By the end of the following day Fiona was convinced that Tiamat was half demon, half dragon there was simply no way he had a human heart with the grueling pace that he set for himself and his men.
They traveled south, at a brutal punishing pace that it seemed the men were used to, for if they had any complaints, they kept it to themselves.
Only a few merciful times did they stop to water their horses and allow them to rest for a while.
Soldier 1 whispered, "a young lady in strange clothing that the master fished out of the ocean."
"Where does she hail from?" asked Soldier 2.
Soldier 3 drained his water flask then bent down to refill it by the nearby spring, "Who knows but it's a terrible omen I daresay."
"What do you mean?" questioned Soldier 1 with a slight surprise in his voice.
"I'm convinced she's a witch I tell you, already she has the master under her spell. He doesn't need the distraction right now, is all I'm saying. Not when he is trying to retain his castle and make the southern territory his new home."
Fiona scoffed. Tiamat under her spell she wished. Fiona understood that his men were curious about her, and she was often the main topic of conversation, but they got it all wrong.
Their leader was a monster despite her complaints about needing to get used to horseback riding and taking things slow, their master ignored her requests and set a relentless pace, pushing both men and horses to their limits as they journey south into unknown territory.
They were on the lookout for brigands, who were willing to fight them to deprive them of their weapons or supplies.
Wild animals also lurked on the savanna and these beasts hunted in packs that would make even the toughest warrior in Tiamat's army leery for each wild beast had the strength equivalent to that of a hundred men and were best avoided.
They also had to consider nature and its unpredictable side, here in the savannah they rode hard through the plains.
It was best to move quickly because they would have no cover or protection from the elements if a storm should come.
Day or night it did not matter to Tiamat as he ensured the soldiers had gotten used to traveling under the cover of darkness.
It seemed that only the elites, a handful of loyal men, knew that their leader had been injured.
She met Sloan, Tiamat's squire who was responsible for changing his master's bandages. He was an absolute sweetheart and the two of them bonded immediately.
Tiamat had a nasty wound on his chest that seemed to have been poisoned and was taking his time to heal.
Naturally, he did not speak about the grave injury around her and even though she imagined it must be painful Tiamat never flinched while the wound was being cleaned and set the standard for his men to follow.
As the only woman in the camp, she was allowed a few minutes of privacy to attend to her personal needs.
Sloan was very small in body, so she was able to borrow a pair of shirt and trousers from him. It would have to do while she washed and dried her sundress.
It had been two days since she last bathed and refreshed, and she was looking forward to a short respite and decided to walk further upstream away from the men but not too far that they would not hear her if she called out for assistance.
Fiona had not realized she was being followed.
If she was going to get naked, Tiamat would not allow any other man within range of her nude body. He wasn't even trying to hide his presence; he noisily stepped on a twig.
She whirled around and gasped, "are you following me?"
"If I have to, in order to keep you safe, I will," it was more of a promise than a threat coming from Tiamat.
At first, she opened her mouth to protest his presence but after seeing the hard set of her mouth she wisely shut it and if she was being honest with herself, Fiona felt safer with him around.
So much for removing everything she would just have to strip down to her bra and panty this would just be like any other day at the beach, ignore him.
Still, she couldn't help but ask, " you won't use this opportunity to take advantage of me now, would you?"
Her eyes were vacant looking out at the meandering spring as she awaited his response.
Tiamat took his sweet time looking for the perfect rock to sit on before he gave her the response she wanted.
"I was a man before I became a dragon knight and by my honor, I worked my way up the chain of command until I landed my own castle and property to become a dragon lord. I would never do anything to tarnish the reputation I worked so hard to build. One of the things a good knight does is take an oath on his sword sworn to protect those under his care. Whether you like or not, you fall under my care Fiona, therefore you have my protection and word that I won't take advantage of you, unless you ask me to."
"I guess I have no choice but to take your words at face value, if you don't mind, I'm going to get started," she said.
Unwrapping the small bundle that Sloan had given her, in it she found a bar of soap, a face rag and a towel. These items were what passed for luxury right about now and she was grateful for it.
Before she stripped off her clothes, she undid the French braid that she had her hair in to keep it out of their face while they were mounted on the horse.
Her thick dark locks were beautiful even though Fiona muttered that she needed a trim to herself. There was no way Tiamat would allow her to take a dagger and butcher such gorgeous locks that reminded him of Midnight, his war horse.
When she was done washing her hair, she stripped off the rest of her clothes and dived in between the waters. The coolness was refreshing under the glaring heat of the sun.
She rinsed out her clothes, put them to dry on a nearby rock and went back to swimming in the rock completely ignoring Tiamat like he didn't exist.
Not one to be ignored, Fiona didn't even notice when Tiamat disappeared from the rock but clearly play time was over.
*Special mention: To my lovely readers, especially 7inkz_etls and Suzu_Rim! This novel is now exclusive so let's work together to get exposure. Everyone can help by voting with golden tickets, power stones, gifting and sharing with friends. Let's get Fiona & Tiamat's love story to the top of charts, many thanks in advance -NixOrtikal.