The Second Dragon Rider || Eret son of Eret ||

24. Secretly In Love

'It feels weird to have another human sleeping next to me.' Dagur thought to himself as Skyla slept curled up against him. 'Not that this is bad or anything, just a little weird but I have to get used to human contact again, I couldn't even return a hug with her.'

He glanced over to Shattermaster who was curled up with Jade, a green female Snafflefang they found a few days ago that Skyla instantly befriended. Shatty seemed pretty comfortable with his companion despite not being so used to being around strange dragons so maybe he should at least get used to having a human around, especially one who happened to be a female.

He carefully shifted himself a bit to a more comfortable position where her head was resting under his chin and he was sort of cradling her. Skyla gave a sigh but didn't change her position. As Dagur was closing his eyes to sleep, a loud and dull boom sounded making small rocks fall from the cave ceiling.

"Crap..." He muttered, releasing Skyla and getting up from the pile of furs. Shattermaster was and ready awake and growling softly when another dull boom sounded. "Relax buddy, no one is gonna get into this cave." He said patting his dragon on the side to soothe him.

"What's going on?" Dagur turned to see Skyla sitting up and running her eyes.

"It's nothing." Dagur said as another dull boom sounded and some dust and pebbles fell again from the ceiling. "Okay I lied, but I'm going outside to check what it is."

"Should I go outside with you in case?" Skyla asked sitting up straight.

"No you stay here with Jade and Shatty, I'm just gonna take a look at what's making all that noise." Dagur said grabbing a sword from the floor and pulled his boots on. "I'll be right back, I promise."

Skyla watched as Dagur hurried out of the room and carefully layed back down on the pile of furs while Shattermaster gave a loud yawn and fell back asleep.

'I know he means well, but what if something happens to him and I'm not there to help?' She wondered as she played with a strand of her hair. 'I can't even bear the thought of him getting hurt.'

Lately the two of them have been growing close. At first Dagur had been insisting she would take the bed and he'd sleep next to his dragon, but after a few weeks of seeing him with a sore back, Skyla insisted he should sleep on the furs as well. And it had taken her a few days to convince him to stop sleeping on the edge of the bed and to get used to her touch. And tonight he soon decided to sleep close to her right in the middle of the bed.

"What's taking him so long?" Skyla murmured, her worry for her friend growing a bit. Moments later Dagur walked back in looking exhausted. "Is everything okay?" She asked sitting up.

"Some Quakens were having a mating ritual outside. Apparently the males think if they make the biggest craters they could attract a female." Dagur said kicking his boots off and layed back down next to her.

"I've seen weirder mating rituals among dragons." Skyla chuckled. "It's just nature taking it's course, nothing unusual."

"Well they should have it somewhere else because there are some others who are trying to sleep." Dagur said letting her curl close to him and wrapped his arms around her.

"What are human mating rituals?" Skyla asked.

"I have no idea, but we males certainly don't go around dancing or flashing feathers or biting each other." Dagur replied. "Now go to sleep, I'm tired and want to rest."

"One last question." Skyla insisted. Dagur muttered a swear and earned a flick on the ear from her. "Please?"

"Fine but be quick."

"Have you had any sort of feelings for anyone, like feelings of love?"

Dagur was silent for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"Afraid not, I didn't really have time to focus on finding someone to love." He said. "Have you?"

"Well this one guy I met when I was eighteen, his name is Eret and he was a dragon trapper." Skyla responded and gave a small sigh. "He was quite handsome and kind to me, and two years later he came looking for me and asked me to come to Berk, and when I did a lot of people asked if we were together and we kept saying no a lot."

"Did he like you back?" Dagur asked quietly.

"Oh he certainly did, but I was to afraid to admit to him that I was in love with him, wish I did tell him before running off."

"Guess you should have." Dagur mumbled quietly before closing his eyes.

But it was rather hard for him to sleep now. He watched Skyla sleep peacefully and smiled a bit. Gods how he wished he could have told her the truth, how he was starting to like her. She was kind and pretty witty as well and quite braver than some girls he knew, probably why she fit right in on Berk. And he liked how she was able to manage to do somethings with just one hand like get dressed or bathe or even spar with a staff.

But since she admitted to having a crush on another man he didn't think it'd be a good idea to tell her at all. Even though he never met this Eret fellow, he didn't think he was gonna really like him anyways. But if he ever did meet him, he would try to be as polite as possible to him in front of Skyla.

"I'm sorry I lied." He whispered. "But what can I do if you don't even like me back?"

He smiled a bit as Skyla curled closer to him. Dagur looked over at their dragons and smiled when he saw Jade mimic Skyla's actions and clurled closer to Shattermaster.

"Sleep well princess." He said softly, before placing a gentle kiss on her temple.