Prince of Fire | Dragonfire Book One

Capitolo Ventinove

Upon discovering the healing properties of Draconic blood, a secretive and selective group of humans started hunting dragons for their own gain.

~ The Draconic Book of Songs

Chapter Twenty Nine

Dante froze. Did he hear her correctly? "My true form?" he asked hesitantly. Suddenly, his breathing was too loud, and the sounds from around them was deafening.

Elena bit her lips in response, and he was too stunned by the request to be distracted by her mouth. "Yeah?" she squeaked, and then cleared her throat before more firmly saying, "Yes."

His heart drummed loudly in his chest. She wanted to see his true form? "Are you sure?" he asked. He would give her one more chance to back away, one more chance before he could scare her away.

Her voice was soft when she said, "Yes. I want to see your true form."

Dante inhaled and exhaled, and then took a few steps back to prepare himself and give himself space to transform. His fingers, shaky as they were, reached up to start unbuttoning his shirt.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Elena asked nervously when he shrugged the shirt off and tossed it to the ground.

The edges of his lips twitched. "Unfortunately, Shifting does not spare clothing, and it would be such a waste to ruin my clothes every time I wanted to Shift to my true form," Dante said, his hands falling to his pants. He continued peeling away his clothes, to which Elena averted her eyes despite having seen his human form naked before.

"Look at me," he said softly after he placed his clothes to the side. He wanted to be able to look into her eyes to bare his soul and watch her reactions. "This may...scare you, but don't be frightened. I will not hurt you. I will never hurt you," he promised ardently. Never intentionally at least.

Elena raised her eyes from the ground, pausing slightly along the way up. When their gaze met, he could see a hint of fear in her eyes and he smiled grimly. But he took a breath and started Shifting, seeing the golden haze surround him and momentarily blurring the details of his surroundings, including Elena. Dante felt his bones restructure, his muscles grow, and his cobalt scales slide over his skin. His vision sharpened just as the haze dissipated. And as quickly as it had started, the Shift ended.

Dante looked down at Elena, who was dwarfed by his true form. Her lips were parted in surprise, and her eyes widened, taking all of him in, from his talons to his tail to his wings to his snout to the spikes along his spine. He could see her tremble ever so slightly as she stared at him. To avoid terrifying her any more, Dante kept all of limbs on the ground, including his wings. And all was quiet aside from his huffing.

To his surprise, Elena slowly ambled forward, wobbly knees and all, until she was close enough to touch him. Her hand raised to gently touch his wings, causing him shiver and thus prompt her to jerk her hand back. Dante whined and lowered his head, bending his neck so that he could lay his head on the ground near Elena's feet. The small breeze he created blew back her hair.

"What does that mean?" Elena asked.

Dante garbled in a futile attempt to speak. He blinked in annoyance, frustrated that he couldn't communicate with her. Humans couldn't understand Dragon-Speak and they couldn't establish a mind link with each other as an alternative, so instead, he huffed and nudged his wing towards her.