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He arches a brow. “We Dragons are creatures of fire.”
On the opposite wall is another door, slightly ajar. “What is that?” I gesture toward it.
“A cleansing room.”
The thought of indoor plumbing is wonderful, and my mind is already conjuring an image of a warm bath. “Truly?”
He nods and I make my way toward it. When I push the door open, I notice a toilet, a metal tub and a sink. When I test the water, it’s not exactly warm, but it’s not entirely cold either. Even so, the desire to bathe is stronger than my aversion to the undesirable temperature.
As I start to fill the tub, Aurdyn walks up beside me. “Hmph,” he remarks. “I did not expect them to have this here.”
“It’s lukewarm”—I gesture to the water filling the tub—“but it’s better than nothing.”
A sly smirk twists his lips as his gaze slides to mine. “Fortunately, you are traveling with a Dragon.”
He opens his mouth and a stream of flame hits the side of the metal tub, heating the water inside until a light mist of steam begins to rise from the surface. When he’s done, I cautiously test the temperature and find it pleasantly warm.
I smile. That was rather thoughtful of him. “Thank you.”
“I am glad this is here,” he remarks. “After sleeping in their bed last night, we both stink of Dwarf. Hurry, so I may bathe after you and rid myself of their stench.”
Shaking my head, I stop short of rolling my eyes as he turns and leaves the room. I’d always heard the Fae were dramatic, but it seems Dragons are as well.
Peeling out of my clothes, I step into the tub and slip beneath the water with a soft sigh of contentment. All the tension leaves my muscles as I allow myself to relax in the warmth. When I’m done, I dress in the sleep gown Moira packed for me. I’m sure Aurdyn will say it stinks as well, but that’s too bad. I’m certainly not sleeping naked.
When I step back into the main room, my jaw drops as he turns to face me, completely nude. His black pants are gone and before I can stop myself, my gaze travels down his very muscular form and my brow furrows when I notice he does not seem to have what I thought was common amongst men—human and Otherworldly, alike. Instead, he has a line along his scales in his groin area.
“I am different than you expected,” he says, having noticed my gaze.
My cheeks flare with heat as I quickly avert my eyes.
“Could you please put on some pants, at least?” she asks, obviously flustered.
His head jerks back. “Does my appearance offend you?”
“Just as it is improper for me to undress in front of you, it’s indecent for you to be naked before me. We are not married, Aurdyn.”
He says we are fated mates, but it seems we are not physically compatible. For some strange reason a wave of disappointment moves through me, but I quickly push it away. Then again, I shouldn’t even be looking in the first place, much less thinking about anything potentially happening between us.
His black pants suddenly appear on his form, and a thought suddenly occurs to me. “Can you not then make yourself look human, without the shade stone?”
He shakes his head. “Holding another shape that complex, outside of my Dragon form, is too difficult to maintain.”
I nod even as I notice the way his ‘conjured’ pants hang low on his hips, accentuating the thickly carved muscle of his abdomen, forming a ‘v’ that goes down to his—
I cut off the thought abruptly. I cannot be attracted to Aurdyn, I think firmly to myself. He’s a Dragon and even despite his physical differences, it would never work between us in the first place. We’re too different. Besides, he does not even like humans, anyway.
CHAPTER20
AURDYN
It is not just that she considers it to beimproper. She is disappointed in my appearance. I can read it in her expression. It seems I am very different from a human male.
I cannot deny the devastation to my vanity. I have always been considered attractive among my kind—highly sought after by many females. Just last year no less than three females tried to entice me into the mating battle, but I refused. It has always been my hope to find my T’kara. Now that I have… she finds my appearance so displeasing she cannot bear to even look at me.
It seems I will die old and alone, without heirs.
Clenching my jaw, I push down my wounded pride and move past her to the cleansing room. Grabbing one of the threadbare hand towels by the sink, I use it to buff my scales in the tub. It is the best I can do. Female Dragons appreciate a male who takes extra care of his appearance; I must simply hope that human females do too.
