The tip of his tail twitches, and the cat pounces. Her front paws, spread wide at the top of the leap, snap together as she lands on the end of his tail.
Luke makes a strangled sound.
“Sorry!” I yelp. “Princess Buttercup, stop that! You’re hurting him.”
“Actually, it tickles,” he says, an unfamiliar tinge of amusement coloring his voice. His gaze goes a little soft as he watches her chew on the tip of his tail. “She reminds me ofthe younglings.”
“Younglings?” I say quietly, not wanting to break the spell of this gentler mood he’s fallen into.
“We have several dragon younglings in Alarria. They’re all raised together in the nursery cave, deep in the Dular Mountains.”
“That’s the Faerie realm you come from?” I’ve heard about it. It’s where the pizza pixies lived before coming to Ferndale Falls and where most orcs—and Naomi—still live.
He nods.
“And you miss them,” I say.
“I miss having a hand in their schooling.” He straightens, his face regaining its usual stern expression. “A proper education is especially important for dragons, since they will grow up to become preeminent scholars.”
Uh huh, sure. I don’t argue with him, but I saw that bit of longing—he misses them.
“None of that is why I’m here. We need to break your spell before we’re pulled back into further scenes like this morning. I thought the dancing was bad enough, but this…” He shakes his head, anger flashing in his golden eyes.
I want to sink into the floor.
Luke absolutely hates that he had to flirt with me. So what’s he going to do if we have to kiss… or more?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lukendevener
I despise the feeling of losing my magic every time I’m sucked into the book’s world. It was even more unsettling this morning, because normally I would have flown to the top of the tree to rescue the cat.
Trapped in a world without magic, I lose my fire, my flight…
I lose everything that makes me a dragon, that makes me special.
I can’t stand it, and I can’t stand for Skye to see me that way, either.
Then I remember how she smiled at me in the book. She clearly prefers me as a man, not wanting my more beastly form. I hate that the first time I made Skye laugh and smile, it wasn’t truly me.
My teeth grind. Most of all, I hate that Shadow is right.I like the witch—I’ve been drawn to her ever since our first meeting, when I felt her magic call to mine. Yet I’m clearly unable to be the man she wants.
“The dinner on Friday night,” I growl, “do you think that will be an actual scene we’ll be pulled into?”
“Probably.” Her head bobs nervously.
“Can’t you check?”
A tiny line creases her brow. “No, the book won’t let us touch it, remember?”
“I thought humans mass produced books. Can’t you simply read another copy?”
“Normally, yes. But not this book.” She nibbles on her lower lip, her fingers playing with the belt of her coat. “I gotDance of Desireas an advanced reader copy. It won’t be published for another three months. I already emailed the publishing company to double check, and they won’t send me another copy.”
I grunt. That must be why my spell failed as well. I used several of my most powerful transportation crystals to exchange gold for human romance books from the town’s bookstore. The only book I specified was this book, yet it did not arrive with the others.
“Look. We obviously need to break this spell, and you have the best magical library in all the realms.” Skye rushes through the words, sounding almost breathless. “I know you might not want to hire me any longer, but I think you have to let me back inside your library so we can find a solution.”
