Except for last night,he silently reminded himself.Except for when you dragged yourself on your belly through the filth like an animal to follow her. Do you really think you’re not capable of causing her harm afterthat,mighty Isand?
Acid churned in his stomach. Every instinct screamed that he couldn’t have hurt her, that he’dneverhurt her, but he’d been drugged, injured, and hunted. If she stumbled on him at the wrong moment…
No wonder she’d defied him. He was lucky she hadn’t run screaming to the nearest person with a bolt gun.
Taevas was famously good with words. He was charming, even rakish. Normally he could be as audacious as he wanted to be, knowing that there was very little he couldn’t get away with. His reputation as Isand went far. His looks and wit carried him the rest of the way.
But absolutely none of that mattered now.
Charm and wit meant nothing when he couldn’t speak or write. His looks were even less helpful. All he had to recommend him was his behavior and his reputation, and he’d been so drugged out of his mind that he’d already blown that.
I’m so sorry, but I need your help,he wanted to explain to her.I can’t shift until the worst of my injuries have healed. I wish this wasn’t the case, but I need you.
As much as he wanted to leave her hovel behind, he was grieved to realize that he couldn’t. With the extent of his injuries, going to ground for a few days was his only option. The fact that he’d managed to land in what felt like a wild fortress of protective wards was a miracle — and perhaps the only thing that had saved him from being pursued by his captors.
It was a miracle he was thankful for, but he couldn’t help but wonder why in the world she needed all that protection in the first place. Not that he could ask, of course.
Alashiya continued to stare at him from beneath her dark brows, unable to hear a word of his spinning thoughts. He was at a loss. There was no way to tell her what he needed. All he could do was plant himself there, praying she wouldn’t do the smart thing and contact authorities to have him removed.
He’d been ambushed and kidnapped, then held only the gods knew where, drugged, and beaten. Protocol refined over decades dictated that he get a direct line to his Wing before contacting anyone else, eliminating the chances of interception by enemies. No one except his Wing could be trusted, and Taevas had no idea what territory he’d landed in, making it even less safe to seek the help of any authorities.
When he tried to use his innate internal navigation to figure out where he was relative to his roost, it spun in a confusingly tight circle around the kitchen. His instinct told him hewasin his roost, in the very heart of it, but that was so laughably wrong that he could only blame the drugs still in his system. Or perhaps a head injury.
Either way, he had no damn idea where he was, which was historically a very, very bad thing for a dragon.
Hehopedhe was in the ’Riik, but there was every chance he was in the middle of the Orclind, even as far as the Elvish Protectorate. They were allies of the Draakonriik, but if his attackers were smart, they’d be watching, waiting for any sign that he might’ve been found, knowing he couldn’t fly far when his wings were damaged.
It would be big news if Taevas Aždaja turned up in some small town. One stray word, one unencrypted message, and he’d be pounced on.
His mind raced as panic edged in. Heneededto stay there, and heneededher to keep her mouth shut about it, and heneededher to stay close or he’d have to follow her again and?—
Taevas shook his head.Stop. Stop it.
Chapter Eight
The nymph watchedhim for several moments longer before she let out a long sigh and turned to fix her cup of coffee. She said nothing more as she scooped sugar into an earthenware mug, and maintained that silence as she cut a thick slice of bread from a loaf. He watched her spread jam on its craggy face with quick strokes of a knife. He felt no hunger in his larger form, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate how good sheandher breakfast looked.
The jam was raspberry, he thought, catching the tart scent on the tip of his tongue. It hardly felt like the time or place, but that didn’t stop a part of him from wondering how good she’d taste with a little bit of raspberry on her lips.
“As much as I want to kick you out, I’m not going to. You’re still injured, and you said you’re in danger. I’m not heartless. Just annoyed that I’ve had to wash all my towelstwicein twenty-four hours. I’d just gotten the blood out, you know.”
Her back was to him. One of her elegant hands perched on the edge of the counter, and she appeared most comfortable balanced on one foot, with the top of the suspended one pressed against the back of the opposite calf. A hint of silver on bronze skin caught his eye — the light catching what appeared to be faintscars that slipped out from beneath her skirt and wrapped around her calf like the branches of roots.
He’d seen scars similar to it before, but only on those rare victims of lightning bolts. They were more jagged, though, compared to the fine, root-like lines that were barely visible on her warm skin.
Taevas eyed them, his claws curling at the thought of tracing their branches with his fingertips. Every inch of her was made specifically to distract him from what he needed to be thinking about, and she seemed entirely oblivious to that fact.
She took a bite of her bread and stared out the partially obscured kitchen window. It was a perfectly casual sort of pose. Effortlessly beautiful. For a moment, she was just a stunning woman standing barefoot in her kitchen, enjoying a simple breakfast before setting about the rest of her day.
A peculiar tightening took root in his chest — a grainy, hot-to-the-touch sort of nostalgia for something he’d never possessed. The sight of her made him ache, not only because she was beautiful, but because the picture was somehow incomplete.
It would be the most natural thing in the world to come up behind her, to wrap his arms around her waist and dip his head to steal a bite of her breakfast. A buzz passed over his skin in a head-to-toe wave. His senses sharpened to an almost painful degree as his heartbeat throbbed in his ears.
The picture would be complete, he realized, when she didn’t stand alone.
Is she alone?
The thought startled him. The fact that he hadn’t thought to check was even worse.
