Not again.
I scowled at him as I realized he was cradling me in his lap.
“No, this is my hate language, dragon boy.”
A soft trill sounded on my left and my head rolled to the side, instantly feeling an overwhelming need to put eyes on Kaida after that harrowing dream. I knew it hadn’t been real, but my nervous system demanded to see that my baby dragon was still exactly that, and that he was here and safe.
He was curled up and staring at me, tail flicking around in agitation as his gaze bounced between Theo and me.
“I don’t think my dragon likes you, either,” I surmised. I laughed at the thought, but my chest constricted, forcing a deep, painful cough from my lungs. Levity slammed into me with brute force, sobering me and bringing me back to the moment. “I feel like death,” I murmured, my eyes drooping with the exhaustion I seemed to be fighting off by the minute.
“I’m glad you are awake, finally.”
Sinda’s voice filled my head, though the way she spoke now was much gentler than I remembered her being. My mind snagged on her last word after a few seconds, and I parroted,“Finally?”
I wasn’t sure where she was, but as my eyes swept around the cave, I could only see the remaining unhatched eggs, Kaida, Theo, and myself. Even Katla, the little twin who hated me, wasn't present.
“Theo will explain. I’m hunting with Katla. We will be back soon.”
The connection between us severed and I groaned, hating that I needed to depend on Theo for anything in this moment. “Why is it that Sinda seems to be able to come and go from my mind as she pleases? She broke through my defenses earlier today.”
I turned my head back toward Theo as he hovered above me, the action taking far more exertion from me than it should have. His lips thinned as his nostrils flared, just before he took in a deep breath.
“That wasn’t earlier today. It was a week ago.”
I blinked at him, confusion at his words swirling through my hazy brain. “No. It was just before I took that nap. I think I’d know if a week passed by, dragon boy.”
“Then tell me why you’re unable to move from my lap right now, wench? If you hated me as you claimed, you’d be pushing away from me, if you could.”
His retort was full of his usual arrogance and had me bristling before attempting to move. All I managed was a measly rocking motion with my head in his lap, which resulted with him clearing his throat and something hardening beneath my skull.
If my eyes could have filled with fire, they would have at that moment. “Do you seriously have a hard cock right now, when I’m seemingly immobile in your lap?”
He snapped, “It’s the dragon within me. Take it up with him.”
My eyes narrowed in his direction, but I was distracted mere seconds later as I suddenly smelled the scent of bread. My stomach rumbled with aching hunger as he lifted a piece into my view. “Do you just blame him for everything? How convenient.”
My question was ignored as he pressed the bread against my lips and demanded, “Eat. You need to recuperate your strength after the quickening. Sinda is hunting for meat for Kaida. You both were in a dreamstate for seven days as your bond underwent an ancient trial.”
My mouth opened from shock and he took that to his advantage, pressing the tips of his fingers and the bread between my lips and into my mouth. I growled and bit down, chomping on his fingers with as much strength as I could.
His words of a quickening and dreamstate were quickly forgotten with his unwelcome intrusion.
“Ow!” he yelped, snatching his fingers from my lips as I smirked in victory.
That’ll show him to put his appendages in my mouth without being welcomed. Not that any part of him wouldeverbe welcomed by me.
The thought had me internally withering at how often I seemed to be lying to myself as he growled at me. “You’re insufferable. I’m just trying to make sure you’re taken care of.”
Something about those specific words broke open the freshly sealed wounds of rejection I’d felt multiple times with him.
“Who decided that was your job, Theo?” I asked, infusing my voice with thick sarcasm. “Because I’m pretty sure you made it clear that we aren’t compatible and that our marriage will be over whether I want it to be or not.”
Silence stretched as we engaged in a silent battle of wills, each of us glaring daggers at the other.
Eventually he caved, eyes rolling back in his head before fluttering shut. “I deserve that, and I’m sorry. I deeply regret how our last conversation went.”
Well, well, well. Had the undine god broken free of Elysium and frozen over all of Edath? That seemed about as likely as Theo feeling regret.
