Owned.
Adored.
By man and beast.
By Kenji and the Dragon.
By love and fire.
And underneath the fear of what he might still decide to do—a deeper, more dangerous truth settled inside me.
I had never felt so completely, dangerously safe.
I cleared my throat. “There. . .won’t be many times where I ask you to. . .kill anyone for me.”
Kenji remained silent and his face gave away nothing. Yet, the dragon-shadow peered even closer and the glow of his gold eyes intensified.
I chose my words carefully. “For you. . .for. . .your world. . . the solution is usually death. I understand more and more each day. But for me. . .I would always want to find solutions that do not deal with death. And. . .when I tell you I feel a certain way about a person. I would like you to brainstorm with me on ways that don’t involve burning them alive.”
The dragon-shadow tilted its huge shimmering, wispy head to the side.
Was it taking note?
Or did it think I was crazy?
Then, Kenji tilted his head to the side, matching the dragon-shadow completely. “So. . .”
I quirked my brows.
“This means no torturing either?”
I widened my eyes. “Well. . .I mean. . .obviously if the person is pregnant no. And I’m not a fan of torturing women because I’m about that feminist life. But you know. . .I would want to probably find much healthier ways to deal with the situation.”
“Sometimes drawing blood is healthy for all parties involved.”
My throat went dry. “Well. . .I believe you.”
“But for now you want me to look at more diplomatic solutions to solve your problems?”
“Yes.”
“Then, we would include Reo in the discussion. He is the one to still my finger when it wants to press on a trigger.”
“I love Reo, so I’m always a fan of that.”
The dragon-shadow rose back to the ceiling and began to scan the room. Some of the pressure of its intensity left my chest.
“Hmmm.” Kenji nodded. “At the party last night, Reo took me to the side and brought up another option in dealing with Kiko.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“He said this at the party?”
“He did.”
“Why do you think he was even thinking about Kiko and the situation?”
