I knew it,I thought.
The warm, rough timber of his voice made me shiver.
Then we both stared. For much longer than what would’ve been considered appropriate in any given situation.
When my cheeks felt hot, I broke his gaze. “Well, as long as you’re here, you can help me build my first fire in the hearth.”
He snorted. “Noakkiumpower out here?”
“What do you think?” I asked, quirking my brow. “Surely theKyzaireof Erzos isn’t afraid to build a little fire?”
“I’ve never needed to before, little one,” he purred, his cantankerous mood beginning to melt away. “That’s what keepers are for.”
“Then let me teach you what even a child knows how to do,” I replied.
Kythel shook his head but strode to the hearth without my prompting. I had a neat stack of wood I’d chopped earlier this afternoon. Not much, since I’d needed to leave for RaanaDyaan, but enough to last a few hours.
I knew he’d been teasing when I watched him build the fire easily, stacking the wood in a methodical way and placing the blue fire-starter paste below the mound and in the cracks. From his pocket, he pulled hislorepipe, long and clear, and used the sparker at the end to ignite the starter.
The blue flames roared to life before melting into gold.
I kneeled at the hearth, our shoulders brushing briefly as I leaned forward to heat my cold palms.
“Consider me impressed,” I said.
Kythel sat back, leaning against the wall next to the hearth. “If this is what it takes to impress you,” he said, “then I’ve been failing in my courtship.”
I knew he was just teasing, evidenced by the wry smile that lightened up his previously somber expression, but my heart leaped at the word.Courtship. Like that was what he was doing. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that. I wasn’t foolish enough to evenwantthat.
“Are you not impressed that I own this entire province, Millie Seren?” he asked, his voice tired, though it made the words seem all the more intimate. Because who did he allow to see him like this? Not many, I imagined. “Are you not impressed of my lineage, of my family, of my wealth, of my reputation beyond Krynn?”
“I’m impressed by your Ver Teracer art,” I replied, trying to keep a straight face and failing. “Does that satisfy you?”
“I think I like you because you’re not impressed by me at all,” he said next, shaking his head at my glib answer. I was surprised by the honesty I heard in those words. “How many wealthy, spoiled, high-handed males have you met like me? There must be a lot throughout the Quadrants.”
“Oh, there are,” I assured him, plopping back onto my butt, drawing my knees up so I could rest my arms on them. It felt nice to sit. My legs were sore from all the exertion of the day. “And be thankful that you’ll likely never meet the majority of them.”
“I want to,” came his quiet reply. “Even the terrible ones.”
“Why?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. He leaned his head back against the freshly de-fungused walls, the sharp tip of his horns scraping the stone. Biting my lip, I studied him under my lashes, wanting to know what he was thinking.
“I’m just teasing, you know,” I said. “I’ve never met anyone quite like you,Kyzaire.”
“Kythel,” he corrected, leveling me a long, unreadable look.
“You know I shouldn’t,” I said. “It’s…disrespectful.”
“Who’s going to know?” he asked, gesturing around the empty cottage. “You said it before.”
“Did I?” I asked, surprised.
“Disrespectful, you say,” he murmured quietly. Another laugh rose from his throat, and I softened into it. “Disrespectful, when you make me build you fires and fetch youzylarrs.”
“You offered.”
“And trespass on my land,” he added.
