by Calista Skye
She says it so calmly that it takes us all a couple of seconds before we get it. Then we all scramble to help her into the cave, which in addition to everything else serves as our delivery room.
Sophia and Emilia stay in there with her, while someone goes and gets Brax’tan. When he ducks into the cave, his skin around the black stripes is so pale he looks like he’s in grayscale.
“God,” Tamara says and peers nervously at the cave opening. “I hope that’ll be an easy delivery. You should have seen her when Kyandros came here that first time, Mia. She was totally fearless. When she realized that Brax’tan was too shaky to deal with Kyandros right, she took over in the gentlest way you could imagine. And then she just got it. I don’t mind telling you that I was ready to weep from fear at having a dragon that close. But Delyah just solved his problem right there and then.”
“She is crazy-good,” Emilia agrees. “Getting abducted from Earth was almost worth it, just to let us see how good she can be. Did you ever see a freaking president with leadership abilities like hers?”
There’s a warning yell from the caveman guards, and two of them come running towards us, chasing a small shadow that comes bouncing in from the jungle.
We see what it is before they do, and we all remain seated as the men slow down and shrug. But Aurora discreetly gets her crossbow ready and aimed.
“Hey, Alice,” Heidi says and gently strokes the head of the gray ghost, the alien spidermonkey that was her pet for a while. Now we’re not sure how much of a pet she is and how much just wild animal with razor teeth. “Have you seen Eleanor in the woods?”
Alice just puts one of her many hands in Heidi’s and gives her a single salen fruit.
Heidi accepts it. “Thank you. I’m so glad you survived the snow! Things could get really cold from now on, they say. But I think your fur will protect you just fine. It’s thick. In fact, I think it’s thicker now than I’ve ever seen it. But my, you’ve grown!”
Alice really has grown. Before, she was the size of a six-year-old, but now she must be as tall as any kid of fourteen.
“She’s filled out,” I observe. “I don’t remember those arms being that muscular.”
Aurora frowns. “Are we even sure that’s Alice?”
“It’s her,” Heidi says calmly. “She’s just bigger. Good girl, Alice. I think you’re a mama now? Maybe one day you can bring your kids. Oh, and we might be moving soon.”
Alice looks at Heidi like she understands every word. She can’t talk, herself, but we have often experienced her communicating in other ways.
“I swear she’s taking mental notes,” Phoebe says. “She’s as bright as any one of us— oh shit!”
Alice suddenly jerks herself out of Heidi’s gentle hand and turns around, staring up at the sky while the fur on her back bristles. She gives off a dangerous hissing noise, and her extraordinarily sharp teeth are bared.
A second later, Kyandros flies overhead, ready to land and pick me up.
I stand up. “She really doesn’t like dragons, I guess.”
“Alice, that dragon is okay,” Heidi tries.
The gray ghost calms down a little, but remains tense until Kyandros disappears behind the treetops again.
Sophia saunters out of the cave, a smile on her face. “Smoothest and shortest delivery in history, chicas. Like a water slide. A big, healthy girl for our chiefs.”
We all get to our feet and cheer loudly, making sure both Delyah and Brax’tan hear it.
Then Sophia tells the men, too, and the resulting roar must be the loudest sound anyone on Xren has heard for a while. Except for the battle between Kyandros and Berilona, of course.
I stay long enough to be able to see their new baby and congratulate Delyah and cry some brave tears of happiness for her.
Then I can’t stand being away from my jet engine-slash-dragon husband anymore.
And he obviously feels the same way. He has come into the village and it standing by himself, while the cavemen keep their eyes on him and Alice tries to stare him down, as tense as a bowstring.
I sashay over and kiss him, getting a thrill at being the only one here who’s not afraid of this creature. Everyone’s eyes are on us.
“The hatching is complete?” he asks and discreetly cups my butt.
“Delyah has given birth, yes. To a very smart-looking girl. I’d take you inside to show you, but I’m not sure they want a dragon in there just yet. You scare everyone’s pants off just by existing.”
He looks me up and down. “Then I deeply regret that you’re not wearing pants at all.”
The tingles start down below. “I think you’ll find that this dress is much easier to scare off. In fact, no scaring is required.”
I wave to the girls and we walk out of the village. Kyandros Changes, I get up on his back, and then we’re soaring over the jungle.
