“What would you say was your dream, then?”
I nibble my lip and sit up. “Promise you won’t laugh?”
“No.”
With a roll of my eyes, I reach across him and grab the book from the nightstand. “This. This is my dream.”
His eyebrow rises. “You want me to rape your comatose sister? No thanks, pal. I cannae be party to that fantasy. I’ll murder whoever you please, but I draw the line at raping, even for you.”
“No, you idiot. I want to be a writer.” I lower the book. “Well...wantedto be a writer. It only took one professor in college to tell me to keep my day job. I shelved the dream and decided to go into teaching, which was out as soon as I realizedflashing my snatch earns more money than educating young minds.”
Aven sighs and pulls me against his chest again. “I know a little about shelved dreams myself.” He grows quiet for a long time, but then he finally says, “I guess it’s time you heard the tale of the Edinburgh Dragon.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Aven
Icuddle the girl against me, needing her support. She doesn’t know it, but I’ve never spoken of this to anyone. Only my da knows, and it’s why we’ve not spoken in the twenty years I’ve been in America. But if I want the lass to choose me, to really choose me, she has to know it all.
“As the tale goes, a massive dragon once terrorized the cities of Scotland. The great winged beast left destruction wherever he went. Farms were razed, herds of livestock slaughtered and devoured, and in his greed, the dragon only wanted more. Nothing could sate the creature.”
“Shit, maybe you should be the writer,” she says.
I smile and hold her closer. “When he finally landed to rest, so great was his exhaustion and so full was his belly that he never rose again. The earth grew around him and formed Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.”
“And you admire that?”
“Aye, I do. Because he stopped, lass. Because he knew when enough was enough, and he stopped.”
“That’s not how I see it.”
“Tell me how it looks through those bonnie green eyes, then.”
“It wasn’t a choice. He stopped because his actions had consequences. If he hadn’t been so bogged down with a belly full of sheep and cows, he might have had the energy to keep fucking shit up. It’s a lesson in knowing when to stop, but you’ve gotten the ending all mixed up.”
“Yeah? Well, here’s another tale for you. Let’s see what you make of this one.” I run my hands through her golden hair and take a deep breath. “There was a dragon of another sort in Scotland. Just like the last, he was a mean one. Brandishing a fiery ax, he raised hell from one side of the land to the other. Aside from his ma and da, he cared for no one.”
“Did this dragon kill the livestock and set the town on fire?”
I close my eyes. “Aye, in a way. He was hungry, and he fed himself until he was full. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted more and more, and when he eventually looked behind him, nothing was left.”
“I don’t know how your mother died, Aven, but it wasn’t your fault.”
The lass is smarter than she realizes. Maybe she’d make a good writer after all. She certainly has this plot figured out.
“I’m not like the others, Quinn. I’m not content with killing hostages. I want to hunt, and I’m not particular about my prey.” I close my eyes. “I almost wish I had your scruples. Then I wouldn’t have been cast out of my homeland.”
Quinn sighs and straddles my waist, which forces me to open my eyes. I don’t want to miss a second of her on top of me. “What makes you think I have scruples?” she asks.
“I just assumed, I guess. Then again, you didn’t exactly waste any time when you killed the woman in the log flume.” I smile when I recall the way she strangled her. “You knew she’d hurt animals, but you didn’t have much more than the color of herjumpsuit. Most women struggle to make the kill without the inciting rage. Cat and Frankie did, anyway.”
“Well, I’m not Cat and Frankie. And let’s not forget who my father is.”
I haven’t forgotten, though I’ve tried not to think of it. The allergy discrepancy still eats away at me.
“So it doesn’t bother you that I kill indiscriminately, and it doesn’t bother me that you want to be a cam girl.” I run my hands up her sides. “Sounds to me like we’ve gotten it all sorted.”
“Not quite,” she says, and a knowing look softens her face. “What happened to your mother, Aven?”
