Ember could hear her own loud heartbeats, and her palms turned sweaty as she held onto the skirt of her dress.
'Shall I turn to look at him? What if my expression offends him? Oh no, what is my expression like? Do I look scared?' She shook her head. 'It should be fine. He is my mate. I have seen White Tigers and even the feathered races in their beast forms. They simply look like large animals. I shouldn't be scared of animals. Dragons should be just large lizards with wings, right?'
She repeated those lines in her mind over and over again, but whatever courage she managed to scrunch up evaporated along with the warm blow of air behind her, the loud but relatively shallow breath of a divine beast.
'No, no, no, I can't look! Dragons are said to be the most powerful divine beasts in existence. Can I really turn around and pretend that I'm not scared? What if my reaction upsets Draven?'
