He shifts so quickly I don’t realize what’s happening at first. He’s my dragon, and then suddenly, he’s my Zeke. Just like that.
He doesn’t speak at first. It’s strange, how he’s naked, but I’m still in my dress. It’s strange that he was just a giant creature and now he’s…well, he’s still huge compared to me. His thick arms are strong and muscular. His chest is completely cut.
And me?
I’m the curvy little human he wraps in his arms and starts whispering sweet nothings to.
And then he makes love to me in the grass overlooking the world we live in. It’s slow and sweet and nothing like the first time. He hovers over me in the grass, kissing each part of my body softly and slowly. He takes his time. There’s no rush, no need to hurry like when we were in the castle.
This time he just moves slowly.
This time he devours me piece by piece, savoring every taste, every flavor.
When we’re finished, we lay entwined in the grass.
“This is my favorite place,” he tells me.
“I can see why. It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen so much green before.”
“What was Earth like?”
“When I was a kid, it was healthy, whole. After the wars, everything died. There weren’t enough people. Then there wasn’t enough good weather. There wasn’t enough of anything. Green turned to brown. The grass faded away. When I left, I rarely even saw clouds.”
“Are you glad you left?”
“What, as opposed to dying on my home planet?” I ask dryly, but Zeke smiles.
He waits patiently as I think about his question. It’s not as straightforward as it seems. It’s not just a matter of whether I wish I was here alive. It’s also a matter of whether I regret my choice.
Sometimes I do.
Sometimes I wish I’d done the right thing and buried my father properly. The rest of the time, I’m confident in my decision. The truth is that he was already gone and there was nothing else I could do for him.
“There are some who wish they didn’t leave their planet,” he says gently. “Even if a planet is dying or destroyed, some people don’t want to be rescued.”
“Like the people of Cravenloua.” Jenika and Hal told me about the Lost Planet. It was badly damaged during a war. The Taneyemms and the Martians made a rescue effort, but it was too little, too late. They managed to save some of the women and children, but almost the entire planet was destroyed.
Zeke nods.
“Sometimes staying in a horrible place you know and understand is easier than going someplace new where you’re the strange one.”
“I’m glad I came. I’m glad I met you. Things were hard at first, but I had plenty of time to prepare.” The four years on the ship really mellowed me. Some of the other humans still completely freak out about certain things on Taneyemm. A couple of girls from the ship ended up in the kitchens at Zeke’s, and every so often they’ll just have these random breakdowns.
Learning how to manage yourself in a new place is hard. When you don’t know the language, don’t understand the customs, don’t get the culture, it’s even harder.
“Your Drakonai is amazing,” Zeke murmurs, complimenting me, and I blush a little. We always speak in Drakonai when we’re alone. I didn’t even realize we did it until he mentioned most of his staff don’t know I can speak. When other people are around, we speak English. It’s what I spoke on Earth and Zeke can speak quite well.
“Hal made me practice four hours a day.”
“Every day?”
“Yep. One hour for each year I’d be on the ship. I’d have to work on reading for an hour, speaking for an hour, listening for an hour, and writing for an hour.”
Zeke cocks his head to the side as he contemplates what I’ve just said.
“You didn’t tell me you could read.”
I shrug.
“You didn’t ask. It didn’t really seem like something to bring up randomly in conversation. ‘By the way, I am literate.’”
He chuckles. “Maybe I’ll convince you to read to me sometime.”
“Anything for you, dragon man.”
Zeke raises an eyebrow.
“Lord dragon?”
He stares at me.
“King dragon? Master dragon? Sir dragon?”
“All right, all right.” He laughs and points at the sky. The first wisps of dawn are shining through the clouds. “Time to return to the castle, darling.”
He shifts again and I climb on his back.
Heading back, my heart is filled with hope and I just know that everything is going to be okay.
But I’m wrong.