line.”
“I’m not a prize in a game,” Anna cried. “I am a human being.”
Old Nik looked back at her, understanding. But the part of him that had connected with Puff, the part that allowed Draconic blood to flow through his veins, overpowered him. “This is bigger than you. It is bigger than both of us.”
*Stop!* Puff roared, his growl echoing through the clearing.
The Maori stood silent, staring at them. The dragon scanned the crowd before lowering his neck and caressing Anna cheek to cheek.
“He says that he doesn’t care about the Seventeen Year.” Nik grimaced. “Something about a bond and wanting you happy.”
Puff turned toward Pops.
Nik sighed in defeat. “He says he wants you to send her home.”
Tears filled Anna’s eyes. She slipped her arms around Puff’s silvery neck and hugged him. “Thank you so much.”
The Maori broke their statuesque poses. Most of them gaped.
Nik bit his lip, understanding their confusion. He was new to this believing in dragons thing, but most of these people had been waiting their whole lives for a dragon to appear. And then to be a part of assisting the next king, it was the makings of history— a dream come true.
The second Puff fell out of the sky, these people left their everyday lives to help him. And now he was giving up, just like that.
*I won’t force her.*
Puff loved Anna. It wasn’t a flighty, childish insta-love, but something deep, mature, and eternal. But how was that even possible when they’d barely even spoken?
*I’m a dragon. The second I recognized her as a viable mate, the process began. When I decided to fight for her, the Draconic instincts took over, and by the time I’d plucked her from the sky and won her, it was done.* Puff turned, walking toward the mountain. *She will always be mine in my heart, but my dragon soul will not allow me to make her unhappy, no matter the cost.*
Nik started after him. “What about the sadistic guy locking all your people up? What happened to saving all Draconi from tyranny? What happened to bringing dragons back into the open?”
Puff looked over his shoulder at Nik. *I already told you, I refuse to force her.*
Pops gripped Nik’s shoulder, pulling him away from the dragon. He spoke loud enough for the congregation to hear. “We’ll return the girl, but we cannot head down the mountain so late in the day. We won’t make civilization before nightfall.” He glanced at Anna, then back to Nik. “We will spend the night once more in the embrace of our sacred caves, and break camp at first light.”
Nik shook his head. “I can’t believe you, of all people, are giving up, too.”
Pops smiled. “The Great One has bonded the young lady, yes?”
“Yeah. He kind of explained the whole thing to me.”
Pops watched Puff climb the boulder pile and disappear back into the cave with a sense of childish awe that Nik had lost the second Puff gave up.
“Remember, Nikau, that our new king is quite young, and not yet familiar with just how great his greatness is.” He tilted his head back, closing his eyes and allowing the sun to caress his face. “Tonight is the Brigham Solstice.”
Nik huffed. He never really paid attention to the ancient Maori elemental calendar. “I guess. So what?”
Pops’s eyes opened, seeming somewhat brighter. “Do not underestimate the power of Ruma Marama on the most glorious night of the year.”
16
One more night. Anna could do this. She glanced around the cave as the men worked to reseal the opening, blocking them off from the outside. The women milled about, some bringing water and food to the men, and others creating small fires. A slight draft tickled Anna’s skin and spiraled the smoke into tiny billows that sucked through a small hole in the ceiling. Nature never ceased to amaze.
The older children helped their parents, while the younger Maori gathered the twigs into neat piles, and a few chased flies that had come in before the exit had closed. They lead such a simple but backward existence, men doing the labor while the women cooked. They couldn’t possibly live like this when they were back in their normal lives.
Anna couldn’t help but wonder if this was like playtime to them, like how people dressed up and acted out parts in Renaissance fairs back home. When this was all over, would they all return to the twenty-first century?
“Comfortable?” Nanna asked, easing to the floor beside her.
“I guess.” She didn’t want to admit that she still hurt from sleeping on the hard ground the evening before. Especially since the older woman never complained, and she hadn’t had the luxury of a dragon wing to keep her warm all night.
Nanna’s gaze carried across the room, where Puff allowed the younger children to climb on him. “Our dragon seems to have won the hearts of our next generation. It’s encouraging.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “I’m not as young as I used to be. I probably won’t be here for the next Seventeen Year, but they will be.” She pointed at Puff and his throng of young playmates. “More importantly, he will be.” Nanna watched for another moment, smiling. “Those little girls will remember this day: his kindness, how warm and comforting he was.” She grinned. “In seventeen years, when they are young women, they will probably fight each other to get on the platform, hoping to catch his eye.”
