Just ask it. Okay.
“I want to see you again,” I murmured. “In your – other body. May I?”
Chapter Twelve
Alaric
Hayley’s expression appeared both resolute and frightened to death. I’d been expecting her to ask. I glanced around for possible listening ears, saw none, and nodded briefly.
“Yeah, I think you should.”
“I mean, well, you’re my husband, even though you have to divorce me and all, I just –”
“Just need to reassure yourself that you can believe dragons exist?”
Her gaze downcast, Hayley nodded. “Something like that.”
“While I don’t know just where we’re headed with this marriage,” I said slowly, “we have to trust in the divine.”
“That your goddess wants us to be together?”
“Perhaps. Willow might inquire on our behalf, but Lanokota doesn’t always answer.”
“What do you mean, inquire?”
“Willow is the high priestess of Lanokota,” I replied. “She intercedes for us to the goddess. Sometimes she’ll receive an answer, sometimes not.”
Hayley opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again when the waitress appeared with coffee cups and a pot. She set menus in front of us, poured, then left us alone. I absently stirred my coffee while I waited for Hayley to speak.
“I was never sure I believed in a god,” she said at last. “Or a female god. Then I’m magically healed by one. I don’t know what to think.”
“Then don’t think,” I said lightly. “Just accept. Open your heart to the possibilities. When I – shift – for you, then open your mind to belief.”
Her hands shook slightly as she lifted her cup to drink, but her gaze was steady and confident. “Okay.”
We ate the hot burgers and greasy fries while making light conversation. Hayley had indeed changed since that first day she came to work for me. Back then, she was a mouse, terrified of me, and of living. Now, she met my gaze freely, spoke with no stammer and laughed easily. Yes, she may have been beaten down by life once. It’s now her turn to hammer away at life.
“Are you nervous?” I asked as I drove us toward my house and the private beach with no possible witnesses to see my dragon self.
“A little. Maybe.”
“I have to know,” I said. “Why did you panic that night? Run from me?”
Hayley glanced at my face, then away. “I thought you intended to kill me.”
“What?”
Incredulous, I took my gaze from the road and minimal traffic to stare hard at her. “Why in Lanokota’s name would you have thought that?”
“We weren’t very happy with each other,” she answered. “You gave off some rather creepy vibes. And you said you could end this marriage tonight.”
My mouth hung open. “Oh, shit. So I did.”
“And you took me to a lover’s lane, and we were alone. No one around. I’m sure you wouldn’t have been the first oneto toss someone over the cliff where no corpse would ever be recovered.”
I seized Hayley’s hand, and gripped it hard. Tight enough to hurt, but Hayley never flinched.
“Plus,” she added slowly, “with me dead, you get your money back.”
