“As you wish.”
twenty-six
The WarlockKnocks
Iwake up somewhere not air-hammocky and blink deliriously. It’s my pillows and blankets, but whatever is under me is not my mattress. I press against it and it gives a little, but it’s still solid.
It’s so dark I can’t see, but I know I’m not in the living room. Bastian’s Bookhenge glows softly, though I can’t see it from where I am.
“Bastian?”
The door creaks open and I see his silhouette outlined by the gentle golden halo of the altar of books.
“You were tired,” he says as he approaches my side.
I sit up and look around with the extra light and see Oscar curled up at the foot of the bed. It’s a raised platform of wood, polished and gold-trimmed like the shelves in the library.
“Did you make this?” I ask, tugging at the fluffy mattress on the box frame.
“I did.”
“For me?” I ask, my throat tight.
“No, for the feline.” He sits on the edge and scratches behind Oscar’s ear, who promptly begins purring. “His bed was small and insufficient.”
I hum. “Of course.”
I do have a bed coming, and a couch, and other regular house stuff, but honestly I kinda like his bed better. It’s big—king sized at least—and long enough that he could fit in it. Is that what he was thinking about when he made it? A place where he could fit beside me?
My heart thunders at the thought, but I shut it down.
If we’re going to do more fooling around, there needs to be a bed big enough for him. That’s all.
“How do you feel,” he asks, turning his attention on me.
“Fine,” I say, taking stock of myself for the first time.
My hip pain is absent.
So is the ache in my shoulder from my rock-climbing incident.
“Actually, I feel better than fine. Some of my regular pain is gone,” I say.
He hums. “Another side effect of dragon spunk, I assume.”
I scoff. “Are you serious or joking? I can’t tell.”
His eyes glitter with gold as he looks at me. “Hunters don’t seek me out simply because I’mother. I have value to them.”
“In your semen?” I ask.
“In many things,” he says. “My body was considered a panacea.”
A darkness consumes his features and suddenly I’m staring at the angry dragon who held me against the wall.
“Hey, I’m not going to use you,” I say, reaching out for his arm.
His shoulders relax a measure, and then he smirks. “I thought that’s what fucking around is all about.”
