And a stubborn dragon snarling at her. Honestly, I could see the appeal of running. “She claimed she was looking for a way out to search for someone named Speck.”
“Speck? Who is this Speck to her? A lover?”Flames flickered in the depths of the dragon’s eyes, his pupils sharp like a serpent’s.
I only hoped I hadn’t sounded as crazed when I’d asked Serafina the same. “What does it matter to you?”
Alaric paced back to his nest near the fire and lay down, the collapse of his large body sending a tremor through the floor.“Because it will be easier for her to fall in love with me if her heart is unattached.”
“You’re joking.” I barked a laugh, his declaration too absurd to even spark a flicker of jealousy in the connection I shared with the wench.
Alaric rested his chin on his foreleg, his scaled face looking almost haunted.“The thought came to me as I rested on my palate last night, my discomfort so great I could not sleep. I’ve tried everything else. Maybe love is the solution. It wouldn’t be the first time a curse was cast with similar stipulations.”
I had about as much concern for his feelings as he did mine, so I didn’t pull my punches. It would be better if he didn’t succumb to this ridiculous theory. “You and I both know there isn’t a woman alive capable of falling for a monstrous lizard with fire breath.”
Alaric grew somber.“Time is running out. The comet leaves this realm in one lunar cycle. Once it is gone, this curse willconsume me. Serafina could be my last chance. Meeting her feels fated. It can’t be a coincidence she’s been marked by the goddess.”
“And that mark could signify your salvation or your destruction.”
“Either way, I’m dead.”
Flark. The manner in which he said it—resigned, raw—hit something in me I thought was broken.
He looked up, eyes heavy with desperation.“There’s more than one kind of love. I don’t need her passion. Just her heart. Tell me, how do I win it? You’ve…more experience with these matters.”
Damn him. I liked to bed women, not get tangled up in their feelings. Emotions made thingsmessy.
“You assume much. Seduction is my game, not romance.” I stabbed a sausage, raising a brow when brackish juice oozed from the puncture.
“Where is she anyway?”Alaric snapped.
“Her room.” Thanks to the flame I’d shared with her, I could sense her location, despite the blockade I’d erected in my mind. Unrestricted, emotions could travel along the bond—floating embers drifting on a shared breeze.
Gravestone Mountain would crumble before I allowed a single spark of her to infiltrate my twisted head.
“Why doesn’t she come out?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I drawled, twirling my fork. “Perhaps because you bellowed at her yesterday, behaving like a twat, issuing commands. You know you’re far from charming when you’re in one of your moods.”
“I can be charming,”he huffed.
I bit back the comment that hovered on the tip of my tongue. “The girl can barely stand to be in the same room as you. How do you plan to win her affections?”
“I won the heart of many a fair damsel in my day. I’m certainit will come back to me.”
Right. Back when he walked on two legs and ruled over a powerful kingdom. What woman didn’t desire wealth and power? Again, I kept this to myself.
Feeling rather proud of the restraint I’d shown, I stuffed a bite of sausage in my mouth.Mmm. Earthy, with a savory hint of beetle. I’d had worse. Only yesterday, in fact.
“Myrna,”Alaric barked at the trogg, who’d just returned to the room, broom grasped tightly in her forest-green hands. To sweep or to defend herself against the dragon, I couldn’t be sure.“Fetch the girl. And don’t take no for an answer.”
“Let it be noted” — I twirled my fork — “you asked for my guidance in wooing her. I gave it. You ignored said guidance.”
“I don’t have time for feminine fits of ire.”
“May I suggest you not share that with her?”
“When she arrives, it would help if you expounded on my many feats of bravery and daring.”
I stabbed another sausage with too much force. “You want me to lie?”
