Prologue
Sighing, Alluna rested her chin upon her drawn up knees, her eyes going over the darkened interiors of her tower room. She hadn't opened the shutters of the tower room window unable to bear seeing another beautiful, sunny day. The tall grass in the field surrounding the tower was probably rolling and swaying in the breeze as well as the deep green forest around the field. The trees always danced and whispered amongst themselves making Alluna envy them. At least they were surrounded by their own kind and never lonely.
Sunlight poked through the cracks of the window shutters, the glittering rays dancing across the cold grey stones of the floor. The threadbare covers on the bed lay rumpled, and a corner of her patchwork quilt hung over the frayed red woven rug by the bed.
Scattered about the room were her life-sized dolls. Mama had not brought her a new one in a very long time and the ones she had no longer functioned. They lounged about, their smiling faces still and silent.
Alluna's gaze rose to stare up at the ceiling, her mind visualizing the second story of her tower room. Rayne, the only doll that still functioned, lay in her glass case, the way she had for the past moon cycles. Mama forbade Alluna to play with her. She wondered why, but never dared ask fearing mama's mean temper.
Having no one to converse with, Alluna hadn't uttered a word in over a month.
She cleared her throat and said, "Hello." Her voice came out as a pathetic croak.
Again, she sighed, wondering when mama would appear.
"You're a special girl," mama had told her long ago. "You must never venture out of this tower, or the villagers will find you and hurt you. You are different and special, my dear."
Alluna squirmed, tugging at the unforgiving brace mama insisted she wear. The metal and cloth brace squashed her chest so she was barely able to breathe.
Feeling despair smothering her, Alluna pulled her golden frock down her torso until it pooled around her ankles and undid the closures of the brace that came almost to her hips.
She groaned, rubbing her aching chest, and then looked down with a frown. The lumps looked even bigger today. Mama told her she was sick, that's why her chest had swelled into two ugly bumps. However, what frightened her most was when she bled. It was all part of her sickness—one she didn't understand.
Wrapping her arms around her middle, Alluna shivered, watching how the shadows in her room wavered through the tears that filled her eyes.
She felt lonely, frightened... confused. Why did the villagers want to hurt her? Why was she sick? Why did mama always leave her alone for days?
Pulling her dress back into place, Alluna shuffled over to a bench near the unlit fire pit in the center of the tower room and picked up her golden flute.
She decided to practice her
Echize di' Drakkur
, or Dragons Lure. Mama told her she needed to practice.
Alluna lifted the flute to her pursed lips and blew. Soft lilting music filled the air around her and echoed throughout the chamber.
Closing her eyes, she envisioned a beautiful golden dragon soaring through the sky, his scales gleaming bright like the sun. She played for him, calling him with her heart as much as her song. Giant wings fanned the warm air as he circled, sapphire eyes glowing down at her. Two gleaming horns spiraled up from his mighty head and he had a snout full of jagged ivory teeth. A growl rumbled deep in his chest, the scales on his body lifting slightly from the rumbling vibration.
She should have feared the beast, but as long as she played her melody, he was hers, a slave to her bidding. The air, stirred by the dragon's wings, stroked through her raven tresses. She willed him to come to her, to kneel at her feet. The dragon landed with...
A heavy thud behind her made her jump.
Alluna's eyes snapped open, fingers stilling on the silent flute. Her lips parted, breath growing rapid as every hair on her head prickled and a shiver ran up her spine.
Alluna felt a presence behind her. Her mind pictured a fire-breathing dragon hunkered down behind her, sharp teeth dripping with spit, ready to devour her in one gulp. Silly, of course, because a dragon wouldn't even fit in her tower room, big as it was. Still, her mind would not shake the image of a dragon.
Swallowing, she lowered her flute, heart racing. Her body began trembling as she pulled her lower lip between her teeth to stifle the urge to whimper. She strained to hear any type of movement, but all she heard was... breathing, deep, steady—unlike her terrified panting.
A fresh clean scent, like citrusy fruit and fresh summer breeze tickled her nose. Slowly, Alluna turned her head.
She winced when her flute fell from her grasp with a loud metallic clang, her eyes growing wider in the gloom of the tower. The person was kneeling a few paces away. She could barely make out the shadowy figure. Whoever it was didn't move, just knelt there, silent, breathing.
Alluna turned her head away and rose, her heart pounding in her ears. Putting one foot before the other with careful slowness, she made her way to the closed window shutters.
Movement. She sensed movement and turned her head to see the person dragging a pillow into their lap. Alluna's eyes never left the shadowy figure as her trembling fingers fumbled with the latch on the shutters. With a forceful push, she swung the shutters open.
The ancient shutters groaned and creaked before slamming against the solid rock of the outer tower wall. Sunlight poured into the tower room, chasing the darkness away and revealing...
"Oh, gods," Alluna gasped, her hand going to her galloping heart.
Her eyes beheld the most beautiful creature she'd ever seen—and the biggest.
Her first impression was that it was an angel, but why would an angel be kneeling in the middle of her tower room?
A new doll? She nibbled the corner of her lip and took a step closer.
The doll's eyes were so blue they sparkled, and its hair was like molten gold, falling in thick waves to its waist. It was unclothed, clutching her red velvet pillow in its lap.
Alluna frowned upon closer inspection. This doll was massive. Its neck was thick, arms bulging as well as its chest, which sported square pillows of flesh decorated with caramel colored nipples. They pearled even as she stared at them.
A boy doll? Had mama given her a boy doll? Her fascinated gaze traveled down its torso, seeing how muscles ridged its abdomen, as well as the thighs. It had to be a boy. It was so unlike anything she'd ever seen. The only males she'd ever seen were a few of the village boys that dared sneak close to the tower, until mama discovered them and chased them away with a swarm of bees she'd enchanted. They'd run away screaming and crying as they swatted their necks and limbs, never to return.
Alluna walked over to him. He just stared at her, eyes glassy, dreamy. She circled him once, noticing that all that wavy golden hair fell to the middle of his bottom, which rested over his enormous feet.
She went down on her knees before him. "You're so beautiful." She touched his chest and was surprised at his warmth, as though he ran a fever.
The doll flinched, eyes widening, going over every feature on her face—bright, sapphire eyes, fringed with lashes dipped in gold. His hands clutched the pillow tighter. He swallowed convulsively, looking bewildered, which Alluna found quite strange. She licked her lips and his eyes flicked down to watch in rapt attention. A soft sigh puffed out from between his lips and he swayed a little toward her.
Alluna gasped and lifted her hands to steady him. "Is your power running down," she asked. He blinked at her and pulled back upright. "I only have enough power to charge one doll at a time and today I was charging Rayne."
All the golden giant did was stare, one golden brow lifting slightly. Alluna bit her lip. Mama would be angry if she let Rayne's power run low...but she hadn't been by in three moon cycles. One night wouldn't hurt Rayne. Alluna would charge her on the morrow.
***
Zak watched the raven-haired beauty scramble away.
"Where the hell am I?" he murmured to himself, his gaze following her.
