The dragon's untainted bride

The first thing Elowen knew was that the tree was watching her. Not with eyes. Trees did not have eyes. At least, that was what she had been told all her life. Yet as she stood beneath the enormous elm at the edge of the forbidden forest, rain sliding from the hood of her cloak and dripping from her fingertips, she could have sworn the ancient thing was aware of her. Waiting for her. Remembering her. The thought should have frightened her enough to turn around. Instead, Elowen reached out and placed her palm against its bark. Warm. She froze. The tree was warm. Not sun-warmed wood. Not the faint heat of something that had spent the afternoon beneath golden light. It was genuinely warm. Almost alive beneath her hand. A pulse moved through the trunk. Once. Slowly. Then again. Elowen snatched her hand away. Her breath caught. For a moment, nothing happened. The forest remained silent. Rain whispered through the leaves. Somewhere beyond the trees, an owl called once and then went quiet. "Ridiculous," she whispered. She looked down at her hand. Nothing. No burn. No mark. No explanation. Elowen swallowed. Her name had always been a source of amusement in the village. Elowen. It meant elm. Her mother had chosen it before she was born, supposedly because an enormous elm had grown beside the cottage where Elowen's parents had lived when they were young. "An ordinary tree," her mother had always insisted whenever Elowen asked about it. But her mother had never liked talking about Elowen's name. And she had never allowed her daughter near the forest. Not once. Until tonight. Tonight, her mother was gone. And the forest had called her. At least, that was what Elowen believed. She had heard the whispering from her bedroom window just after midnight. Not words. Not exactly. More like a sound that existed somewhere between wind and voice. Come. She had tried to ignore it. Then it had come again. Elowen. Her own name. Spoken from the darkness beyond the village. She had left her house without telling anyone. Now she stood beneath the oldest tree in the kingdom, wondering whether she had finally lost whatever remained of her good sense. She turned toward the path. She should go home. Immediately. Instead, something moved behind her. Elowen stopped breathing. A branch cracked. Slowly, she turned. Nothing. Only darkness. The forest stretched behind her in endless layers of black trunks and tangled branches. Mist curled between the roots, crawling along the ground like pale fingers. "Hello?" Her voice sounded embarrassingly small. No answer. Then— A low growl rolled through the forest. Elowen's heart slammed against her ribs. That was no wolf. No ordinary animal. The sound was too deep. Too powerful. The earth itself seemed to tremble beneath her boots. She stepped backward. Another growl. Closer. Something enormous moved between the trees. Elowen's instincts finally overcame her curiosity. She ran. She made it three steps. A shadow dropped from the sky. The ground exploded in front of her. Elowen screamed. A wall of heat struck her face. She stumbled backward and fell hard against the roots of the elm. For one impossible moment, she could see nothing but smoke. Then the creature emerged. Dragon. The word appeared in her mind before she could think it. A dragon. Not the winged serpents painted in children's books. Not the tiny creatures carved into church walls. This creature was enormous. Its body was covered in dark scales that reflected the moonlight like blackened silver. Two vast wings folded against its back. Horns swept backward from its skull, and smoke curled lazily from its nostrils. Its eyes— Elowen forgot how to breathe. Gold. Not yellow. Not amber. Gold. Ancient, molten gold. They fixed upon her. The dragon lowered its head. Elowen pressed herself against the tree. Every sensible thought screamed at her to run. But something strange happened. The dragon stopped. Its nostrils flared. It inhaled. Once. Twice. And suddenly the terrifying creature looked— Confused. The great golden eyes narrowed. The dragon inhaled again. Then it recoiled. A strange sound escaped its throat. Not a growl. Not quite. Something almost like pain. Elowen stared. "What are you?" The dragon's gaze never left hers. Then the air changed. Heat swept through the clearing. The dragon's body shuddered. Its wings spread. Elowen expected fire. Instead, light erupted around the creature. She raised an arm to shield her eyes. The dragon's enormous silhouette contracted. Bones shifted. Wings disappeared. Scales became skin. The monstrous shape collapsed inward until, standing in the rain before her, was a man. A very tall man. He stood completely still. Dark hair fell around his face, wet from the rain. His features were sharp enough to look carved rather than born. Broad shoulders strained beneath a black shirt, and his hands were clenched at his sides. But it was his eyes that terrified her. They were still gold. The stranger looked at her as though she were the first thing he had seen in a thousand years. Perhaps she was. "You." His voice was deep. Elowen swallowed. "Me?" His jaw tightened. He looked away from her as though the sight of her physically hurt. "Go." She blinked. "What?" "Leave." The command carried enough force to make the leaves tremble. Elowen should have obeyed. Instead, she found herself staring at him. "You're a dragon." His expression hardened. "That is what you noticed?" "Hardly something I can overlook." For the first time, something resembling amusement flickered across his face. It vanished almost immediately. He turned away. "Go back to your village." "Who are you?" Silence. Then he looked over his shoulder. "Kieran." The name seemed to settle over the clearing. Elowen repeated it quietly. "Kieran." His eyes snapped back to hers. Something changed. A strange tension passed through him. His fingers curled into fists. "Don't