Anna’s hands fisted and her stomach clenched. A sudden desire to swat all those little girls away from her dragon enveloped her.
Wait.
Her dragon? When had he become her dragon, and why did she care? She folded her arms. Any of those little girls could have him if that meant she could go home.
Anna took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was going home. Puff had set her free. The Maori would do whatever he asked without question. They just had to wait until it was safe to make the journey. There was nothing to fear anymore.
One of the little girls fell off Puff’s side and slammed to the ground. She howled until Puff nudged her. The little girl jumped to her feet and hugged him.
Funny how none of them were afraid of an animal so much larger than them. Didn’t any of their history show dragons killing people? If not, weren’t they afraid of all those teeth?
Puff sneezed, ruffling his mane. The children giggled and crowded him. Nik stood close, smiling as the dragon seemed to struggle under the kids’ weight. The Kotahi’s expression belayed that the dragon was only pretending to be thwarted, and the children loved every second.
But they were young. Would any of them remember this day, or would meeting the dragon settle into the reaches of their memories, easing back into the realm of myth passed down from generation to generation, until Puff was nothing but a bedtime story told to their grandchildren. Anna looked away, hoping to banish the thought.
Throughout the cave, the Maori churned in constant movement, as if they’d done this a thousand times and everyone knew their task until meals were prepared, eaten, and cleared away.
Anna sat, rapt as Puff stood and allowed the children to defeat him over and over again until her cheeks hurt from smiling. He truly was a gentle giant, despite his small size among the other dragons.
Pops approached and shooed the children away. A collective “Awwwww” rang through the chamber. The old man whispered a few words to his grandson, who glanced in Anna’s direction before following Puff toward the back of the chamber and into a dark passage.
Where were they going?
Nanna grabbed the paper plate on the ground beside Anna. “Did you have enough to eat?”
“Yes, thanks. It was great.” Well, as great as burned rabbit and the meat from whatever an arapawa was could be. She’d never eaten anything off a stick before, though. The experience was definitely memorable.
Limping slightly, Pops approached. She hadn’t remembered a limp earlier, but she had to give the old man credit. The past two days had taken a toll on Anna, and she was less than half his age.
“How has your evening been, Miss Anna?” Pops asked.
“Great, thanks. You’ve all been so hospitable.” Hospitable, even though she refused to be their dragon queen. Every time she turned she expected someone to act out, shout at her, or do something else to force her to their way of thinking. Every single Maori had been overly kind to her, though. She felt at home here, like she truly belonged among them.
“The Great One has moved into the cathedral for Brigham Solstice.” Pops looked toward the dark hallway at the back of the chamber. “This is a sacred time for the Draconi. Tonight, when the moon is at its apex, the dragons will be at the height of their fertility.” He turned to her. “It would be appropriate if his queen joined him.”
Anna’s veins iced. “But he let me go. He said I don’t have to.”
“You may not be returning to Dragonmount with him, but that makes you no less his queen.” He settled on the floor beside her, opposite his wife. “He chose you. That hasn’t changed.”
Anna’s gaze darted to the walled-off exit again, as if her sudden panic might make the giant boulders blocking her escape somehow disappear.
Nanna’s hand covered hers. “The Great One asks nothing of you but your company, I’m sure.” She glared at her husband, then back to the ground. “He has a good heart, our dragon. A shame really. He would have been a wonderful king.”
“Enough of that, Carolyn,” Pops said. “That door has been closed.”
“But it’s still the truth. Anyway…” She turned to Anna and smiled. “No one is asking you to consummate anything with him in dragon form. Goodness knows he wouldn’t ask that of you either, but tonight is as holy a night for the Draconi as it is for the Maori. He is alone here, even among so many. He probably would appreciate company other than my Nikau.” She cupped her hand over Anna’s ear and whispered. “Nikky is a good boy, but he tends to be a bit boring at times.”
Anna laughed. These two reminded her so much of her own grandparents. The Maori were all nice, wonderful people despite the dragons and caves and the insanity surrounding the Seventeen Year. She wished she’d met them all under different circumstances.
She looked toward the dark corridor. “What’s back there?”
Nanna stood and held out her hand to Anna. “Like we said, the cathedral room. Large rooms are common in caverns like these, but ours is special. That is why the Maori walled off these caves centuries ago.” She took Anna’s hand. “It is nearly time. I think the Great One would be overjoyed to experience the solstice with you.”
