Dragon Boyfriend: Gryndren #1 (special preview)

“What sort of creatures have you fought against?” Nicolai asks. His voice gives away his age, as do his big eyes, one blue, one brown. 

“Oh, many things,” I chuckle. “I’ve been at this since I was your age.”

Nicolai’s eyes go wider. “What was your first?”

I think for a moment. “It was a Mortabulus, near the mountains of Charbagne. They call them bone eaters and they usually pester places like tombs and graveyards. This one had lost it’s mind and was taking the bones right from people’s bodies.”

Nicolai’s mouth was agape and he was sitting hunched up.

“I had joined a hunting party that was tasked with killing it.” I lift up my sleeve, showing him the ghastly scar on my forearm. “It bit into me and I somehow managed to shoot it with my free hand while I was panicking!”

“What did you do?” Nicolai stares starry eyed at me.

I look at the horrible scar briefly before pushing my sleeve down again. “Crossbow,” I murmur. “I still can’t figure out how I did it with one hand.” I then chuckle. “I’ve always been told that I have been cursed with remarkable luck. My sister is the same way.”

“Cursed with luck?” Nicolai furrows his brow low. “How is that possible?”

“Well, luck swings,” I reply. “It can either go very well or very wrong, and I am cursed with the most remarkable so-” I shrug and click my tongue. “I suppose my pendulum swings a little harder than most.”

“Ah,” Nicolai gasps. “Well, how has it been swinging lately? Perhaps that will be a sign as to how things will go for you.”

I bite down on the tip of my tongue. Things hadn’t really been swinging lately, it was as if the pendulum had gone still and was waiting on me to move. “That’s the thing, it never goes how you want it too.”

Nicolai nods. “Ok, I see, I see,” he nods. He then grows silent and looks around. “Have you ever gone up against anything as big as a dragon?”

I smile at him. “A few, but never a dragon. This will be my first.”

We come to an arch made of ice and that is where we stop. They take the small boat down and place me on it. Once I am let go, I venture off towards a craggy path that is supposed to lead to the dragon’s lair. 

The air is crisp and cold and icicles hang heavy from the rocks around me. In the distance I can see the island that Katrina told me about. The world seems gray here, even the sky is heavy with clouds that shift silver as the dull light touches them. I brace myself, preparing for the dragon at any moment. 

The boat stalls, hitting against something. I look over the edge, expecting a rock or chunk of ice to be in my way. As I lean over the edge though, I see something glowing from within the icy waters. I gasp softly as the radiant blue comes closer to the surface. A great claw braces against the bow, pushing against it and sinking its claws into the wood.

The dragon emerges from the water, rising up and moving it’s great head towards me, sapphire eyes glowing bright in the sockets. It’s scales are dark gray around the face, fading into paler shades all the way down its neck until it becomes silver white on the chest. Large spikes jut out from the face like bone, and two curl back like ram’s horns at the top of its head.

“I was expecting posturing knights and braggart men,” the dragon whispers, its voice a low and calm rasp. “I was not prepared for a woman of any kind.”

I take a step back as the dragon turls it’s long body around the ship. “I am a bit thrown off, but I am not unprepared.”

“I’m the same as any man,” I scoff at him. “What does it matter?”