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“And I’m certain the infamous Dragon of the Ozarks is renowned for his politeness.” She huffed out a sound that held both amusement and annoyance.
“I can be very polite.” He smiled, heat still curling through him at the memory of her taste, the feel of her skin under his touch. “Do you want that apology?”
“I already said I’d rather know why you did it.” She clenched her jaw the moment the words left her lips, as if she hadn’t realized she was going to say them, as if she wished she could take them back.
“If I tell you, will tell me why you kissed me back?” He smiled slowly, the scent of her arousal still lingering in the air, a lush bloom that teased his senses and threatened to drive him mad.
“Temporary insanity,” she retorted. “Your turn.”
He laughed, the lightness in his chest unfamiliar. He wanted to close the distance between them, touch her again, learn the curves of her body, learn everything there was to know about her—it was Adela’s eyes watching him but he wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking the woman before him was the same woman he’d buried.
Adela’s soul might have been reborn into this body but the world wasn’t the same place it had been four centuries ago. War threatened. Life moved faster. Technology replaced the bonds that had once drawn communities together.
All of that would have shaped this woman standing before him.
He must learn her all over again.
And he’d love every second, every heartbeat. Life had given him another chance. He wouldn’t waste it.
Her eyes remained on his, brow cocked as she waited for her answer.
But then the child moved, still crouching in the shadows.
The woman turned from Sorin and went to the boy.
Sighing, he went to crouch by the corpse. It already reeked of decay, flesh a sickly color that made Sorin wonder if the man hadn’t been dead a while, reanimated through the magic of a powerful, old Redcap.
“You’re the dragon,” a soft voice said from a few feet away.
Sorin looked at the boy. He’d heard him approaching, had waited to see if he’d speak. That he’d done so didn’t surprise Sorin. The boy’s mother seemed spineless, but the boy had been standing guard over her motionless form ever since Sorin had landed in the small, cramped area, the vulnerable standing guard over the protector.
“Yes.”
There was no fear in the boy’s eyes as he came closer, just awe and curiosity. “People in town say you aren’t real—they say that’s why they’ll win.”
Sorin narrowed his eyes and shifted position so he faced the boy instead of the corpse. “These people...who are they and what is it they think they’ll win?”
