He grunted aloud and smacked his lips, before withdrawing from me. I collapsed on the sticky stone.
He moved back to catch a glimpse of my eyes. As his head hovered over me, I stroked his scales and, with some difficulty, reached up to plant a kiss on him. He snorted and dabbled me with his tongue, mimicking my kiss. His eyes were full of adoration, the emerald almost looking gold in the fire-light.
My body felt weak and trembled with every movement. I struggled to turn over to my side, before exhaustion gripped me and I passed out.
***
A zmu woke me. I squinted in the daylight as his voice rang in my ears, calling my name.
“Elizabeth. Wake up.” He gently nudged me with his claw, turning me over from my side.
I held my elbow against my forehead, trying to block the sun that was beaming through the open skylight. I groaned and looked at him. I groaned softly as my body reminded me of the night before. Every muscle was as sore as if I had spent all day tilling. “Wh-what is it?”
“I wanted to tell you — I... I’m glad I brought you here.”
I smiled and craned my neck to meet one of his enormous eyes. “I am too.” I sighed contentedly and added, “Was it good?”
“It was invigorating. I haven’t felt so charged with energy for hundreds of years.”
I stared at him. “Hundreds of years?” My mind boggled at the concept. I thought for a moment, glancing at the unlit trees in the corner of the room, still smoldering slightly from the fire the night before. “Wait — when was the last time...?”
He nodded a bit sheepishly. “It was two hundred and fifty years ago, almost exactly. I took one of your kind into my home.”
I stared at the floor, now turned around on my stomach and resting on my elbows. I didn’t want to know who, but I was surprised that he had gone so long. “Why so long?”
He answered slowly, as if he were choosing his words with great care. “I never found anyone suitable. All the others weren’t right, they didn’t smell right.”
I leaned in and smelled my arm. “I smell right, don’t I?”
He nodded. “More right than even the last.”
“Aren’t there other dragons?” I felt silly to ask, but he was the only one I had seen. When we were flying to his cave, I thought about it and decided that he matched the descriptions of all the dragon stories I ever heard; gold scales, large claws and teeth, emerald eyes. None had different features.
“None.” He held his breath, then sighed. “I am the last, I’m afraid. I’ve flown across the land and sea countless times, and never found another like me.”
“I’m so sorry.” I reached out to stroke his claw, admiring the crimson edges to his scales and claws.
He shook his large head back and forth, the air whooshing around it. “Don’t be. I am not alone or terrified. At least, not anymore.”
I stared at him, unsure of where he was going. I thought hard about it, and felt my heart quicken. “Your seed...” I held my hand to my mouth, but not in horror, but confusion. “Am I going to be pregnant?”
“No, you’ll change. You’ll become a dragon. Like me.”
I stared at him, trying to comprehend. Trying to believe. “Like you?” I gazed at his body, long and almost serpentine.
“Not entirely,” he chuckled. “More human, but a dragon. With the immortality of a dragon, and the power of one.” He blinked hard and brought his head near me, his large eye encompassing my vision. “Does that... upset you?”
I shook my head, tears brimming on my eyes. “No, no!” I protested. “It doesn’t. I’m just... surprised. I mean... I don’t have anything else anyway. My village literally left me for dead. Without you — I’d have nothing.”
“Now you can have everything. Even revenge. And don’t worry. I’ll take care of you during the process. It can be arduous.”
“Have you seen it happen before?”
“Only once,” he said. He turned away and looked through one of the many tunnels in his