Anna took her hand. As long as no one expected her to spread her legs, she supposed she could spend a little time alone with Puff. She wasn’t much in to spiritual things, but caves had always fascinated her. She couldn’t imagine any cavern room being as spectacular as the cathedral room in Luray, Virginia. She was always willing to bask in nature’s artistry though, no matter how ornate.
Nanna and Pops walked her to the beginning of the dark hallway and handed her a flashlight. As she grasped the cool cylinder, she noticed the Maori had fallen silent. Even the children stared at her.
Why? Did they expect her to do something? Was there some kind of ceremony to this Solstice-thing that she didn’t know about? She hoped she wasn’t breaking some kind of ancient custom by turning her back on them and walking into the dark, but they couldn’t really expect the foreign girl to have any idea what was expected of her.
She clicked on her flashlight. The cave hallway cut a hard left, then angled down and to the right. She felt along the cool wall until the passage opened up to a brightly lit chamber. A spectacular display of white, glossy flowstone cascaded down the far wall and disappeared into a crevice in the floor. The massive space echoed with her single step. The sound seemed an unwanted intrusion on the ancient room’s silence.
Puff and Nik turned toward her. The dragon jumped to his feet and galloped his front talons three times in place.
“He’s glad to see you.” Nik held out his hand, helping her down prehistoric steps carved into the rock floor.
Puff nuzzled her neck. She giggled. He really was as sweet as the old couple thought he was.
Their lantern flickered, casting a dancing light across the flowstones. A trickling sound filled the cave, and Anna realized it was a touch more humid down here than it had been in the entrance chamber above.
She lit her flashlight and cast it toward the back of the cave, where a slow running stream seemed to cut across the floor and disappear down the same fissure the flowstone emptied into.
“Wow,” she whispered.
Puff inched closer, pressing his folded, uninjured wing against her.
“He says he’s happy you joined us.”
Puff’s translucent scales picked up the light reflecting off the water. Seeing him shimmer like that, it wasn’t hard to tell why his kind were called crystal dragons.
“So,” Anna said. “What’s so special about this room? Is it the river?”
“I’m not sure,” Nik said. “Pops told me to wait for the exact moment of the Solstice, and turn off the lights.” He glanced at his phone screen. “Which should be in a few minutes.”
They’d done that at Luray when she was a kid. The guide called it “the black light.” Since there’s no natural light inside a cave, they were left in complete darkness. Anna couldn’t even see her fingers wiggling in front of her face. She’d been terrified when the guide didn’t flick the lights on right away. She hoped this Solstice thing wasn’t anything that silly.
“Time’s up.” Nik motioned to her flashlight. “Are you ready?”
She nodded, shutting her light off.
Nik reached for their lamp. “Here we go.”
A single click basked them in complete darkness. She tensed, closing her eyes, before Nik gasped beside her.
“Whoa,” he whispered.
Puff growled something.
Anna gaped in the darkness, or lack thereof. The cave had come alive around them. It was as if they’d been shot into space and floated amongst the stars. No matter where she turned, small spots of light greeted her, then blinked out. Some twitched, sparkled and glowed, leaving the entire room illuminated by a slight greenish hue
“Wh-what is this?”
“Glow worms.” Nik’s face remained turned toward the ceiling. “But I’ve never seen them on South island outside of Te Anau, and never in these quantities.”
As they stared, the lights increased, as if these strange creatures congregated for their pleasure.
Puff flipped his mane away from Anna’s face.
“He wants to know if you like it.”
“He’s kidding, right? This is amazing.”
A green shadow cast across Nik’s face. “He says the worms have different colors where he comes from, but there are not as many. They only swarm like this for a few days during Brigham Solstice.”
Anna couldn’t imagine what a million multicolored lights would look like. It must rival Christmas.
Nik cleared his throat. “Puff is a little frustrated. He wishes he could talk to you with his real voice.”
Anna blinked away the lights and turned to Puff. Those deep, large, somehow human eyes drew her in, encompassing her with just his gaze. What was behind those eyes? Could a dragon really be capable of love, like he said, or was this something else?
She turned to Nik. “Then let him. Give him your voice like you did earlier today.”
His lips thinned. “I didn’t give him my voice. He took it.”
And from the tone of his words, that was not something he wanted to experience again. The poor dragon did look frustrated with his Kotahi, though. If Nik really could feel Puff’s emotions, he’d have to understand that.
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