I was so tightly wrapped in my agony that I didn’t hear Draxxinar approach—but I felt his lukewarm, scaly muzzle nudge my side with his head. He rumbled a sympathetic sound, as though he felt everything too.
He nudged me again, harder, trying to push me to my feet.
“I can’t go after her,” I told my beast, voice rough. “She hates me. And that’s the way it has to be.”
He rumbled again, the pitch shifting like a whimper.
“It’s for the best, Draxxinar,” I said, stroking the scales on his nose.
I couldn’t recall the last time I had…pettedmy dragon.
Was she changing me? Or was she helping me find who I really was?
I sat and gave him overdue affection, brushing his scales with my palm as I waged an internal war with myself.
How could I protect myself and my kingdom from someone so dangerous, when she was the only thing I wanted?
Then my heightened Fae hearing caught a yelp and I scented her blood.
My heart raced.
My mind spun with every way she could be injured, with everything that could have happened. Fire erupted at my fists and heels as I rushed toward her.
When I found her, I was taken aback by what I saw.
She had cut the leather skirt from the leggings and fashioned a strapless top that tied behind her back. The ensemble was surprisingly impressive. You would never have known it had been modified—like it had always been intended to look that way.
My attention fixated on her cleavage. The tightened leather
gave her breasts a corseted shape.
Then the scent of her blood hit me again and snapped my wandering stare back into focus.
My eyes scanned her quickly. A cut on her palm. A sharp, bloody rock at her feet.
She had cut the skirt free with a sharp stone. Resourceful. Clever.
It made me realize I still had a lot to learn about her. I grabbed her injured hand.
“I can’t take you anywhere, can I?” I teased lightly, and healed the cut within seconds.
Healing her now was nothing like before. A superficial wound only required localized magic. But her allergic reaction… that had been systemic. I’d pushed my power into every cell of her body to neutralize it, and it had been the single most intimate encounter of my life—more intimate than sex.
She almost smiled at my jest, took her hand back, and examined it with satisfaction.
There was so much I wanted to say. I pushed it all down and hid it away.
She thanked me with a polite smile, and I nodded once. I cleared my throat.
“So,” I said, “now that the wardrobe malfunction is resolved, I’m going to glamour us to look like Earth Fae.”
“How come? Will it hurt?” she asked.
“No. It’s like wearing a costume. It’s for political reasons.” I exhaled. “At the border, just give them your name and we’ll walk right in.”
“I take it other kingdoms aren’t fans of Fire Fae?” she asked. I hated how perceptive she was.
“It’s complicated,” I said. “Now hold still.”
