Free Dark Magic by REBECCA YORK Page B

going to his deer herd.
    A pang of guilt assaulted her. She had lost herself in the wonders of this place, and her people were still in mortal danger.
    When Galladar returned, she went to him. “You came to Arandal. You sought me out. Why?”
    He shrugged.
    “I’ve been honest with you. Can’t you do the same for me?”
    “I roamed the castle. I saw you—and I was attracted to you.”
    “Why?”
    “First your beauty drew me. They I saw that you were different. Because you didn’t fit in.”
    “And you liked that?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you tried to keep me from going to the dragon. Why?”
    “Because when I came to my senses, I knew it could never work between us. You are human. I am not.”
    “You are more human than many men I have met. Can all dragons change their shape to human form?”
    “All of us can shift our shapes.”
    The question that had burned inside her sprang to her lips. “Will you help me now?”
    “You want to save a king who has treated you ill and people who would never allow you what you crave most.”
    “Yes.”
    “It might not come out the way you expect.”
    “Why not?”
    “You must see that for yourself.”
    “How?” she asked.
    “If the dragon flies back to Arandal, the princess will come with me.”
    There was no other choice. “All right,” she answered immediately.
    “You might yet lose your nerve.”
    “I hope not. You will kill the barbarians?”
    Galladar was silent for long moments, and she felt her heart pounding as she waited for his answer.
    “Yes. For you. Because you had the courage to sacrifice your life. Willingly.”
    “Then we must hurry. The barbarian leader will be angry when he finds out that I have escaped. Maybe he already knows.”
    “We will make you ready to leave.”
    Devon felt a pang. She didn’t want this time with him to end. He had listened to her—really listened. He had answered her questions honestly, and he had shown her more regard in a few hours than she had ever experienced in her whole life.
    She felt the sadness of that and struggled to push it away. She had work to do, and she must not let her own needs distract her.
    He walked farther back into the cave and returned with a shirt, britches and boots finer than the outfit she had traveled in. And a set of leather armor.
    “Put this on.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you are going into battle.”
    Devon swallowed and turned her back so she could take off the gown and pull on the clothing. Then she picked up the top part of the armor, turning it in her hands.
    “I don’t know how to fit it to me.”
    “I’ll help you.”
    He slipped the upper piece over her head and hooked it together under her arms.
    “Put your hands on my shoulders.”
    She did, closing her eyes as she clung to his strong body, wishing they were back in bed together.
    When he fitted the leg guards over her thighs, she fought a surge of heat.
    Maybe he felt it too, because she heard his breath catch.
    “How did you find armor that fits a woman?” she asked, trying to distract herself.
    “Magic,” he said, his voice thick.
    He picked up the helmet from the bed and fixed it on her head, carefully tucking her hair out of sight.
    Then he pulled back a drapery and turned her around so that she could see herself in a long mirror.
    She stared at the warrior confronting her. “I look…fierce.”
    “We’ll see if your heart matches your appearance. Come outside.”
    She followed him out of the bedroom, through the room with the wonderful books and then into the night. The moon was so bright that the rock outcroppings cast shadows.
    “Stay there while I change,” he said.
    “To what?”
    He stepped back, twenty feet from her. Taking off his clothes, he laid them on the ground. Then he began to grow and transform. She gasped as scales covered his body. His neck and head elongated. His arms turned into wings, and his hands and feet became talons.
    In seconds a terrifying dragon stood before her, towering twenty