think I’ll live?” he asked quietly. “Is there any last reason you can find to not trust me. Truth, remember?”
I rolled over to face him and propped myself up on my arm, looking down at him. His hair was spread over the pillow like burnished foam in the light of the one torch I’d insisted he leave burning. I stared at him, the vestiges of sleep held off for a moment longer.
“I’ve asked you plenty of times how old you were, but you’ve never seen fit to answer me. I can only imagine you have some valid reason for not wanting me to know. But it does cast a shadow of doubt on you, Bahlin. Why not be honest with me about your age, or your longevity? Or even try to be more forthcoming about your species. And it bugs me how your sister is always referring to something she’s seen regarding me that you don’t want me to know. What is it? Do I end up with Tarrek after all this?” I half joked. He didn’t answer, and I swallowed hard. “Bahlin? What has Brylanna seen?”
He draped an arm over his eyes, refusing to remove it when I tugged. “I won’t answer what Brylanna has seen. Her visions are subjective. And I don’t answer your questions about me as a dragon, Maddy, because I’m afraid it will be one more reason for you to step away from me. Besides, it’s a bit insulting. Have you realized that you never ask me questions about me as a man?”
My mouth hung slightly open, and I knew he was right. I was more focused on the dragon than the man who constantly mastered him.
Bahlin continued without pausing for my internal revelation. “You’ve been looking for reasons not to come back to my bed, and you’ve already contemplated turning away from the Niteclif oath to get away from all things mythological. And this was all accomplished within a short day’s time. Why would I add to your resolution?” He rolled into me and wrapped his free arm around my waist, pressing his chin to the crown of my head. “I don’t want to risk you running, Maddy. I felt that if I could make Tarrek a bit more monstrous than I was then I’d stand a better chance with you myself.”
I gently pulled away from him and sat on the edge of the bed, but that wasn’t enough distance for me to think. I slipped my feet into my Nikes and walked slowly to one of the dark tunnels leading off the cavern. I didn’t know what to say. He was right. His little metamorphosis earlier had been a great act of trust on his behalf, but it had put him even further into the monster column for me, no matter what I tried to tell myself. I hugged my arms around my middle and shivered. How much was too much monster?
I got cold quickly, so I quietly returned to the bed. I crawled under the covers and pushed at his shoulder to make him roll over flat on his back. I laid my head on his chest without a word, and he wrapped his arms around me gently. Breathing deeply, I smiled. Bahlin, I thought to myself. There were so many positive attributes I could tie to that one name: loyal, trustworthy, charming, sexy as hell, amazing lover, protector, friend. But could I call him a man? No, I couldn’t. He’d warned me himself that he was, first and foremost, a dragon. And I wasn’t sure if that one word was more important than all the positive attributes I could assign to him in one lifetime. I fell asleep with my head on his chest and the sound of his heartbeat in my ear. It kept the dreams at bay.
For the second time, I’d gone to bed with Bahlin only to awake and find him gone. I sat up and saw him sitting at the cave’s entrance tunnel. He had his knees bent and his forearms resting on them, and he was flipping what looked like a gold coin. He paused and turned to look over his shoulder at me. I ran my fingers through my bed-head and settled the covers around my hips.
“I’ve been thinking about our next step,” he said.
“How long have you been up?”
“A couple of hours.” He grinned and turned back toward the entrance. “You’re a cover hog.”