The Dragon Bride | ✔️

Chapter Six

Kora's POV

I suck in my breath, and squeeze my eyes shut.

I am terrified of heights.

I can feel the cold, biting air knifing into my skin, my dark hair flailing in the breeze as Bob's arms hold me tight, like a sort of shield. My stomach flips over with every turn and swoop, and I swear I'll throw up.

"I'm a little- little scared... Of... Uhm, of heights..." I whisper, my voice breaking in between as he somehow accelerates his speed even faster.

I hear him let out a laugh, which infuriates me, "Oh, really? The brave and mighty Kora Moons, scared of heights?" he mocks.

I groan. "I hate you so much."

"I hate you too, sweetheart," I can hear the smile in his voice as the winds fly past, howling and roaring intimidatingly.

But that's when it changes. Suddenly, we're not going so quickly anymore. We're almost just floating, but I can still hear the soft flapping noise of his dragon wings, which strangely comforts me. My arms are still tied tightly around him, but now I just gently rest my aching head against his chest, and I can hear the sharp and quickened thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud of his heartbeat. What's making his heart beat so quickly?

It must just be how a dragon's heart beats, I tell myself. But I've never heard it like that before.

I look up to his face, and see that he's looking directly down to me, his face flushed and his piercing violet eyes softened slightly. I am very high in the sky, but in that moment I don't particularly care. I hardly notice, because all I can see is a dragon, and the emotion in his eyes as he looks down to me.

"We're here," he whispers, "The Elves' hideout."

I snap out of my trance. Oh God. I almost forgot why we're here in the first place. He gently floats down, and suddenly it doesn't seem all that scary anymore. Or at all. I would even say that I feel almost safe.

Don't get too safe, a voice in my head warns, he's a dragon. Let's not forget that.

Once we're on ground again, I quickly detach myself from him, my cheeks burning. Blush doesn't actually show on my skin, and I couldn't be more grateful for that than in this moment.

"It's oddly quiet," I whisper, looking around. It's actually a beautiful place. There is a particularly thick canopy overhead that shields this place from any sunlight, and instead there's little fairy lanterns hanging everywhere, with tiny little lightning imps in them.

Lightning imps are bioluminescent creatures – they let off a glow based on their moods. And right now, the entire place is looking extremely rainbow which means they're clearly feeling mixed emotions. I mean, they are bottled up in a lantern, so I don't blame them. Despite their light, it's still quite dimly-lit, just enough light to see what's around you.

There's a gentle trickling sound which suggests they have a fresh water supply, a waterfall.

The entire place is a luscious green, only slightly obscured by the tinted lights. A thick scattering of leaves and plants cover the soil completely and the walls seem to be some kind of huge plant too, the occasional tree trunk visible, acting as pillars to hold it all up. It's huge, and the treetops act as a sort of home to each individual Elf. The thicker tree trunks have windows carved into them, some of which with their lights on.

But no doors anywhere.

"Where do we find him? The one who took Raindr- I mean, the teddy," I ask.

"He's in that one." Bob replies simply, pointing to a huge pile of dirt and metal with windows and, once again, no door.