Chapter 5
On the evening of the fourth day, I discovered a hidden compartment in the deepest part of the vault.
Inside were some even older relics. It was a dragonbone ring, a chunk of some unknown mineral, and a fist-sized crystal with a silver flower that would never wither.
"What are these?" I asked.
Lonnie walked over and glanced down.
"Personal collection. No need to catalog them," he said.
"Even personal collections should be cataloged. What if you forget?" I said.
"I have a good memory. Dragons always do," Lonnie replied.
"You couldn't even tell if you'd grabbed a maid or a princess," I shot back.
His mouth twitched.
"That was just an eyesight thing," he said.
"Silver dragons can see twenty times better than humans," I pointed out.
"The lighting was terrible that night," Lonnie muttered.
"It was a full moon," I retorted.
Lonnie fell silent.
I carefully took each item out of the hidden compartment, logging them one by one. When I reached for the last piece, my hand suddenly touched something warm.
It wasn't a relic.
It was his chest.
At some point, Lonnie had leaned in close beside me, peering into the compartment as well.
As I pulled my hand back, the back of it brushed right against the spot just below the collar of his robe, warm and unexpectedly intimate.
There was a small, irregular bump on his skin there, like a lingering scale from his dragon form.
The instant my hand touched it, it glowed.
It was a silver-white glow.
It was gentle.
It flickered, throbbing in time with his heartbeat.
Lonnie froze.
I looked up.
His pupils shrank tight, and a flush of red spread from his ears all the way down his neck.
"Do you even realize what you just touched?" Lonnie asked, his voice tight.
I shook my head.
He took a step back, then another, until his back hit the stone wall.
The bump was still glowing, even through the black fabric of his robe, the light shone through, pulsing softly in time with his heartbeat.
He pressed his hand to his chest, trying to smother the light.
But it was no use. The glow leaked out between his fingers.
He closed his eyes for a moment, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard.
Lonnie said, his voice hoarse, barely more than a whisper, "A dragon's forbidden scale. In a dragon's whole life, it'll only ever glow for one person."
The air in the cave was thick with heat.
It was the warmth of dragon's breath.
He opened his eyes and looked at me, light dancing in those amber eyes, pupils narrowed to slits.
In the silence of the cave, my own heartbeat sounded thunderous in my ears.
Lonnie released his hand from his chest and stepped toward me.
"Page," he said.
There was something different in the way he said my name.
Suddenly, a horn sounded from the mouth of the cave.
It was piercing and triumphant. It was the signature horn of the royal knights.
He stopped.
We both looked toward the cave entrance.
At the base of the mountain, torches formed a river of light, banners whipping in the night wind.
Someone shouted, "Silver dragon, release the princess!"
Lonnie's face went cold.
He shot me a look.
The silver-white light kept pulsing from his chest.