“I’m a dragon. Dragon anatomy is different.”
She snorts. “Dragon anatomy has nothing to do with—you know what, never mind. Just follow me.”
I follow her. Badly. But she’s laughing and I’m laughing and somewhere in the middle of it all, dancing becomes an excuse to hold her close.
The music ends. We’re both breathing hard. She’s still in my arms.
“That was terrible,” she says.
“The worst.”
“You stepped on my foot at least twelve times.”
“I lost count at eight.”
She grins up at me. “Same time tomorrow?”
“You want to do this again?”
“I want to see if you can actually learn.” Her fingers tighten on my shoulder. “Besides. It was fun.”
“Fun?”
“Don’t let it go to your head.” She’s still smiling, still close, and when she finally pulls away, her hand drags slowly down my arm.
“Goodnight, Rurik.”
“Goodnight, Aisling.”
I stand in the storage room for a long time after she leaves, heart pounding, the ghost of her laughter echoing in my ears.
Progress,the dragon purrs.More tomorrow.
Selene findsus in the corridor outside the library, arguing loudly about whose turn it is.
“You got the last three activities!” I’m holding a piece of parchment above my head, well out of Aisling’s reach.
“Because you kept finding loopholes!” She jumps for the paper, laughing. “Swimming in the lake doesn’t count if you bring a flotation device!”
“The inflatable dragon was for safety!”
“The inflatable dragon was bright pink and shaped like Drayke! He saw it! He had questions!”
“What are you two doing?” Selene’s voice cuts through our chaos, but she’s grinning.
Aisling points at me, still laughing. “Rurik’s trying to kill me with cliff diving and haunted lakes.”
I point at her. “Aisling’s trying to bore me to death with silence and medical textbooks.”
Selene looks between us. Takes in the parchment, the argument, the fact that we’re standing close enough to share breath. Her grin widens.
“You’re ridiculous. Both of you.” She shakes her head. “Drayke asked me why the training yard has scorch marks that smell like lavender. I told him I didn’t want to know.”
“The lavender was therapeutic,” Aisling says.
“The lavender was an accident,” I counter.
“The lavender was definitely intentional and Rurik was the test subject.”
