Page 462 of Kingdoms of Night

Tanis nodded up at him, squinting her eyes as though she were deep in thought. “So if I don’t like something, or I wish you to do something else, then I should ask?”

“Yes.” He blew the word out on an exhale of relief, but then worried that she hadn’t found it as enjoyable as she claimed. “Was there anything you wanted me to change or... do?”

Again she squinted her eyes, and he held his breath until she made her decision.

Tanis took her time, and she must have been aware that it was killing him because the grin that eventually spread across her face was one of pure evil. “I’ll admit, I don’t know enough about this to ask for specifics. Perhaps we should do it one more time, and then I might have ways I’d like you to improve.”

Oh.

Well.

He could do that. Rowan grinned and bent to work, putting everything he knew and had learned from years of practice into every movement. And he was rewarded for hours after that with a woman who matched him in every way.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

CHAPTER 15

Tanis stood in what they called their kitchen, sorting all the dried meat into wooden boxes. Over the spring and through the summer, Rowan had gotten quite good at making helpful objects. He picked up on skills rather easily, even though that was frustrating.

He’d remembered how to plane wood. Somehow he’d used one of the few remaining knives they had, and turned it into a tool he could hit that chipped away at the wood in pieces. It took a while, and they weren’t completely flat, but it did the job. The rest she used her teeth for, although she found herself in that dragon form less and less.

It felt like... home.

She had never thought a little hut in the middle of the woods would feel like home, but it did. They even added a front to the cabin, with a few cut out holes that acted as windows even though they didn’t have glass.

They’d talked about returning to the town soon to gather up whatever remained. She didn’t think there would be much after the fires those monsters had lit, but there had to be items of use remaining. She didn’t know what they planned to do after that, only that they would do it together.

Rowan walked through the front entrance, one eye squeezed shut as the hanging reeds struck him in the face. “Do we really need these? We can just leave it open.”

“It discourages the bugs.” She leaned toward him for a kiss, because he always kissed her when he walked into the cabin.

It was a habit, she knew, but it still made her feel better when he did it. Rowan didn’t even notice that he kissed her every single time he came inside and before he left. Without fail. She looked forward to that kiss more than she wanted to admit.

“I will take a few bugs if I don’t have to feel like an octopus is trying to prevent me from coming into the house whenever I want to see you.” Not missing a single beat, he wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her into him. “How was your day?”

“I cleaned as well as I could. And I organized everything in storage.” Tanis looked over her shoulder at the dried meat and root vegetables that she would bring into the deep hole she’d already dug to keep them cool. “I like to think they’ll last us through the winter, but I think we might need to smoke more meat if we want to be certain.”

Rowan rolled his eyes. “Always with the work. Stop thinking about all that for a second and look at what I got you.”

As she watched, he tucked his arm behind him and pulled out a rather remarkable find. The little teacup in his hand was made of porcelain. And she remembered it because they had used the set in the castle a long time ago.

Reverently, she held out her hands and waited for him to place the delicate piece in her palms. “Where did you find this?”

“That is a secret.” He kissed her forehead and stepped back, grinning all too widely. “But I thought you’d like it.”

“I do.”

Tanis turned it over in her hands, gripping onto the small handle like she used to when she was a child. But then a flash of pain startled her. The headache bloomed so suddenly between her eyes that she flinched, snapping the handle off the teacup.

Rowan lunged for it and somehow caught the tiny cup before it hit the ground.

Her stomach rolled. Sweat dampened her palms as her mind screamed. The spike of pain wouldn’t go away between her eyes, and she didn’t know why that was until she finally felt it.

“Someone’s here,” she whispered, reaching out a hand to balance herself on the crates. “Someone is here. In the meadow. Go get them.”

“Someone?” Rowan knelt before her and eased her onto the crates to sit. “What are you talking about, Tanis? What is happening?”

“Go get them!” Perhaps she shoved him away from her too hard, but it didn’t matter. This was important, and he wasn’t listening to her when... when...

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