say caved to mean gathered and stored.”
“Ah. Who knew?”
“Dragons.” He rises up on the bench, fully kneeling on it now with both knees and an open lap, and through a supreme effort of willpower, I keep my gaze on his and not what he was trying to get me to touch earlier in the latrine. “Let us be well rested over the night so that we will be fresh for your sibling’s liberation on the morrow.”
Immediately, my thoughts fill with Jöran. I swallow, feeling my face bump Halki’s hand with the movement. “Thank you again for agreeing to save him,” I start.
Halki moves over me, closes his arms around me, and hauls me up until we’re chest to chest, our gazes locked. “My mate has asked me for help and I will give it. Thank me no more, drhema.”
‘My cherished one. My mate. You.’ It’s hard to wrap my head around how quickly I went from single, normal tribeswoman to being mated to a dragon, but I’m less and less shocked every time he refers to us this way. As he draws us down on our sides and strokes his big fingers through my hair, the more and more I’m embracing the concept of Halki being all mine for as long as we live.
Then Halki lifts his hand from where he had it wrapped around my middle, and he reaches over me to position something at my back.
I close my eyes and try to will myself not to comment on it, but my effort gets overridden by my pesky aversion. “Did you just make your casting touch me?”
I twitch when surprisingly soft lips make contact with my forehead. “Yes, and here are our feathers.” He spreads all the little feather-rinds down on me, the curly Sebastopol’s leavings becoming a decoration all over me as he draws a blanket over the both of us and murmurs a pleased, “Good night, my precious drhema.”
Something about his voice and his endearment fills me up so nicely that I sigh and snuggle deeper under the blanket, bumping against his hard, warm body which feels reassuring and good—and do my best to block out the vomit brick at my back.
Dragons are two cranks past insane… but they’re nice.
CHAPTER 13
Nalle
We’re up before dawn. Halki lights the wick of a candle by puffing a burst of flame on it, which succeeds in lighting the wick, but also melts the tallow of the candle, sending the hot wax splattering on his arm and hand.
“Krevk’d!” he hisses.
Eyes blurry with sleep, I sit up in a rush. “Are you all right?”
He chuffs and glances at me. “Yes, I’m fine.” He turns his limb, examining the wax that’s drying on him. “It surprised me more than it did any damage. Thankfully, my scales must do some protecting. More than a regular human’s skin, I’m sure.”
I rub at my face. “Better your arm than any other free-swinging part of you,” I mumble.
Halki barks a laugh. He hauls me up, shocking my eyes open, and draws me right to his face.
He plants his lips over mine and inhales.
I try to fit my hand between our mouths. “I need to use my tooth stick,” I warn him. “My breath must be terrible.”
His nostrils flare. “You smell good to me, drhema.”
My belly warms but I plant my hands on his shoulders and urge him to release me.
He does. “I need to visit your latrine. Will you join me?”
“With or without you, that’s my first stop,” I say, yawning behind my hand.
Halki takes my other one to help me off the bench. It’s such a gallant gesture—one I’ve never seen the likes of. Men don’t need to assist women anywhere. If they did, we’d be in a pretty hopeless situation because it’s not like there’s a helpful man waiting around every corner. It’s lucky if you have one helpful man in all of your tribe.
I stare up at Halki, really feeling that he’s not only a helpful man—he’s my man.
“I don’t know why you’re looking at me thus,” Halki utters in a deep, rough-edged voice that makes my lower spine sing, “but keep your attention on me this way and we’ll be late retrieving your brother.”
I’m ashamed at the split-second pause—but I break eye contact.
Halki exhales a breath into my hair, his mouth close enough to brush my crown. “Let’s relieve ourselves and prepare to be on our way. The sooner we complete our journey, the sooner we can be joined here.”
Taking his hand, I tell