He shrugged. “I’ll give you a formal promise if you want.”
“You will? Really?”
Fae didn’t give promises like that lightly. If they broke them, they faced deadly consequences, possibly even worse than dying from a dragon’s bite.
“I don’t have much choice, do I?” he pointed out pragmatically. “I have everything to lose if you resist my efforts to sell your joy and everything to gain if you cooperate. Independence is expensive, my sweet. But you have the means to buy it for both of us.”
“So, it’s a deal then?”
“It’s a deal, Sweet One.” He offered me his left hand.
It was a strong, beautiful hand with long, elegant fingers that could only belong to a handsome man. It’d be a pleasure to shake it. But I moved my gaze to his right hand, now partially hidden under his cloak draped over his right armrest.
“Isn’t it the right hand that gets shaken when a deal is made?” I stretched my right hand toward him.
He gave me a long look, as if expecting me to change my mind, but I kept my right hand outstretched, waiting patiently until he finally freed his right arm and stretched it out to me too. It appeared that moving his skeletal hand didn’t cause him anypain, or at least it didn’t make him scream. He wouldn’t take my hand, however, allowing me to make that final step.
I bit my lip, bracing myself against the trepidation that slithered around my heart at the sight of the bare bones of his fingers and the sharp claws on their tips. But if we indeed were to work together as partners, I couldn’t be afraid of him. I couldn’t be intimidated by any part of him. And he needed to know that.
I exhaled a breath and took his hand in mine. The bones felt warm, like rocks left in the sun. His fingers closed around my hand lightly, the hard phalanges pressing into my skin. I wondered how much he could feel with it, if anything at all.
Keeping my hand in his, he focused his gaze on me. He was close enough for me to clearly see his face in the starlight. But I couldn’t exactly read his expression, only that he kept our eyes linked long enough for our eye contact to become meaningful somehow.
A shiver ran down my spine, and I wasn’t sure whether it came from unease or…something else entirely.
“My name is Elaine, by the way” I blurted out, suddenly needing him to know my name, for him to distinguish me from any other human in this world.
“Elaine?” He rolled the syllables on his tongue as if giving each a lick to taste it.
Inexplicably, it made me wonder what his tongue looked like and if it had been also touched by the dragon bones taking over his body.
“Yes.” I cleared my throat, trying to direct my thoughts into less bizarre territory than his tongue. “I figured ‘Sweet One’ may work for someone you own, but since we’re business partners now, you should know my proper name. Elaine means ‘light’ or ‘sun ray,’ in one of the many languages of the world where I come from,” I added for no particular reason.
I just remembered how Dawn and I had first discovered the meaning of our names. Her mother had told us that she named her daughters Melanie and Dawn, meaning “darkness and daybreak” or “night and day.” We then looked up what my name meant and were delighted to discover that it was also a “daylight name.” As kids, Dawn and I then decided that it must mean we were destined to be best friends forever.
My heart ached at the thought that I might never see Dawn again. If she’d crossed through the portal back into our world, she was lost to me forever.
“You are far less disturbing to look at than a sun ray,” Timur declared suddenly.
And I laughed. “Coming from a shadow fae, that has to be a complement.”
A corner of his mouth twitched on reflex to mimic my expression. Not taking his eyes off me, he closed his cloak over his chest, then swept his hand over his lap. “Time to go home, Elaine. Please take your seat.”
Home?
The shack on the beach would never feel like my home. But now, I had hope that I might actually have my very own home one day.
Seven
Timur
Iwaited, wishing and fearing for her to accept my offer to sit on my lap again. But she didn’t seem to share my tension. I could see her apprehension ease as her shoulders relaxed and the creases on her forehead smoothed out. Giving me a smile, she lowered her backside onto my thighs with ease, then draped her legs over the right armrest of my chair. She leaned her shoulder against my chest. As she exhaled, her body relaxed even further, her curves melting into my hard lines and angles.
It must have something to do with the deal we’d just made. I knew better than anyone that easing worries about one’s future made life seem easier.
As we moved down the path, my chair tilted forward, forcing me to lean back. Hooking her arm around my neck, Elaine leaned back with me too.
The weight of her round bottom pressed down on my cock, trapping it between my thighs and her body. Lust pulsed in my veins, spreading the painful need for relief through me. Butfor some unfathomable reason, I didn’t mind the torture of the unfulfilled arousal as long as she stayed close.