“No sign of Eleanor?” I ask while the air whistles past my face.
- No human females to be seen anywhere in the jungle.
“Any… dead ones?”
- No.
That’s something, at least. “Kyandros, you still need a hoard, right?”
- A small one only, I think. The insatiable hunger for a hoard grew less overwhelming when I met you. The love has taken its place.
“But some gold would be nice, yes?”
- Yes.
“Because I may have been less than honest before. I told you it was really hard to get that little bit of gold dust. I mean, it was hard. Climbing up beside that waterfall was a seriously bad ordeal. But when I found the right spot, I had that little heap of gold dust in ten minutes and three pans. The sand there is incredibly rich.”
- I see.
“You don’t care?”
- I have gone a few days now without thinking about gold. I was enjoying it.
“Oh, sorry. So, I’m more concerned with gold now than you are? They say married couples often take on each other’s quirks and interests, but this is ridiculous.”
He lazily rises in the air and sets a course for the lake. I think it must be a good sign.
“Yeah, probably,” I agree, holding on to his spikes and feeling totally safe. “My love, why did you start loving me?”
The whole dragon shakes as he chuckles. Because you captured me. You didn’t torture me. You were apologetic. You had an inner strength that I had never seen before. You were less than obsequious. You made small jokes at my expense. You didn’t cower. You didn’t leave. You made things. You smelled good. You acted like an equal. You took the wires off me. Shall I go on?
“Please.”
- You are round and female and so alive it still puzzles me. Your voice is bright. Your brain is sharp. Your determination is strong. You have a caring streak. You know things that are entirely alien to me. You’re not afraid of me. And, crucially, I am not afraid of you. Beloved, this just scratches the surface. What are your reasons?
We’re getting closer to the lake and the island. When we get there, I’ll just strip naked and bend over and have my ever-ready husband take me. I can’t wait.
“How long do I have?”
- The rest of your life.
I bend down to his neck and kiss his scales. “You know what, dragon boy? That might not be long enough.”
He does a spontaneous loop, and I squeal.
But there’s no chance I’ll fall. I’ve never been safer.
He chuckles again. That seems entirely appropriate.
© Calista Skye 2019
Dear reader!
I hope you enjoyed Mia’s and Kyandros’s story!
Kyandros was a hard hero to write. He is and will always be a dragon, and dragons are not nice - they are nasty and deadly and plain murderous. Mia was never going to be able to change him that much. Even now that he’s married to her, and loves her like only a dragon can, he will remain lethal to the world. And he still has some impulses that he can only barely resist.
But he is not at all dangerous to Mia. As sh
e puts it, she has never been safer.
And would you really want to completely tame a guy like that?
Mia changed too, I think. In the beginning, she was pretty meek and put the needs of others ahead of her own. She is afraid of going to Bune, but she wants to do her duty.
By the end, she is better at listening to her own needs. I am not even sure she knows it, but I sense that she grew. I think many of us should get better at putting ourselves first. It is not selfish to have needs.
So I guess the sun of Xren is a variable star? It will have some interesting and possibly crucial effects on the wildlife and the dragons.
Such stars do exist - indeed they are pretty common in the universe. For instance, some stars keep swelling and shrinking, and the light and heat they radiate varies. Stars like that is one reason why we know how impossibly large the universe is, using a method developed by Henrietta Leavitt, one of the first female astronomers.
Metal fatigue is extremely important to aerospace engineers. Over the years, several plane crashes have been tracked back to weaknesses in small metal parts that have been moving and flexing a lot and thus gotten weak over time.
These days the engineers know which parts can be vulnerable to that, and they do their best to design airplanes such that metal fatigue will not occur. That would be a topic that Mia was very familiar with.
At least the escape ship seems like it will work. We are getting pretty close to a resolution, and Eleanor will bring us even closer in Caveman #11. But Xren always surprises us…
Thank you again for reading my book! It was an honor to be allowed into your mind for a couple of hours. I hope you got something out of it.
If you did, maybe consider joining my tribe? That is my group on Facebook, called Calista’s Tribe.
And if you’re not signed up to my newsletter yet, it’s easy and quick and you will always be the first to know whenever I have a new book out. Just tap here!
Have a happy day!
Calista
PS: Did you try my completed Fire Planet Warriors series? It is now out as a full collection with a bonus story thrown in. Here it is: Fire Planet Warriors Love
