The dragon's eyes snapped open, pupils contracting as he took in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the cold, damp air clinging to his skin, and the hard stone beneath his hands. The second was the sharp, throbbing pain at the back of his skull—evidence of the drug that had been forced upon him. He grimaced, baring his teeth in anger.
Humans. How had mere humans managed to do this to him? The great dragon of the Flame, reduced to a drugged prisoner. He clenched his fists, his body still sluggish from the effects of the sedatives.
It seemed he was correct in his assumptions of the villagers. But how had they managed to trick him?
Instinctively, his gaze swept the room—stone walls, eerie silence, the woman. She lay beside him, her chest rising and falling gently, unharmed. Relief surged through him.
His hand hovered above her forehead for a moment before he withdrew it.
