Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
I got in the bed and made myself absolutely comfortable.
Never had I thought that after our date I would be on his private island and in his bed. My plans had been to get right back on Zo’s futon and swoon over the awesome date.
But life had other plans.
Although danger thickened the air all around me, there was still this giddiness too.
Damn, girl.
Of course, I couldn’t go to sleep. I doubted I would be able to until Kenji appeared. So, I grabbed the book off the stand.
When the Dragon Swallowed the Moon.
My fingers found the tasseled gold bookmark and paused, thinking about where I had left off.
Sol.
The Lowly woman with ice in her veins and an unknown history buried in her skin. A Lowly couple found a huge egg in the forest, and right when they were about to crack it open to eat, she’d come out of it—a little brown baby girl.
What is she? Some sort of creature? A shapeshifter too?
In my mind, I saw her standing there, barefoot in the ash, trembling with a power she didn’t ask for but couldn’t refuse. She had pushed Korin—in his dragon form—out of the sky with her ice.
She hadn’t even known she was that strong. It terrified her, the way her power met Korin’s in the air.
Plus, it hadn’t been just a fight.
It had been intimate.
Sensual.
That part made my breath catch.
Sol had walked home like she was waking from a fever dream, aching in places magic shouldn't reach. And the rumors had already begun in the town—theories swirling, people trying to explain what none of them had truly seen.
Only one boy dared to tell the truth, and even he didn’t understand it.
Sol had fled.
And I understood why.
The world wasn’t built to cradle women like her.
Not ones who made the impossible happen.
By the next chapter, everything shifted. She knew someone was following her, and that scent—Korin’s scent—jasmine, stormwater, and flame haunted her.
Then a man appeared with pale skin, black hair, and noble bearing. Still, the dragon’s scent wrapped around him.
She tried to figure out who he was.
He vanished and reappeared too fast and got too close.
When Sol got scared, I felt that same fear twist in my belly too. That aching confusion of being hunted and wanted.
Feared and chosen.
She ran. And behind her, the stranger rose, his skin glowing and rippling. His body unraveling into wings and fire.
I swallowed.
The man was Korin, the dragon.
She fled.
He chased and caught her with his massive claws.
Wondering what will happen next, I leaned back against the pillows.
Korin, you better not hurt my girl. I’ll knock you out. What was Korin thinking in that moment? Did he know what she was since she had no idea?
I turned the page, heart thudding, hungry to know what would happen next.
Chapter ten
A Throne of Talons
Sol
Korin—the God Dragon of fire and death—held Sol in the sky, and against all reason, all logic, all fear. . .she felt safe.
His claws were vast and shimmering in burnished shades of black and gold. They curved around her like a throne built for the sky itself—an impossible nest of talons that held her as if she were crafted to be carried across the stars.
Lush heat radiated from him.
His talons—curved obsidian sickles around her waist and thighs—cradled her with a terrifying gentleness. He never pierced her flesh or pressed too hard.
Wind tore around them.
Each wing stroke was a thunderous wave of sound and power, making her body tremble. The gusts hissed past her ears, but the way his wings beat—rhythmic and almighty—formed a current that protected her.
When he picked up speed, his massive frame sent shockwaves through the night sky, bending moonlight, eviscerating clouds, and claiming space that no creature should have the right to command.
If Korin chose to drop Sol, no one would or could save her.
And still. . .there was a strange comfort in his prison of scales, claws, and heat. In fact. . .a small, shameful part of Sol wanted to see what else a god like him could show her.
Sol scanned the sky.
The stars look different up here. I might be losing my mind and getting ready to die, but. . .at least I’m doing it beautifully.
Sol shifted, tucking her knees closer to her chest, and the movement brought her tighter into his grip. The curved edges of his talons adjusted with her shifting, flexing just slightly to accommodate her frame.
Why did he do that?
She should have been afraid. She should have been screaming again.
And then one of those claws brushed against her skin, triggering her flesh to buzz.
Did he do that intentionally?
She leaned forward and reached her hand out to the claw and. . .the closer her fingers got, the more her magic swelled. Sweet and electric. Eager even. . .as if it had finally found something it didn’t know it was missing.