She swallowed a sip of water before she answered, “Oh, sure. I started driving when I was nine. It’s been a while, though.”
He wasn’t surprised to hear it. Many children in rural areas learned to drive country roads and across farms as soon as they could reach the pedals, but it did raise several more questions. “Do you have a car?”
“My grandfather’s old truck is in the barn, I think,” she replied, brow furrowing. “But it stopped running in the 2000’s. Once my grandmother got sick, we couldn’t afford to fix it and Mike — Debbie’s husband — never followed through with his offer to help, so we just left to rust. Gods know what state it’s in now, especially after the roof caved in. Why?”
Taevas restrained himself from bombarding her with more questions. Reminding himself that her safety had to be the priority, he answered, “Because the safest option for us is to drive to the ’Riik, or at least as close to it as possible.”
Alashiya looked up from where she’d speared a ragged chunk of cucumber on the end of her fork. “I thought you needed a phone?”
He shook his head. “With that dragon hanging around, it’s too risky. I won’t send you out on errands that might get you hurt. It’s better if we just leave. I can find a way to contact my Wing when we’re no longer in immediate danger.”
Slowly lowering her fork, she replied, “I don’t have a working car.”
“Then we must find one,” he sighed, hating to add yet more trouble onto her plate. Taevas had already silently promised her that he would pay her back in ways she couldn’t imagine, but that didn’t make his pride smart any less everytime had to ask yet more of her.
Alashiya’s gaze lowered to the table. She didn’t respond right away, and something in her expression made the hair rise on the back of his neck. “Well… I could maybe borrow one of Debbie’s trucks, but it’d be a hard sell.”
Entirely unused to normal people saying no to him when he asked for things, Taevas frowned. “Why?”
“Because the Draakonriik is a thousand miles one way, first of all. And second, I’d have to lie and tell her I was the one taking it.” She sat back in her chair and began to make an odd, apparently unconscious motion with her right forefinger and thumb.
She’s sewing,he realized, gaze sharpening as he recognized the barely perceptible swoop and pull of an invisible needle and thread.
Protective instincts stirring, Taevas rearranged his chair so he was sitting much closer to her, his body turned toward hers so that their knees brushed. Bracing one elbow on the dinner table, he laid his hand on the warm skin of her arm and reassured her, “It’s actually only about seven hundred miles, I think. If we’re where I think we are.”
Her arm went stiff under his. “You say that like it’s practically next door.”
“Well, isn’t it?” He rolled his gaze to the ceiling as he reassessed the distance. Assured that he was correct, he said, “Yes, it’s very close.”
Alashiya gave him a long look that he didn’t enjoy at all. It was like she’d just realized something, and whatever it was, it had completely dashed that gorgeous, post-orgasm glow he so admired. “Seven hundred milesisn’tclose.”
“For a dragon it is.”
“I’m nota dragon,” she replied, pulling her arm out from under his hand.
“I’ve noticed.” Taevas tried to ease her worries with a smile and a long, admiring look. “I love this about you,minu metsalill.I hope to continue to show you just how much when we’re in our nest.”
The smile didn’t work, and he was fairly certain the compliments had the opposite of their intended effect.
Alashiya crossed her arms and inhaled in a way that suggested she was summoning patience. “I don’t even know why it matters. It’s not like I’ll be going. But getting you a car for that kind of a trip?—”
Taevas sat up straight, his tail tightening reflexively around her calf as the tip gave a menacing rattle. “What are you saying? Of course you’re coming with me.”
They stared at each other in mutual incomprehension for a beat before Alashiya asked, “Why would I do that?”
“Why wouldn’t you? I can’t stay here.”
“So… you’ll leave.” She didn’t appear very happy about that, which was somewhat gratifying, but the fact that she said it at all made him cranky. “Wasn’t that always the plan?”
She thought I intended to leave without her?Taevas leaned forward to cup her cheek, a soothing rumble starting up in hischest. His chest tightened.That explains it. She must’ve been hurt, thinking I’d abandon her. My sweet Shiya. Never.
“Ah, I see where the miscommunication happened, Shiya. You thought I would call in my Wing and they’d whisk me away without you. I wouldn’t allow this.”
The immediate relief he expected to see in her eyes didn’t come. If anything, she appeared more uneasy than before. “Why not?”
“For one thing, it would be dangerous to leave any trace of me here that might lead my attackers back to you. Until I know for certain that they’ve been dealt with, you are at risk simply for having harbored me.” Taevas’s voice dropped as he became distracted by the smooth skin of her cheek under his stroking thumb. “And for another… sweet Shiya, I’ve found you at last. I’ve wanted you for ten years. Do you expect me to give you up so soon?”
“But my wards will hide me,” she protested, gaze moving restlessly across his face like she thought there might be some answers there. “And… and can’t you just come back to visit me?”
