The dragon’s thumb skimmed her arm. She watched his tail swing toward her, like he intended to wrap it around her thigh. Disgust tightened the muscles of her abdomen.Only Taevas is allowed to do that.
It stopped just short. The rattle at the end brushed the hem of her skirt when he murmured, “Quantity doesn’t mean quality. Anddragons have an eye for all things quality, pretty Shiya. I knew you were special when I saw you, but I couldn’t believe it when I looked up your family name. The Ardz line is older than mine — and that’s saying something. Mine stretches back almost two thousand years.”
He dipped his head, trying to meet her gaze. “Feels a bit like fate to have met such a treasure all the way out here.”
Fate?This dragon had no idea. Whatever mistakes had brought him to Birchdale paled in comparison to the series of miracles that had come together to unite Alashiya and Taevas.
She had no idea how to safely respond to that, so she held her tongue. The dragon seemed to take her silence as bashfulness. His expression turned very self-satisfied for a moment before he asked, “I am curious, though— Why does that smelly piece of shit hate you so much? What did you do to him?”
“I…” Her brows drew together. “I don’t think he reallyhatesme.”
The dragon leaned in close, until she could almost feel his breath on her ear. “Oh, he hates you. I know it when I see it. That old man wants to get his hands on you and make you hurt. I’m gonna handle that for you, all right? Once my business is done here, you won’t have to worry about him again.”
Her stomach turned when he pulled back enough to give her a look that said he was about to do her a big favor. “Nothing pisses me off as much as men who go after vulnerable women. And you don’t have a mate looking out for you. I can’t let that stand.”
The sense that she was in an increasingly dangerous position increased. She didn’t particularly care if the dragon went after Monty, but she didn’t like the assessing gaze he leveled her way.
“Monty just wants my land for his business,” she explained, trying to divert his attention away from her. “I refuse to give it to him. And if he wants more than that, then he’s out of luck. One day he’s gonna die all alone out in those woods, and when the buzzards pick him clean, I hope they shit him out somewhere worse.”
Surprise lit up the dragon’s face. He probably didn’t expect the real venom in her voice, but it was barely a hint of how deep her disdain for Monty went. She didn’t often let herself dwell on it, knowing there was nothing to be done, but sometimes that old rage burned through her carefully crafted restraint.
“Well, damn,” he breathed. He dropped his hand, but not before he skimmed it all the way down the length of her arm. “The little princess has some claws. I like that. I’m Sergei, by the way. You ran out of the shop before I could introduce myself.”
Alashiya shuffled back half a step. “Ah… It’s nice to meet you, Sergei, but I should go.”
The dragon matched her movements smoothly, his wings rising until they curved over his shoulders just a little. A picture from an old botanical book flashed in her mind — a diagram of a Venus fly trap ready to snap up its unsuspecting prey.
His brow furrowed. “Did you walk into town on your own?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Do you normally?”
She cast a furtive glance at the trees. “Yes.”
The dragon pursed his lips. Appearing to make some decision, he jerked his chin toward his car, where three men stood like statues around the back bumper, vacant-eyed and unbothered by the heat of the sun. Pitching his voice so they could hear him, he said, “Not anymore. I’ll drive you home. You three— wait for me in the house. And don’t fucking touch anything.”
All the blood drained from her cheeks. “That’s— It’s really not necessary. I like to walk.”
“It’s dangerous,” he shot back, a vein of ice in his otherwise friendly tone. “You don’t walk anywhere anymore, understood? Anything could happen to you on the road by yourself.”
There was nothing objectively wrong or threatening in what he said. She’d taken rides from townsfolk before, and it was true that there were risks in venturing out by herself — which was why she stuck to the woods and not the roads. But something in theproprietary way he spoke to her sent warning bells clanging in her mind.
It reminded her a little of Taevas’s bossiness, but instead of filling her with an exasperated sort of warmth, all she felt was dread.
A vice constricted around her lungs.This is bad,the hyphae whispered.Don’t linger.
She tried to gently laugh off his undisguised command. “I’m sure you have better things to do than drive some strange nymph around.”
“Safety comes first.” He gave her a slow smile. “I need a break anyway, and I’d like to get to know you better. So—” The dragon playfully tapped the back of her hand with the rattle at the end of his tail. “You’re going to give me your phone number now, Shiya, and then I’m going to take you home. I’ll be done with my business soon. You’re going to stay there until I come get you.”
It felt like she’d stepped on an invisible snare. The urge to gnaw her own leg off to be free was a wild, awful thing in her chest.
“I don’t have a phone.”
Sergei made an exasperated face. “That’s inconvenient. I’ll get you a phone when I’m done with this stupid fucking ordeal. I’ll expect you to answer when I call.”
Running out of patience at last, Alashiya snapped, “No, thank you. I don’t want a phone. Or to spend time with you.”
