Fuse by E.L. Todd
Ten
When Flare shook her awake,it seemed like only five minutes had passed.
“Lemme sleep…” She pushed him off and kept her eyes closed.
“I’ve already let you sleep for too long. Now, get up.” He shook her again. “Don’t make me ask you twice.”
She opened her eyes and forced herself to sit up. When she looked around, the sun was still high in the sky. She’d been asleep for nearly twenty-four hours, but it still didn’t feel like enough. “I can’t believe I’m still exhausted.”
“It’s only been an hour.” Flare grabbed her pack and stuffed the blanket inside. “I’d be surprised if you were rejuvenated.”
“It’s only been an hour?” She rubbed her temple and recognized the distant migraine she’d had for nearly a day. “Are you a maniac? Let me sleep.”
“Sorry, Cora. I can’t.” He pulled her to her feet then placed the pack in her arms. “We’ve got to keep moving. I only let you sleep because I knew your body would shut down if I didn’t.”
“Ugh…” She didn’t mean to be a poor sport, but she’d reached her limit. Perhaps she wasn’t as strong as she once thought. All those afternoons in the fields and the shop were nothing compared to this.
“We’ll get plenty of sleep eventually. But for now, we need to keep moving.” Flare shouldered his pack then took off at a quick pace. He didn’t seem tired at all, even though he hadn’t slept. Being fused with a dragon must have its perks.
“So, how does it work? Who’s in charge? You or the dragon?” He probably wouldn’t answer her questions because he was so secretive, but she thought she would give it a try.
“It depends on who’s dominant. Right now, I am. So, I’m making most of the calls.”
“Because you’re in human form?”
“Yes.”
“When I was talking to you as a dragon, who was I talking to exactly?”
“Both of us.” Flare pulled back a branch in the way of their path so she could get through.
“At the same time?”
“Yes.”
That made sense. Cora thought she noticed an anomaly when he spoke. Sometimes it seemed like there were two different people in Flare’s head. “To whom am I talking now?”
“Me—the man. The dragon is sleeping at the moment.”
“How does his body…fit inside you?”
“I don’t have the answer to that.” His sword hung at his hip and shook as he walked. “We both exist at the same time—just in different forms.”
“When do you decide to be a dragon?”
“It doesn’t matter when. We can change back and forth as often as we wish.”
“Wow…” She couldn’t wrap her head around that. “You speak to each other all the time?”
“Pretty much.”
“But…don’t you get tired of each other?”
“We can disconnect when we need to.”
Was she supposed to know the meaning of that term? “What does disconnect mean?”
“We close off from each other.” Flare seemed to be in a better mood now than he had been a few hours ago. Maybe he did doze for a few minutes. “Right now, I’m disconnected from him. He isn’t witness to this conversation.”
“Why do you disconnect?”
“We need our privacy. Sometimes you just want to be alone, you know?”
“To go to the bathroom?” You would need privacy for that.
He chuckled. “Not really for that. He and I have never struggled with that type of intimacy.”
“Then what do you need privacy for?”
A smug grin appeared on his face. “You really can’t figure it out?”
Figure out what? “Sorry, I’ve never fused with a dragon before. Or did I not mention that?”
“I don’t think that’s the problem. Your ignorance is the culprit.”
Again with the insults. “Do you enjoy picking on me?”
“Actually, I do.”
“I hope that wears off soon.”
“Doubtful.” He stopped when he reached a large rock then licked his finger before he held it in the air. He was feeling for the wind. Suddenly, he changed course and headed to the left.
Cora followed him without asking any questions. “So, are you going to answer me?”
“I guess I’ll have to spell it out for you. When I’m with a woman, I don’t want him there. And when he’s doing his thing, I don’t want to be there. Make sense now?”
The thought hadn’t crossed her mind. She was grateful he was ahead of her so he couldn’t see the redness of her cheeks. “Gotcha.”
“It’s a nice setup.”
“Do you guys ever fight?”
“We argue like everyone else.”
She couldn’t imagine being with the same person constantly. She’d never been close enough to anyone to want that kind of intimacy. “Do you enjoy being together?”
His voice came out quiet, sounding sincere for the first time since she met him. “Yes. My dragon is my closest friend. Without him, I would be lost.”
His words touched her heart. “That’s sweet.”
“I guess.”
“How long have you been fused?”
Flare let the silence linger.
She realized the error of her question. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to figure out your age, honestly.”
“I believe you.”
“Do you guys sleep at the same time?”
“Most of the time. Right now, he’s sleeping because he’s exhausted. He’s been running around with you for weeks without much rest.”
“I miss him.” The dragon was aggressive like the man but not in the same way. He was gentler.
“He’s definitely the better being of the two of us,” he said with a chuckle. “You interest him.”
“I interest him?”
“Yes. He likes the fact that you’re small but strong. And he says you’re the bravest woman he’s ever come across. That’s saying something since Flare has been around much longer than I have.”
“Aw…that’s sweet.”
“So, at least one of us likes you.”
She grabbed a stick from the ground and threw it at the back of his head.
It bounced off his skull, and he rubbed the spot without breaking his stride. “Real mature.”
“You provoked me.”
“Well, you’re going to have to learn to ignore it.” He stopped walking and looked up at the sky, seeing where the sun was positioned. “We’re making good time.” He marched forward again, keeping the same pace.
She thought about the way Flare took down all of those guards single-handedly. She hadn’t seen combat like that in her life, but she knew Flare was particularly skilled with the sword. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“Training. Experience.”
“That was vague.”
He chuckled. “It’s true. I was trained in the sword, and I got better with time. Practice makes perfect, right?”
“But you’re really good. Like, really.”
He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a cold look. “I would be flattered if you’d worded it better than that.”
“Just take the compliment, and don’t be an ass about it.”
He faced forward. “Don’t throw another stick at me.”
“I can’t promise anything.” With a swordsman like Flare, she could learn a lot from him. If he took her under his wing, he could forge her into the finest human weapon. “So…will you teach me?” She didn’t want to ask him for anything, not when he would hold it over her head. But she was more desperate to learn than not to ask at all.
“Are you asking me to teach you?” He didn’t look back at her as he spoke.
“Yes.” Her red blade hung at her hip, feeling weightless. “Please…”
A quiet chuckle escaped from his lips. “I’ll teach you—when you’re better. For what it’s worth, you did a decent job with those guards. I was surprised you weren’t already dead by the time I got there.”
She wanted to make a smartass comment back, but she decided to accept the compliment instead. “Thank you.”
“See? I’m a nice guy—when you don’t annoy me.”
Another smartass comment came to mind, but she swallowed it back too. “I guess you are.”