say my name like that." "Like what?" "Like you have the right to." Elowen frowned. "I don't even know you." "No." His voice dropped. "That's the problem." The wind died. The rain seemed to disappear. For several seconds, there was only the two of them beneath the ancient elm. Then Elowen felt it. A pull. Deep inside her chest. Like an invisible thread had suddenly been tied between her heart and his. She gasped. Kieran's face went utterly still. His eyes widened. "No." The word came out almost as a whisper. "What?" He stared at her. Then at the tree. Then back at her. "No," he repeated, this time with something dangerously close to fear. Elowen rose slowly. "What is happening?" Kieran stepped backward. "You need to leave." "You're not answering me." "Because you don't want the answer." "I'll decide what I want." His eyes flashed. For one brief instant, Elowen saw the dragon again. Not the man. The beast beneath him. Ancient. Powerful. Hungry. And utterly captivated by her. Kieran inhaled sharply. His gaze dropped to her throat. Elowen's pulse quickened. He looked away immediately. His breathing had changed. "What is wrong with you?" "Nothing." "You look like you're in pain." "I am." The answer was so quiet that she almost missed it. Kieran closed his eyes. A tremor moved through his shoulders. "I have lived for a thousand years," he said. Elowen stared. "A thousand?" "Almost." "And you've been a dragon all that time?" "Yes." "You're the last one?" His eyes opened. Something bleak passed through them. "The last pure-blooded dragon." Elowen did not know what to say. She had heard stories. Everyone had. Dragons had once ruled the mountains beyond the northern kingdoms. They had supposedly been beautiful, terrifying creatures capable of taking human form. Then they vanished. Hunters had killed them. Kings had hunted them. Some stories claimed dragons had simply disappeared because their bloodline had become corrupted by human magic. But no one believed they still existed. "You're real," Elowen whispered. Kieran gave a humorless smile. "Unfortunately." She frowned. "Why unfortunately?" "Because I was perfectly content being a myth." His gaze returned to her. "And then you came here." The invisible pull between them strengthened. Elowen felt warmth bloom beneath her skin. She looked down. A faint golden light was appearing across her palm. The same hand that had touched the elm. Her breath caught. Kieran moved toward her. "Don't." She looked up. He had stopped only a few feet away. His expression was no longer cold. It was strained. Almost desperate. "What is that?" "I don't know." "Show me." She hesitated. Then lifted her hand. The golden mark glowed brighter. A symbol emerged beneath her skin. An elm tree. Its roots spread across her palm. Kieran stared at it. For the first time since she had met him, he looked genuinely frightened. "That's impossible." "What is?" His gaze lifted slowly to hers. "The tree chose you." Elowen laughed nervously. "The tree?" Kieran did not smile. "Do you know what your name means?" She frowned. "Of course." "Tell me." "Elm." His expression changed. "Your mother knew." Elowen's stomach tightened. "Knew what?" Kieran stepped closer. The heat surrounding him was almost unbearable now. "The elm has not awakened in over a thousand years." Elowen looked at the ancient tree. Its leaves were trembling. But there was no wind. "What does it mean?" Kieran stared at her for a long moment. Then his eyes dropped to the glowing mark on her palm. When he spoke, his voice was barely audible. "It means you are not here by accident." A sudden crack split the night. The ancient elm shuddered. Its roots moved beneath the earth. Elowen gasped. The tree's enormous trunk began to glow. Golden light spread through the bark like veins. Kieran immediately stepped between Elowen and the tree. His body shifted subtly. Shoulders widening. Eyes burning brighter. "What is happening?" "Stay behind me." "Kieran—" "Elowen." The way he said her name stopped her. There was something in his voice she had never heard before. Fear. Not for himself. For her. The ground trembled. Then the elm spoke. Not aloud. Inside her mind. Daughter. Elowen froze. Kieran turned sharply toward her. "You heard it." She nodded. The tree's golden light intensified. At last. Elowen's heart pounded. "At last what?" The answer came like thunder through her bones. The untainted one has returned. Kieran went completely still. Elowen looked at him. "What does that mean?" He didn't answer. His eyes were fixed on her as though the thousand years behind them had suddenly become meaningless. Then, very softly, he said: "My God." "What?" Kieran's gaze dropped to the mark on her palm. "The last time the elm awakened..." He swallowed. "...it chose my kind." A cold sensation traveled down Elowen's spine. "And now?" His eyes met hers. "Now it has chosen you." The golden mark flared. And somewhere far beyond the forest, something answered with a roar. Kieran's expression hardened. "There are others." Elowen's voice trembled. "Other dragons?" "No." He looked toward the darkness. "Something much worse." Then he turned back to her. For the first time, Elowen saw the full weight of his thousand years in his face. And beneath it— Something else. Something dangerously close to wonder. "You have no idea what you've awakened, little elm." Elowen's heart skipped. "Don't call me that." A faint smile touched his lips. It was the first real smile she had seen from him. And somehow, it frightened her more than the dragon had. "Why?" "Because I don't like it." Kieran stepped closer. Close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his body. His golden eyes held hers. "Neither do I." The mark on her palm burned brighter. And Kieran looked at it as though he already knew one terrible truth. Whatever had begun beneath the ancient elm, neither of them would ever be the same again.