Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #2) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,45
lousy. But was it worth it to owe him another favor?
While I was waffling with indecision, he pushed my duster open and rested his hand on my hip, right on the hole in my tank top—and my flesh. I expected the touch to bring another blast of pain, but some cool magic flowed from his palm, curling gently into my wound and numbing the hot snarl of agony. It was like one of those cough-drop commercials promising soothing relief, and I could almost hear the angelic choir in the background.
A quick burst of heat punctured the relief, and I bit my tongue to keep from gasping in pain. I wasn’t gasping in front of some dragon, damn it. “What was that?”
“I withdrew the projectile.” He held up the flat bloody bullet, then flicked it onto the ground. It burst into flame and disappeared. Incinerated. “Now I will heal the wound.”
“Is it hard to heal humans when you’re used to dragons? I imagine we’re rather anatomically different.” I glanced at his face, meeting his eyes briefly, then looked over his shoulder. Looking him in the eye from this close seemed too intimate.
Besides, I needed to pay attention. We were standing in a public alley. Those orcs might wander down it at any moment. Though that was unlikely. They would sense the aura of a dragon from even farther away than I had. But the police could show up. We weren’t that far from the wreck.
Oddly, nobody entered the alley. Nobody even walked past. Was he oozing some magic to deter people?
“You are half-elf. I have spent time with elves.”
“They’re not as loathsome to you as humans?”
“They are among the most powerful of the lesser magical beings.”
Lesser. I snorted. “So you rank people and decide who’s worth spending time with by their power.”
“By their power, by what they do with their power, and by how obnoxious they are to be around.”
I could feel his gaze upon me and knew exactly what he was implying. As if he wasn’t more obnoxious than I was. In his arrogance, he didn’t even see it.
Warmth replaced the cool, and my flesh tingled with intensity. I sensed the muscles knitting together, the chipped bone being regenerated, and the skin regrowing over the wound. Even though the power came from him, my legs grew weak, as if some of it was also drawn from my own body. When he removed his hand and stepped back, I slumped against the wall. I wanted to slump all the way to the ground, but my pride—and the old pieces of gum stuck to the cement at my feet—kept me upright.
“Thanks.” For someone who hated being beholden to others, I was thanking him a lot. I didn’t like that. “Maybe next time, I’ll greet you with some ass-kissing.”
His eyebrows flew up, and he took another step back. “I do not wish to be intimate with you.”
“That’s not what I meant, but thanks for clearing that up. When you talk about kissing someone’s ass, it’s an expression. It means you’re sucking up, currying favor.” There we go. The way to define an idiom is by using a bunch more idioms, right? “I just meant that maybe I’ll call you Lord Zavryd the next time you plop down in front of me.”
I rubbed my face, more embarrassed than I should have been at explaining that I wasn’t interested in his ass. Why couldn’t I keep my sarcastic tongue clamped down?
And why did it bother me that horror had flashed in his eyes when he’d made his announcement? It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been perfectly clear that he thought humans were vermin. And it wasn’t as if I wanted to sleep with him. My mind hurt at even imagining how that would go. It was more the implied insult, that humans—that I wasn’t good enough for someone as lofty as a dragon.
“That would be a wise policy to adopt. Not all dragons are as lenient as I am.” He’d recovered from his surprise and reaffixed the haughty expression. “Tell me what information you have learned about the location of Dobsaurin.”
“It’s only been three hours.”
He gazed at me expectantly.
“Look, I have some ideas based on where he’s been seen flying and where people have disappeared, but I’m going to need more time.”
Zav clasped his hands behind his back. “I should have gone to see the lava golem. But Dobsaurin is in this territory, not her territory. I thought you might be a more logical researcher.”