Free Dragon’s Oath by Kristin Cast, P.C. Cast Page A

feet. Instead he led her quickly into a defensive position and then turned to face whatever was lurking in the predawn.
    Heart pounding, Anastasia crouched behind him, peering out at the grayish gloaming. Filled with foreboding, she waited for it to attack.
    Nothing moved.
    No malevolent creature of nightmare fell down upon them. No marauders swarmed. Nothing bad happened at all. All around them was only the meadow and the distant scent of the river.
    She saw his broad shoulders begin to relax and readied herself for his discounting comment. When he turned to her, Anastasia saw only an alert concern in his expression.
    “Do you know what it was?” he asked.
    “No.” She ran a shaky hand through her hair. “But I give you my word I wasn’t pretending.”
    “I know that,” he said. “A Sword Master is not just good with a blade. He’s good with reading bodies and judging reactions. You were fearful.” He reached out, took her hand, and helped her to her feet. Their hands lingered together for a moment. He squeezed hers before he let it go, and then Bryan reached for the chalice that sat full and ready in the middle of the altar. “Drink this and eat some of the food. It’ll help. Plus, you should ground yourself after such a powerful spell.”
    As she sipped the fortifying wine and nibbled on the bread and cheese, Bryan disassembled the altar quickly, while he kept watch around them.
    “Did you feel it? The cold?” she asked.
    “No.”
    “Did you hear the wings?”
    “No.” He met her gaze. “But I believe you felt it and heard it.”
    “Some Indian tribes believe birds carry bad omens. Especially black birds,” she said.
    “I like to believe Nyx wants us to make our own omens,” he said. Then he smiled and pointed at a clump of wildflowers not far from them and the brilliant blue bird with a splash of orange on its chest that fluttered there. “That is definitely not a bad omen.”
    Anastasia found her smile again. “No, it’s a beautiful bird.”
    “And it’s on those enormous yellow flowers. That has to be good, too.”
    “They’re sunflowers. My favorite flowers actually,” she said, giving them a fond look that for some reason had Dragon scowling.
    “Aren’t they like weeds?”
    She shook her head in obvious disdain for his floral ignorance. “They aren’t weeds. They’re associated with love and passion. They’re strong and brilliant and fruitful—their seeds feed everything from birds to people.”
    “So, you’d say they’re a good omen, too.”
    “I would,” she said.
    “And on that second good omen, let’s leave. We’re too exposed out here, and it is almost dawn.”
    She nodded and, still sipping the wine, the two of them left the meadow. Bryan carried her basket in one hand and held his sword in the other.
    “Thank you for believing me,” she said after they’d walked in companionable silence for a little while.
    “You are welcome,” he said.
    She glanced at him. “You’re not what I expected.”
    He met her gaze and smiled. “I’m shorter, right?”
    Anastasia smiled back at him. “Yes. You’re definitely shorter.”
    After a few moments Bryan asked, “Do you like shorter?”
    She just kept smiling.
    “I think you don’t dislike me,” he said.
    She raised a brow at him. “I already told you that.”
    “Yes, but the spell proved it.”
    “And how did it do that?” she said.
    “It’s supposed to reveal the truth of me, and all of my,” he paused, thinking, then continued, “and all of my arrogant misdeeds.”
    She felt her face get warm and she looked away from him.
    “So, if I was really like that—all arrogant and full of myself and not caring about others—you’d see the truth of that and you’d dislike me.”
    She did look at him then. “No, you’re wrong. Just because the truth of you is revealed, it doesn’t mean the person seeing it will automatically dislike you—even if you are arrogant and full of yourself.”
    He laughed. “I