“You make it sound far more noble than it was. Anyone else would have done the same thing.”
“That is absolutely untrue. Most people would run screaming. But you didn’t. You tried to save my life.” A pause, then her voice went soft. “Thank you.”
I couldn’t help it. My chest puffed up a bit, and my arms instinctively tightened around her body, where I still held her against me. “All right, let’s not make a fuss of it.”
And then the most delightful sound in the world met my ears. Astridgiggled. It was a different sort of laughter than any I’d heard from her before. Those had always been chuckles or laughs, butthis. There was something so light-hearted and free about it, as if the chains that burdened her had finally broken off. Warmth curled through me, and for a moment, it was hard to remember why I was so determined to keep my distance.
“You? Not making a fuss of yourself?” She giggled again. “Maybe I need to be the one holdingyouup because I think you’re feeling quite funny in the head right now, Mr. Tormund Bakke, the big, bad shadow demon who is good at everything.”
“Good at everything, eh?” I cocked a brow, grinning.
“Ah, there he is again.” Beaming, she tapped my nose. “Can you put me down now? I think the dragon wants us to leave.”
As loathe as I was to let go, I lowered Astrid onto the pile of gold coins. We turned toward the dragon in unison. She watched us through half-lidded eyes, her tail twitching against the coins.
“I think that is an annoyed twitch,” I said.
“Very observant of you,” Astrid quipped.
I sighed, relaxing. But deep down, I knew this bone-deep relief had nothing to do with the dragon’s lack of fire and everything to do with Astrid’s improved mood. My reaction to the kiss had hurt her, and I couldn’t stand it.
“You don’t think we should try talking to her? After all this effort, I hate to leave without the Everstone.”
She cocked her head, considering the dragon. “Do you see anything that looks like the gem?”
“I was hoping you did,” I said.
There were plenty of sunstones—enough to light every dwarven home for miles. Other gems littered the gold, but most were common ones, like rubies and onyx, none of which had magical properties. Pretty, yes, but sparkly things would do nothing but gain us some coin. And I wasn’t about to try stealing from a dragon to line my own pockets. She hadn’t doused us in fire, but I was fairly certain she would if we took anything.
“Maybe she’s laying on top of it,” Astrid tried.
“She’s not in the same spot as she was in before. I would have noticed it.”
“Bloomin’ fates,” Astrid muttered. “You think she hid it somewhere in all this gold? I don’t suppose she’d let us start digging through it…right?”
“Unlikely. Besides, I doubt she’d bury the best prize.” I looked at Astrid and smiled. “She’d want it where she could enjoy it anytime she liked.”
She cut her eyes my way. “Is that another innuendo?”
Yes, but not in the way you think.
I’d been thinking about her laugh and her smile. Nothing about her glorious hips and the treasure that would lay between her thighs. ButnowI was thinking about both those things and more. And I could tell by the sudden spark in her eyes that her mind had gone in a very similar direction. I wondered what she thought of my horns and how I’d imagined—on more than one occasion—how it would feel to have her hold on to them while I trapped her against the wall and followed through on all my innuendos. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind she’d feel as good as she looked.
Instead of saying all that, I winked.
Her face flushed. “You’re completely hopeless.” A pause. “So what do we do now?”
What I wanted to do was, unfortunately, not in the current realm of possibility. We were inside a dragon lair, and I didn’t want to suck Astrid into my doomed world. Both of those thoughts kept me focused on the task at hand rather than the way her tunic hugged her breasts in a way that outlined every curve.
I cleared my throat. “I think we leave the dragon alone for now. Are there any other tunnels we could search before returning to Steingard?”
She pursed her luscious lips, then nodded. “There are miles of tunnels. We could spend months searching them all.”
“I’m willing to do that if you are,” I said, then mentally kicked myself. Did I really want to suggest spending the next several months travelling through these mines, just the two of us? I’d likely manage to keep my hands to myself precisely one night.
“What,now?” She tugged on a strand of hair, and her bells jingled. “We’d need far more supplies. A real tent. Lots of food. Maybe some chocolate bars, if we could find some. For energy purposes, of course.”
I quirked a smile. “Of course. We can return to Steingard first and spend a few days getting things together.”
