Page 61 of The Bones of the Cursed

Kailu nods, taking up a place against the back wall. His assessing gaze never leaves Levi.

I show Alanis around the castle and watch her every reaction. Her awe at seeing the castle’s library, where thousands of books sit on ornate wooden shelves. The large windows allow natural light to pour into the room. The gardens overflow with peonies, roses, and hundreds of other flowers. I even showed her where the castle cooks grow our vegetables. I watch as she absorbs every detail, her excitement infectious. I’ve lived here my whole life, the sights becoming mundane, but seeing it through her eyes brings new life to my home. Watching her warms that thumping organ in my chest that I thought long-dead. I take her hand and lead her into town for an early dinner. We talk about little things, things that take our mind off what is to come, and yet I can’t shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen.

“Can you shift into an animal, too? Like Kailu?”

I choke on my water, caught off-guard by the question. “Yes…” I say cautiously.

She looks at me expectantly. “Well? Tell me. What are you?” Her excitement bubbles over and is contagious.

“A dragon.”

She spits her coffee out across the table at me and I laugh harder than I ever have before.

“Shut the fuck up.”

I give her a toothy smile and snap my teeth at her with a playful growl. “Why do you think I have so many tattoos?”

“Because they’re sexy?” She gives me a flirty smile in return.

“Mm, yes, that is important, but not the main reason. When a Fae is powerful enough and can shift into a creature as big as a dragon, certain aspects of the dragon tend to take over. I already had some tattoos the first time I shifted, since it happened later than those with ordinary animals. After the first shift, scales showed up in patches on my skin for weeks after. They eventually disappear, but the tattoos cover them while they’re there.”

Her gaze drifts to my chest, like she can see through my tunic to the tattoos beneath. “Is it always in the same spots?”

“Yes, the scales are on certain spots only, on the right side of my neck, my left thigh, and my upper back. They never show up anywhere else. The rest of the tattoos are just because they’re sexy.” I wink.

Her soft laugh makes my heart give a little jump in my chest.

We’re walking back to the castle right as the sun begins to set when Alanis abruptly stops. I turn and find her staring at the white brick house that’s located on main street by the apothecary.

“I always loved this house,” she says. “Every day after work, I would walk by and just admire it. I liked to imagine it being my house one day. I even imagined what it would look like inside.”

Her voice is whimsical. I can’t help but stare at her absolute beauty. I take her hand, leading her up the sidewalk to the front door.

“Mal, what are youdoing? We can’t impose on these people.”

I smirk at her and run my finger over the lock, allowing my magic to give us access.

“Malakai, what the hell is going on?”

I stride right into the foyer, hearing her follow behind as if in a trance.

“Whose house is this?” she asks, but I know she already figured it out.

“It’s mine,” I whisper.

Alanis stands shocked, her cheeks slightly red. “I guess it makes sense that my dream house is tied to my Fated.”

I flash a wolfish grin. “Your dream house and your dream guys. Lucky woman.”

She gifts me with her brightest smile, and I throw my arm around her neck, leading her further into the house to give her the tour. Hopefully it will be our house one day.

The kitchen has a round wooden table with four chairs, the oak a faded worn color. The fireplace stones are pristine since I don’t cook often. The sitting room holds two leather chairs and a bookshelf that overflows with books, so many in fact that some sit on the wool rug that sits in the center of the room.

The last room I show her is my bedroom.

She walks to the large white bed pressed against the floor-to-ceiling window. Her fingers trace over the gold bed frame that boasts a crescent moon carved into it.

“This looks like my birthmark.”

---