He was familiar enough with the different types of swan songs to know that hers wasn’t quite right. The melody was there, but it sounded as if it had been superimposed over an entirely different piece of music, with the magic alternating between harmony and dissonance as one strain fought for dominance over the other. He shook his head. “Nothing in this place makes any sense. If I didn’t have such a respect for loons, I would call it downright loony. No wonder my magic wasn’t effective.”
The sun dipped below the horizon and Jax stood, brushing the sand from the seat of his trousers as he sighed, directing his comments to the other swans. “Whoever this Odessa person is, she clearly doesn’t take her job very seriously. I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of anyone all afternoon. I hope that Dmitri fellow hasn’t forgotten about me. I could use a snack.”
“That ‘Odessa person’ has better things to do than sit at home all day waiting to entertain strangers who choose unfortunate times to go swimming.”
He spun around at the feminine voice, an apology on the tip of his tongue, then immediately forgot every word he had ever learned at the sight of the woman in front of him. “I’m…”
She was a vision, a dream dressed in white linen with a floral apron tied around her waist. Her silver blonde hair fell in a soft cascade around her sleeveless shoulders, highlighting eyes that put the vibrant feathers of a blue jay to shame. He had a vague, fuzzy memory of those eyes hovering above him in a pale, beautiful face with perfectly pink lips asking him for his name.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, lifting her brows and chin pointedly. “You’re…?”
“You kissed me!” he blurted. It was not at all what he had intended to say, but the sight of her had brought all the memories flooding back, and he found it nearly impossible to focus on anything else.
She reared her head back in surprise, an unwelcome disgust twisting her mouth. “I most certainly did not.”
“You did.” Now that the words were out, Jax found himself relaxing into the flow of conversation. “I was there.”
“So was I,” she drawled. “And I definitely don’t remember kissing you.”
“It must have been some kiss, to leave your mind so addled that you can’t even remember.”
“Or completely forgettable,” she deadpanned.
“So you admit there was a kiss?”
She threw her hands up and her head back in exasperation. “I didn’t kiss you! You drowned, and I was trying to save you—something I am regretting more and more each minute.”
Her display of emotion was punctuated by what sounded like the roar of an angry kitten, and the dragon came bounding around her skirts, planting himself between Jax and the woman. He glared, dropping his head and spreading his wings wide, and attempted to blow a fire ball in Jax’s direction.
“I’m fine, Bean,” the woman said, her tone shifting from annoyance to maternal patience. “He’s just being rude.”
Jax held up his hands, the topic of the kiss forgotten by the burning curiosity of how she seemed to know his dragon better than he did when he had been watching the creature all afternoon. “I’m sorry. I started that all wrong. I’m Jax.”
The woman pitched her voice high, barely moving her mouth as she added, “Thank you for saving my life.”
He took the hint. “Thank you for saving my life. Truly. I was certain that I had died until I woke up and everything hurt.”
She nodded once, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “You’re welcome. I’m Odessa.”
Jax grinned. “I hoped so.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. It’s just a pretty name.”
She eyed him warily, and there was something about the expression that tickled the back of his brain.
“Soooooo,” he stretched the word out. “How do you know my dragon?”
Odessa looked down at the hatchling, then back at him. “He’s not your dragon. And his name is Bean.”
It was Jax’s turn to cross his arms. “I nearly died chasing his egg down. What kind of a name is Bean?”
“It’s short for Beanjamin, and you would understand if you saw the way he absolutely tore through the bean plants in my poor, neglected garden. You’d think the poor thing was starving and hadn’t already eaten more than his weight in berries and bugs within the last few hours.”
“Dragons grow exponentially during their first few months,” Jax answered absently as his mind worked overtime. She had mentioned the garden as if it had occurred recently, though the only time the dragon had been out of his sight that afternoon hadbeen just before sunset when it had disappeared with the swan around the corner of the cottage.
“The swan…” he murmured.
