Dragon's Slave : The Sequel

Chapter 6

Madeline's POV

Hungry, mouse?

A curious question when it's asked in my mind, seconds after my stomach gurgles.

In a few hours it's lunch time, and I've been sitting on the balcony, wrapped in a sheet, waiting for Nessy to return. I had stayed near the ash pile. My dead bouquet of flowers.

Lochness had left me quite perturbed by – not my sour remarks but the coldness within them. Being pregnant, I was feeling very insecure. I was 18, my mates were still new to me. I knew them, but I didn't know them well. I was their prize, their possession, their mate and yet also their slave with the inconvenient song voice of a Slayer. Funny how that worked.

And now after experiencing the dominating cruelty both my mates could master me with, I wasn't used to this patience. And this new obsession. With caring for me.

Even now, Lochness returns by landing gently on the top of the tower, so gently I didn't hear him land. I only know he is there when he curls his tail around me, lifting me up and placing me on his back as he carefully glides down below, toward civilisation. The sheet wrapped around me now flies off out into the wind, leaving me in the oversized clothes and holey boots.

I hadn't even answered his question, but he had been tender in picking me up and now taking me out for the day, it seemed. I guess to my next meal.

At least he didn't abandon me in the tower.

We don't fly far. We circle a lush small mountain with a tiny compact village nestled into the side, with a large mountain Inn. Lochness lands up on a flat ridge, materialising into a man as I stand on the ridge next to him.

Behind us is an Inn built into a cave into the side of a mountain.

He's got little helpers on stand by, a man walks forward with his pair of leather pants neatly folded. Lochness takes them and puts them on. I'm gifted a soft long pastel dress, thick and warm.

My stomach grumbles again, as the smell of hot fresh food wafts up my nose.

Lochness puts an arm around my waist, while I clutch onto the dress, "You'll dress in the room I secured for us, so hold onto it for now."

"What's this place called?" I ask.

"Little Rock," Lochness watches me try to catch his eye, but he tilts his head up and looks to the entrance of the Inn instead, still annoyed with me. Oh, sigh...

I walk with him.

I wish I had a moment to speak with him privately, but at the same time, I was feeling fragile. I wanted to show Lochness my soft side. The side that trusted him. It didn't have to be so intense all the time. So much drama and tension.

"This way," a well-dressed older woman who is hosting the Little Rock Inn, directs us into the fancy layout. Right next to a raging fireplace is a warm booth carved into the rock. It's reserved for us.

I do wonder if Lochness did read my mind then, about Inns and people. Wanting to be closer to civilisation. He probably did... and now he was showing me yet more kindness.

Nessy takes my arm and leads me in, standing in front of me while he blocks the way out as I sit my butt down. He gently puts a hand on my shoulder.

"What do you want to eat for you and the babies?" Nessy asks.

"Meat," I answer, "Vegetables. Hmm, a stew then? Some water would be nice too. I'm parched."

He turns before we can continue talking, and he pulls the host aside to murmur the instructions to her.