“Are you married?”Despite his reluctance and roll of the eyes, I couldn’t help asking questions.I mean, come on, the man could change into a dragon, had lived centuries, curiosity went without saying.
“No.”
“Alistair isn’t one for permanent commitments, but I do see a future where that changes.”
“Not bloody likely,” he muttered.“I don’t date.”
“He had an old flame betray him,” Astaria confided in an aside.“He’s been love-shy since.”
“Please do not discuss my private matters, Astaria.”
“It was ages ago, Ali.”
“Doesn’t matter.”He threw the potatoes into the pot with the beef and layered some green onion atop, along with some seasoning.As he went to pop it into the oven, I remarked, “No carrots?My mum always added carrots to her roast.”
“I hate carrots.Bloody rabbit food.”
For some reason, this made me laugh, and to my surprise, when he turned from the oven, a hint of a smile hovered around his lips, too.He suddenly went from forbidding and gloomy to handsome.Actually, he was always good-looking, what with that square jaw and bright blue eyes, but I usually found myself attracted to men of good humor.Did a friendly sort hide inside?
Not that I’d be around long enough to find out.Once the ferry returned in the morning, I’d hightail it to the dock and get myself back to the mainland.I had Loch Ness to visit and a monster to charm.Hopefully my sunny disposition would work better on Nessie than it had Alistair.
While dinner cooked, Alistair grudgingly gave me a tour of the castle.It truly was remarkable, although its state of disrepair saddened.So many beautiful historic sites lacked the funds to be maintained, and let’s be honest, today’s builders didn’t put in the same level of care and craftmanship.
For a dragon, Alistair seemed surprisingly well-informed on restoration.Indeed, the work he’d done so far appeared impeccable.It led to me asking, “How did you become so handy with tools?”
Astaria snorted.“Aren’t all men?”
The remark made me blush, and Alistair grunted.“When you’ve lived as long as me, you need hobbies lest you go mad.”
“Do you ever get lonely?”
“No.”
“Ali, why are you lying?”Astaria murmured.“When we met, he was quite grumpy and antisocial.”
“Doesn’t seem like he’s changed,” I remarked.
“He most definitely has.The old Ali would have likely let you fall from the cliff.He went through a time where he couldn’t be bothered to care about anyone.But then, he found me washed ashore, injured in a shark attack.I would have died if it weren’t for him.We’ve been fast friends since.”
“Because you don’t give me a choice,” he complained, but I noted the fondness in his tone.
“How does someone who sees the future not avoid an attack?”I blurted out and quickly apologized, “Sorry, that was rude.”
“It’s a valid question.Unfortunately, selkies don’t always see what we want, and even more rarely do we perceive our own fate.”
“You knew we’d meet,” I pointed out.
“I’ve had many visions of you in the past few months, with numerous repeats of you sitting in Ali’s kitchen during a storm.Given today’s weather, I thought I’d pop in to see if today was the day.”
“Hold on, is this vision of Davina why you’ve been coming by more often?”Alistair asked with a frown.
“Surely you didn’t think I came for the witty repartee?”
“I assumed it was because you were missing Fiona.”He glanced at me.“Her sister left the ocean a few months ago for Nessie’s loch.”
“And had the gall to only tell me in a note because she knew I’d have tried to stop her.Nessie’s last selkie seer didn’t fare so well.”Astaria’s lips turned down.
Me, I couldn’t help a crinkle of my brow.“None of the legends mention Nessie being violent.”
