A few minutes later, the door had banged open again and instead of the maid, I turned to find Tohr filling the doorway with a look of anger on his face. I stumbled back against the large canopy bed, suddenly fearful."What did I say, little fyre? You do not wish to take on the King. The first day of our courtship, and you already are denying my gifts!" he snarled."Wh-what gifts?" I asked."The dress I had made for you! The seamstress was up all night to make sure it was ready for you," he told me.Shame at my behavior filled me, and I dropped my eyes. "I'm sorry… I didn't know. I'm still having trouble understanding your language."That seemed to pacify him a bit. "I apologize, I should have anticipated something like that."He had opened the door and waved the woman back in. She hurried in with her eyes down and bowed low to him. She said something softly to him and was a little excited when I realized I could actually pick up individual words."Drayssnar?" I asked him.The king turn
"What the hell, Erik?" I snapped at him.I began pacing around the room over and over again. I was desperately trying to figure out how to get myself, and my brother, out of this crazy mess of a world. "Mara, please calm down and take a seat," Erik implored me. He held out a chair that was in front of the vanity and waved a hand to it. I let out a loud sigh and sat down in the chair, trying to arrange the scarves to allow me some privacy. "I know you have a million questions. So, spit them out. What do you want to know?" Erik began patiently. I gave him half a smile when his words echoed something he had said to me often while we were growing up. I would proceed to hound him with questions, and he would, just as patiently, answer them as best he could. "How did you find this place? What do the tattoos mean? What are those bear/horse/dog creatures? How far from earth do you think we are? Is there any information on when the portal opens here? Why is the king insisting on taking m
"What did you end up doing?" he asked suddenly, changing the subject.I returned his small smile with a weaker one of my own. "I studied parapsychology and cryptozoologist."Erik's mouth dropped then he tossed his head back, laughing heartedly. "I can't believe Mom and Dad let you do that!" "They were… unhappy to say the least," I replied honestly. "I'm sure that they think that I'm insane. However, we haven't spoken in many years until I came back to the portal. The one night I stayed, they pointedly ignored me."Erik's eyebrows raised, and he frowned in disapproval. "I can't believe our parents would treat you like that.""You know that we've never seen eye to eye. They never treated me the same as they did you. I was always the biggest disappointment. With you gone, I was the only child they had left to carry on the proud Corliss legacy. However, I failed to do so because I would rather chase monsters, ghosts, and UFOs rather than settle into a 'proper' job," I explained. "That's
"Oh! So, you'll disobey him to bring me here, but you won't fight him over claiming me," I pointed out. Erik's look cooled. "Because such a thing would be a fight to the death. Never get between a Draygon and his mate. More than one Draygon has died trying." I opened my mouth to argue with him, yet the seriousness of his gaze told me that I wasn't going to win. "You know you are saying that wrong," I decided to battle out since I was in the mood to be petty. "What word?" he asked. "Dragons. You are pronouncing it Dray-gone," I told him. Erik had a thoughtful look on his face. "I never really thought about it, to be honest. Nerrian is the one who helped me learn their language, and this is how he explained it." "But I thought only you and the King spoke English," I pointed out. "Nerrian. He has his ways. You'll see when you meet him. Now, are you going to correct me all day, or did you want to see the portal?" Erik asked briskly. The look I gave him told him quite clearly that
My scream echoed through the room, reverberating around the walls over and over again. Somehow the creatures were still louder as they hissed at me. Their jaws opened like a flower to the morning sun, revealing a set of teeth that would have put any proud snake to shame. Bright-yellow and deadly liquid dripped from their incisors, leaving little doubt in my mind that they were poisonous. Their sticky green bodies wiggled out to reveal an eel-like figure. It had two legs situated on the back segment that they lifted on once they were completely free of the pillow.In a panic, I searched around for something to defend myself with. But I was caught between the wall and the bed. I move towards it only to watch their heads track me and prepared to strike. Freezing, I hardly dared to breathe liking them to T-rex; the more I moved, the better they could track me. My mind raced, wondering how on earth I was going to get out of this. I had managed to be backed into a hard corner between them an
Only then did Tohr put me down, his golden eyes turned molten as he looked over every inch of bared skin. I felt a small burning sensation on my knees where I had fallen and knew that the bleeding was seeping through the veils around my legs. "Did they touch you?" he demanded harshly. I shook my head and crossed my arms over my stomach, trying to stem the panic that I was beginning to feel now that everything was calmed down. "Sanshas. They are the most poisonous creatures on Draygonia. Not as bad in our Draygon forms. Just a mild burning and itching. But in our natural forms, one touch of their poison will burn for days. We are forced to either shift or there is something we can use to neutralize it," he explained, reaching to undo my belt for the skirts. "But if not caught in time. It will burn you from the inside out.""Stop!" I ordered, grabbing his hands. "What are you doing?" "You are bleeding," he stated, trying to grab the belt again and again. "I must make sure that the po
I groaned inwardly but reminded myself that she had already helped me once today. I limped towards the door while the pain in my legs continued to spread and get worse. "Leave it open," Tohr ordered. "If she needs to speak to you or let me know something, then the door will be open so I can hear." I sighed and left the door ajar so that he can hear us, then slowly undressed, and kicked the clothing away. My cheeks flushed as the Draygana began to look me over extremely closely and almost intimately, not missing a spot. Tohr growled slightly on the other side of the doorway. It wasn't a growl of anger. But more of appreciation as if he were enjoying what he was seeing. My head jerked up, and I looked at every mirror trying to see if he was looking at my reflection. But he wasn't visible in any of them.I shook my head at my own silliness and turned back to the Draygana. She hissed and twirled her finger at me, telling me to turn. "She wants you to turn around," Tohr instructed me."
"I want to get up, Erik," I whined from my bed. "Don't start, Mara," Erik warned me as he looked over my lunch.Erik took a very small bite out of every piece making sure to taste it for poison. A completely ridiculous idea as I had told them a dozen times. Nevertheless, they didn't listen. Ever since "the incident", I had barely been allowed to leave the bed much less the room. When I'd awoken, I had demanded to return to my own room. However, true to his nature, Tohr had refused my demands as well as refused to discuss them further."Come on!" I cried. "It has been three days!! Surely, I'm fully healed! I feel fine! I want to leave this blasted room!!"I got up out of bed and walked towards the closet, where I hoped there would be some sort of clothing options. I would take a bloody tent if that meant I could leave this damned room. "Mara, I mean it. Don't push this. Tohr will be back soon from the villages, and he fully expects to see you safe and sound and, in this room," Erik w