“Resist all temptation, no matter how delicious.” My gaze dropped to his lips, and I licked my own. “Say goodbye forever.”
“Seven days. No touching. No kissing. No pretending this wasn’t a terrible idea…and you decided to wear that dress?” He grumbled deep from his chest. “I call foul.”
Tracing a fingertip along my dragon-fired golden necklace, I purred, “You expect the queen of dragons to behave? That’sadorable. Besides, you in leather is more lethal to a woman’s good sense than a blade. Seriously, Taron. You should come with protective eyewear.”
Were we flirting hard still? We were flirting hard still, weren’t we? I couldn’t think anymore.
The air between us crackled with tension as we dined in near silence, eating, sipping, stealing glances like thieves. Every fork scrape, every gentle brush of his fingers against his wineglass, felt deliberate. As dangerous as my dress.
Only after we reached the decadent finale—a sinfully rich chocolate mousse drizzled with dark cherry glaze—did conversation dare return to the table.
“So let’s say your hatred doesn’t resume once the bond breaks,” I said, licking chocolate from my fork with zero shame. “What’ll you do when you get home, if not imagine all the ways to murder me?”
Taron sipped his wine. “Oh, we’re joking about that now?”
I shrugged, all innocence. “What can I say? I’m complicated.”
“You’re captivating,” he stated smoothly, mirroring my shrug as if he hadn’t just sucker-punched me with a word.
I blinked and recovered. Barely. “Sure,” I drawled. “Let’s go with that. I’m captivating. Now answer my question. Please.”
As casually as a man commenting on the after-dinner mints, he said, “I’ll teach again. Maybe date. Check in on my 401k. You know, normal human things.”
I ignored the cry of “Mine!” in my head, but I couldn’t disregard the ember of jealousy burning low in my belly. Date. Be “normal.” Something impossible for a dragon queen.
“Anyone special in mind?” I asked, wanting the best for him, but also feeling slightly murderous. I hated that he would someday find happiness with someone who wasn’t me, yet I longed for him to have a life filled with joy, anyway. A paradox I’d have to figure out another day, when I collected my wits.
Leaning back in his chair, he observed me intensely for a long while, smoldering in a way that razed and rebuilt entire villages in my head. “Tell me about Leopold,” he said at last.
Ah, so we were deflecting. Not that I blamed him. It was probably difficult to discuss other women with the one who’d moments ago undressed you with her eyes.
“Leopold was honorable. Brave,” I said, letting a memory wash over me. “He worked as a blacksmith. We met when dragons still lived in the mortal world. My father ruled our kind and wished us to rule over all berserker kind,not solely the dragons. He constantly struck at the other kings through the humans they protected, launching raids. Leopold was the only warrior in his village willing to fight us. He laid traps. Clever ones. Clever enough to cage and chain me.”
The first use of the Chains of O. Though, they hadn’t obtained their true power until my crying soaked the metal, and something unexpected and unexplainable happened. The alchemists later blamed trace minerals in my tears and dragon heat. They called it the Tearforge Reaction. I called it annoying.
“He was shocked to learn I wasn’t just a dragon but a woman, too.” I laughed softly at the memory. “Gradually, we fell in love. At first, he merely hid my imprisonment from villagers. Then, he set me free.”
Taron’s expression never changed, but something in him shifted. “He calmed your rages?”
Defenses engaged. “Well. Nein. But he didn’t need to. I never broke into a berserkerage around him.” Which should have been proof enough.
My companion blinked rapidly, as if attempting to fit puzzle pieces together in his mind, that refused to click.
“Leopold knew I was the only one who could end my father’s reign of terror,” I continued. “Which meant I had to leave the human realm. And I couldn’t bring a mortal to Ashmorra. Family legend promised I could make him immortal in my fire. The fabled phoenix. He wished to try. Honestly, so did I. Desperate, hopeful, I set him aflame.” My voice dropped, and the humor fled. “You know the rest.”
Silence slithered between us again, stealing air. Then, softly, too softly, Taron said, “I’m attracted to strength. And curvy redheads, though I’ve never let myself date one. Forthe longest time, I didn’t want to admit the monster from my nightmares was becoming the star of my fantasies.”
The confession landed like a meteor, sudden and shattering. We stared, breathless. His chest rose and fell in sync with mine.
Inside me, the dragon roared.BURN HIM.
The command hit hard. A furious lash of whip. I gripped the edge of the table to ground myself, to keep from leaping across the space and?—
Kissing him? Killing him?
Ja.
“Dinner is over,” I rasped, rising too quickly, my chair scraping back. “You win this round. Only six more days. I can do this.”
