Page 78 of The Dragon’s Good Girl

Corvin doesn't look up from his book. "They usually do."

"Not like this one." There's something in Gael's voice that makes him glance over. She taps the edge of the tablet against her palm. "I think she might actually challenge you."

That gets his attention.

Corvin closes his book and holds out a hand. "Send me the intake."

Gael does.

His phone buzzes on the table, and the room carries on around him as he opens the file. I'm close enough to see the moment something catches his attention. His eyes darken slowly from gray to the blue-black of deep water, and he goes back to the beginning and reads it again.

Gael watches him over the rim of her cup.

"Well?" she asks.

Corvin's gaze stays on the screen.

"When can she come in?"

That evening, I find Soren adding something to the hoard.

I'm stretched across the bed with a book when he comes in holding the scarf I lost at a restaurant last week. I'd already assumed it was gone, but I underestimated what happens when a dragon hears the words I lost something.

I lower the book. "Where did you find that?"

"The restaurant."

"You went back?"

He gives me a look suggesting the answer should be obvious.

"Soren, I would've bought another one."

"This one is yours."

He folds it once and considers where to put it.

I watch him for a moment. "You know I still use that, right?"

His hands stop.

"You can't just add things to the hoard while I'm actively using them."

"I retrieved it."

"And I'm very grateful, now give it back."

His expression suggests I'm being unreasonable, but he brings it over anyway. I take the scarf from him and toss it onto my side of the bed.

"There. Hoarded."

"That is not how a hoard works."

"It is now."

The gold in his eyes brightens.

I put my book aside and hold out a hand. He takes it, letting me pull him down beside me.