To Enchant a Dragon by Amanda Milo Page 0,3

lifespan. I don’t even know. I don’t know much about mermaids at all; I’ve only heard of how exquisite they taste. I drum my claws in the air, which makes Adella’s body undulate prettily over my fingers. All her scales flash as her curves bounce and parts of her jiggle. I try not to get distracted. “It’s important to me that you know our bonding is as sacred as it was instantaneous. From the moment I made contact with you, I’m inclined to only you forevermore.”

Other dragons could be different, but this is the way of it for Crested Merlins like myself. We’re all more or less the same, jet black males and sloe-berry colored females, with flexible horn-frilled crests that fold against our necks. Our neck frills extend when we fight for territory—to make us look bigger, more threatening to other dragons—and also when we display for a potential mate.

Males of my dragonkind especially use our frills during our mating dances. Since we’re so attracted to color, it’s a mystery why our scales are so plain. Shiny, but plain. Our frills though lend us at least some ornamentation.

Mine puffs up around my neck without conscious thought, either hopeful that Adella will be wowed by its impressive size or she’ll find me more interesting to look upon and perhaps never ever look at another dragon because she found me and my significant crest so stunning.

Many creatures think dragons are monstrous, but I hope my mate doesn’t think me so. Towards her, I will strive to only show her love and cherishing and how much I’ll wish we could share lusty, lusty mating.

Instead of being wowed or enamored, I can’t tell if she even notices my attempt to woo her attention.

Her face has puckered like someone has spritzed her tail with lime wedges and smoked salts. “Is this supposed to make me feel better? You’d never have wanted me. You intended to have somebody else.”

My blink is long. What? My mind races as I try to consider what’s come out of my mouth. Crested Merlins aren’t the most social of dragonkind, which is to say I’m very poor at making conversation. You could say I have no skill whatsoever… evidenced by the fact that I’ve managed to offend my mate inside of our very first day together. Technically our first hour. Well done, Kalos.

Adella’s gaze is beginning to heat up. If she were a she-dragon, I’d say she looked dangerous. “You intended to eat me, but you made me your mate instead?” Her hands slap down on her knees… or… where her knees should be if she weren’t half of an aquatic thing. “Undo it!”

“I can’t,” I murmur, my snout nearing her face to get a better look at her. “Your eyes are really beautiful. Such color. So shiny...”

Ah. Oh, dear. Now here is the look of unadulterated indignation that I expected earlier. “What is the matter with you?!” she screeches.

I flinch. And I immediately make a note that it’s dangerous to anger my mate unless she develops a case of laryngitis. I’ve heard of a mermaid’s song; I didn’t know anything about their shrieks.

Deafening.

I tilt my hands until she slides into one of my palms. Then I tap the meat of my clawed hand carefully against my ear depression, hoping to stop the ringing. “I’m afraid I’m about to become quite fixated on your every lovely feature.” I would fixate on her lovely features anyway; even if she weren’t my mate, she is unaccountably lovely. “You see, I’m going into heat—soon,” I explain. “My heat will be drawn by the blood moon. All dragons suffer under its shine. And now that I have a mate, my instincts—”

“You don’t have anything!” she refutes, her voice trembling. “I can’t live out of the water!” she manages to caterwaul.

And basilisks-be-damned, but my ear depressions feel like they’re peeling. I stare down at her, absolutely stunned. This mermaid of mine has a scream that someone should have warned me of. It’s a horrific revelation. A cove of mermaids could take down a dragon if they knew their power.

“Look at me!” she cries. “I can feel my skin drying, feel my scales get tighter and tighter. It hurts to be out of the water for too long. You have to take me back!”

“Hurts?” My heart constricts. I raise one fingertip over her flashy scaled tail, hovering like I might pet her—but suddenly, I’m afraid to. The air currents as we soared… they felt amazing to