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“Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin,” she says.
“What?”
“Axel, just go away for a little bit, calm down, and then you can come back.”
“You struck me.”
“You kissed me.” She bangs on the other side of the door. “I told you that kissing is against the rules now. That strike was a reminder.”
“I think that kissing may be the only way to repair our bond,” I say. “And if so, that may be the only way I can go to see my father and still keep you safe.”
She ignores me.
“Open. The. Door.” I bang politely one more time.
“Axel, Flame and Earth Blessed, go away.”
I consider slamming the door hard enough to dislodge the hinges, but that might hurt her. Instead, I shift my fingers just a little bit into talons and grab the frame, sinking them into the wood, and then I flex, ripping the door away from its frame, and flinging it across the floor behind me.
“Axel!” Liz is standing in the doorway, her eyes wide, her breathing shallow.
It’s like she’s begging me to never look away with all her prey-behavior. I can’t help my small smile. “You called?”
“No.” She holds out a finger and shakes it. “I didn’t call. I yelled. Now go away.”
“That’s the same thing as calling me.” I start toward her again, slowly.
She draws her swords.
And my smile widens. “Yes.”
We dance, then. She strikes and parries, attempting to hit me with the swords she stole from me, and I don’t hold back, blocking and dodging and striking with small controlled movements that match hers. I don’t try to harm her, but I do try to disarm and contain her as well as I can, as fast as I can, and as intently as I can manage.
My tiny little human keeps up remarkably well.
It’s impressive.
At least, she does for a while. As she tires, I see my opening. I drop my hands, ball them into fists, and then bring them up underneath hers, dislodging the sword hilts from her grasp and flinging them upward where they slam into the ceiling, sinking into the plaster.
“Gotcha.” I move toward her again, slowly and methodically, never looking away.
She backs up until she’s pressed against a large gouge mark in the wall. I brace my hands on either side of her face again, and I move in for my prize. “No.”
“Why can’t I kiss you?” I ask. “Am I really bad at it? Is it painful to you?” Is that why she whimpers? It doesn’t feel that way through the bond, but clearly I don’t understand humans very well.
“Painful?” Her breath is almost ragged. “Not exactly.”
“Then why are you so against it?” I’m leaning toward her as if I’m being towed there, my mouth needing to press against hers again.
“You can’t mate with me,” she whispers. “You have to mate with that electro dragon. Right?”
I freeze. “If I learn to kiss you better. . .then we have to mate?”
She swallows.
“Elizabeth.”
“Not exactly,” she says. “But if you’re at all like a human, if we. . .” She clears her throat. “If we get good at the kissing, then yes, we’ll want to mate.” Her eyes drop, looking away from me intentionally, as if she’s trying to escape, and that hurts.
