Page 69 of The Dragon’s Good Girl

“Margot.”

“I know I don’t have an appointment.”

“I should hope not.”

I blink.

Gael takes a sip of tea. “If you came here to book him, I’m sending you home.”

Despite everything, I laugh. “I came to see Soren.”

She steps aside. “He’s upstairs.”

The entrance hall is warm, voices carrying from somewhere deeper in the house. Someone laughs loudly enough to echo off the walls, followed by another voice telling them to shut up.

Gael starts up the stairs, and I follow her to the third floor, where she stops at the end of the landing.

“His rooms are at the end.”

I look down the long corridor. “You’re not coming?”

Gael lifts her cup toward the hallway. “Go.”

The air gets warmer as I make my way down the corridor, subtle at first, then noticeable enough that I know which door is his before I reach it.

I stop outside and knock.

There’s a pause, then footsteps approach from the other side. The door opens, and Soren stares at me.

For a second, neither of us says anything.

“I hope it’s okay that I’m here.”

The surprise on his face gives way to something warmer. “Of course it’s okay. Come in.”

He steps back and opens the door wider.

The look on his face makes the entire drive worth it.

I cross the threshold.

His rooms are nothing like the rest of the mansion. I expected something darker, maybe, or grander. Something that looked like it belonged to a six-hundred-year-old dragon. Instead, his room is warm and ridiculously cozy, full of deep chairs, crowded bookshelves and more blankets than one man could reasonably need. Everything looks used rather than arranged, softened by years of being lived with.

Then I notice the chair by the window, angled perfectly into a patch of late sunlight.

I look at him. “That’s where you sit, isn’t it?”

Soren follows my gaze. “Sometimes.”

“You sit there and bake yourself in the sun, don’t you?”

“I’m a dragon, Margot. I spend half my life trying to stay warm enough. I’m hardly going to waste good sunlight.”

I laugh, and his expression softens.

“You really haven’t brought anyone up here before?”

“No.”