His question startled me out of my thoughts.
He was offering me exactly what I wanted yesterday, so why was I hesitating now?
I took another sip of the bourbon and nodded before slamming the glass down a little too hard onto the side table. It was just the alcohol making my thoughts fuzzy. This was for the best.
“Sounds like we have a curse to break. Tell me everything about it, so we can be done with this.”
Chapter Twelve
SIYANA
“Don’t bother tryingto keep pace with me,” he warned as I told him to fill my glass again after he brought the entire bottle over to his side table. “My metabolism burns it off much faster than a human’s. You won’t prove anything to me by having another, besides that you’re too stubborn for your own good, which I promise I’m already well aware of.”
“I’ve taken care of myself for a long time now,” I argued, not appreciating his implications. “If I wanted to impress you, I’d do something other than drinking myself under the table.” Both his circular human pupil and slitted dragon one widened at that comment. No, he most definitely wasn’t wondering what I meant by that, right? I shouldn’t have said it. Switching gears, I tossed out, “Besides, the liquor is keeping me warm, and who knows when I’ll have a chance to have it again, considering this marriage will be short lived.”
“I won’t be cleaning up your puke, but be my guest,” he murmured, an air of arrogance swirling around him as he leaned over to refill my glass. It seemed as if some of the tension and animosity we’d felt around each other had evaporated with the revelation of our impending divorce.
Could we work together in the meantime? My guard would remain up, but perhaps a truce would assist us in making progress.
I resisted the urge to scowl at him, just barely, instead choosing to focus on the task at hand—gathering information. “I need you to start at the beginning. Where did this curse originate, and what do you know about breaking it so far? Our history books don’t cover the topic, and those who were alive when it happened refuse to speak of it, despite our town being full of gossips. I need to understand it in its entirety.”
His broad shoulders heaved with a deep inhale before he stood and let it out. I noted trickles of sweat streaming down his temple as he glared at the fireplace. Clearly, it was only burning for my sake, and while I was enjoying basking in its warmth, a part of me felt bad that he was agitated and uncomfortable in his own chambers.
“You can kill the fire, if that would help you settle in for this conversation,” I offered just as he turned to glance at the bright light streaming in from the balcony. From this angle, it showcased the black tunic stuck to his wide back, drenched through with sweat and showing his muscles bunching as he placed his glass up on the mantle. “I have a feeling we’re going to be here for a bit and that there isn’t anywhere else we can go, considering your cagey behavior on the way back from the dining hall.”
He glanced back at me and I quickly averted my gaze from my perusal before forging on, “Don’t think I forgot about that weird behavior from earlier. I want an explanation for that as well.”
“Will you perish if I snuff out the fire? I fear I don’t truly understand what you can withstand.”
Something about his question had me chuckling with genuine delight, which caused his brow to pinch in confusion ashe waited for my answer. He was being so serious. The undine king, unaware of the limits of a human body–it was as ludicrous as it was humorous. But then, I suppose there was more than enough that I still didn’t understand about his people and their way of life. The thought was all the levity I needed to bring me back to the moment at hand, though I couldn’t help but still chuckle.
“No, I won’tperish,” I breathed out between laughs as he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, pushing back the damp pieces from his face. “Put out the fire and I will let you know when the cold becomes overwhelming.”
Relief seemed to wash over him, his shoulders sagging as he bent down. Holding a hand in front of the fireplace, shards of ice came flying out of it, piercing the wood. He let out a curse as he crouched down fully, balancing on the balls of his feet. I watched in fascination as the ice quickly melted within the grips of the fire that licked mercilessly against it, and Theo tried again. This time when he lifted his hand, a steady stream of snow blasted from his palm, coating the entire area. Steam began to fill the room as it melted against the embers and the fire began to dim.
It was the most dramatic way to put out a fire that I’d ever seen, and it became abundantly clear that he’d never done this before. I let out a sigh and shifted to my feet, feeling the buzz of the bourbon washing through my veins as I stood and ambled over to where the iron poker sat, clean of the grim of soot and clearly unused. I felt his eyes on the side of my face as I knelt down onto my knees and placed my hand on his, pressing down lightly to get him to stop.
“You’re actively fighting against the fire,” I murmured, poking the pieces until they fell and the heap of wood no longer remained.
With the damp logs still sizzling and the flames slowly tapering out, he admitted, “You’re lucky that starting the fire was easy. I’d never had to do that before either.”
I couldn’t help but joke, “All this for little ole me? And they say an old dragon can’t learn new tricks.”
Glancing over at him, I choked on a laugh as his lips thinned. “I’m two years older than you, Siyana. I am not old.”
I brought my hand up to cover my giggles and slowly but surely, a small laugh fell from his own lips. I was enraptured as soon as the sound hit my ears. It was rich and deep, with a vibration that seemed to fill the space. The way his scales bunched up as his smile grew was odd to see, watching the edges shift over one another with ease.
Before I could think it through, my hand lifted in the air, reaching out to touch them. How could they move so seamlessly, considering their rigidity? His smile fell as soon as he realized what I was doing, but he didn’t stop me. Silently, I traced the tips of my fingers along the edges of the scales, and his eyes widened with the contact.
His serpentine eye sparked with that bright blue magic I’d grown to know meant his dragon was present.
“Hi there,” I murmured as if the beast could hear me, concentrating on the rough ridges within each scale but marveling over the pliable skin between them. It was much rougher than our human skin, but I could see how it could absolutely be pierced by a blade, unlike the seemingly impenetrable scales. “So your scales can shift over one another as a defense mechanism to protect the skin. How fascinating. Is it like that all over your body?”
A low buzz had settled into my mind at some point, and my fingers tingled with the prolonged contact.
My gaze wandered, and as soon as I saw his very human eye gazing at me, it was like I was sent hurling back to reality. I snatched my hand back, gasping as I realized what I’d done.
I’d just freaking pet the king of dragons. What had gotten into me?
