The silence that followed the death of the raiders was heavy.
The adrenaline that had kept Elara upright during the confrontation began to drain away, leaving her limbs feeling like lead. The cold returned with a vengeance.
The Void Wood was not just a forest; it was a vacuum of heat. The chill here didn't sit on the skin; it seeped into the marrow.
Elara sat back down in the center of the bone nest, pulling the moth-eaten bear pelt tighter around her shoulders. It wasn't enough. Her teeth began to chatter.
Click. Click. Click.
The sound was loud in the quiet cavern.
Kael—she still couldn't believe she had named a creature capable of vaporizing men, was pacing.
He moved back and forth in front of the nest, his massive claws clicking against the stone floor. Every few seconds, he would stop and stare at her. His electric blue eyes narrowed, the vertical pupils dilating and contracting as he scanned her body.
He was agitated.
"Vibrating," his voice rumbled in her mind. It sounded accusatory.
Elara hugged her knees to her chest, trying to stop the shivering. "I-I'm c-cold," she stammered.
Kael tilted his head. The concept seemed to baffle him. He was a creature of the Void; cold was his natural element. He had likely never felt a chill in his thousand-year life.
He stepped closer, looming over the nest. The heat radiating from his body was palpable, like standing next to a forge.
"Dying?" he asked. The panic in his mental voice spiked.
"No!" Elara said quickly, seeing his tail start to thrash again. "Not dying. Just... freezing. I need warmth."
Kael paused. He looked at the entrance of the cave, where the wind was howling. He looked at the small pile of furs she was huddled under. He seemed to run a calculation in his head.
Furs = Insufficient.Cave = Cold.Human = Vibrating.
He let out a sharp huff of air. He had a solution.
Elara watched warily as he climbed into the nest.
"Wait," she squeaked, scrambling backward until her back hit the curve of a dragon rib. "What are you doing?"
The nest was large, but Kael was colossal. As he stepped onto the pile of gold and bones, the entire mound shifted under his weight. Coins cascaded down the sides like water.
He didn't answer. He simply began to circle.
It was a primal, animalistic movement. He turned in a tight circle three times, trampling the gold coins flat, creating a depression in the center of the hoard.
Then, he collapsed.
Thump.
The impact shook Elara's teeth.
He didn't lie next to her. He curled around her.
His body formed a C-shape, a living wall of obsidian scales and muscle that completely cut her off from the drafty cave entrance. His tail, thick as a tree trunk, curled around to meet his head, effectively sealing her inside a donut of monster.
Elara was trapped in a pit of dragon.
She stopped breathing. She was inches away from his flank. Up close, his scales weren't just black; they were iridescent, shimmering with veins of violet energy. And the heat...
It was glorious.
He radiated a dry, intense warmth, like a sun-baked stone.
Kael lifted his head, resting his heavy chin on his front paws. His giant eye opened, staring directly at her. He nudged her with his snout, pushing her deeper into the curve of his belly.
"Cease," he commanded. "Stop vibrating."
Elara blinked. He was acting like a brooding hen. He was trying to incubate her.
"You're... you're warm," she whispered, her body instinctively relaxing as the heat soaked into her freezing clothes.
Kael let out a smug snort. Smoke drifted from his nostrils, curling around Elara. It smelled of burning cedar and old magic.
"Better," he grunted.
The tension in the cavern evaporated. Elara realized that for the first time since she had been thrown into the woods, she wasn't just surviving; she was comfortable.
But there was a problem. The gold coins beneath her were hard and jagged. She shifted, trying to find a soft spot, but a golden goblet was digging into her hip.
She sighed, wincing.
Kael's eye snapped open instantly. "Pain?"
"The gold," Elara muttered, rubbing her hip. "It's hard."
Kael lifted his head. He looked at the gold coins he had spent centuries hoarding. He looked at the soft, fragile creature shivering in the middle of them.
With a low grumble, he extended a claw.
Elara flinched, but he moved past her. He hooked his claw into the pile of furs she had been using and dragged them into the center. Then, he did something unexpected.
He rolled onto his side, exposing his underbelly.
The scales on his stomach were softer, smoother, and paler than the armor on his back. He grabbed the furs and tucked them against his stomach, creating a soft pocket.
He looked at Elara, then pointed his snout at the soft spot against his belly.
"Here," he ordered.
He wanted her to sleep against his stomach. The most vulnerable part of his body.
Elara hesitated. "Kael, if you roll over, you'll crush me."
He narrowed his eyes, offended. "I am graceful."
He didn't look graceful. He looked like a mountain of death taking a nap. But the cold was creeping back in where she wasn't touching him.
Elara crawled forward. She moved over the furs and tentatively pressed her back against his underbelly.
It was softer than the finest velvet. And the sound...
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
His heart was beating behind those scales. It was a slow, rhythmic drum that vibrated through her entire body. It was the most reassuring sound she had ever heard.
She curled up, pulling the bear pelt over her legs. Kael shifted slightly, draping his tail over her feet like a weighted blanket.
The darkness of the cave didn't feel scary anymore. It felt private.
Elara's eyelids grew heavy. The terror of the day, the betrayal, the wolf head, the raiders, began to fade, replaced by the overwhelming presence of the creature surrounding her.
"Goodnight, Kael," she mumbled, sleep pulling her under.
There was a long pause.
Then, a heavy, scaly chin came to rest gently on top of her head.
"Mine," the voice whispered into her dreams.
For the first time in her life, Elara didn't feel like a burden. She felt like a treasure.