Page 57 of Guardian's Dilemma

I hadn’t meant to jump. I just hadn’t been with someone who would kiss me goodbye before. And it had never entered my head that a dragon would do something like that.

If I’m honest, I hadn’t thought about it much at all. The only vague idea I had of the sort of future I could have with a dragon was one of fighting and fucking. Physical challenge and pleasure. Kissing me sweetly goodbye had literally never occurred to me.

Dwelling on that, I did a circuit of the cottage and put up more of my own protections. Just in case anyone wandered past. Just in case Glimmer’s Somerville clan decided to patrol the area after the attack. In case thatcuraidhdragon came back. Just… in case.

I went inside and eventually settled into bed. Sleep was a long time coming to me and I woke in the early hours of the morning with a start. For a second, I didn’t know where I was or what had woken me. Then I felt the warmth of Glimmer’s magic and realised that it had broken through my protections.

I heard his voice outside the bedroom.

“It’s me. I’m just here to see if you’re ok.”

“I’m fine,” I said.

“I’ll stay a while, of that’s ok.”

“That’s fine.”

I should probably have sent him away. Or invited him into the bedroom. I did neither. Instead, I heard him walk down the stairs and settle onto the sofa, and I lay awake in the bed, imagining him lying awake one floor below me.

When it became apparent that I wouldn’t get back to sleep again any time soon, I stood up and went downstairs.

Glimmer sat up as soon as I approached. He wasn’t getting much sleep, either.

“Nobody noticed you were missing?”

“No.”

He scooted over, making room for me beside him on the sofa.

I figured I may as well ask, since he was here.

“Do you know anything about acuraidhdragon in the village?”

“Yes.”

I raised my eyebrows. This time, he didn’t crumble. “Well? Who is it?”

“They’re not my clan. I told you; Somerville would never have acuraidhin his clan.”

“You knew they were there?”

“Yes.”

I waited but that was all I got.

I stood up. “Forget it.”

He stood just as quickly, putting his lean body into my personal space. He was wearing only boxer shorts and the golden necklace that had been around his neck since I’d met him. The one he went back for.

Even in the darkness of the cottage, I could see the outline of his body in the moonlight that made it through the windows, and the glint of the gold against his pale chest.

“Kingsley? What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I shouldn’t have expected anything different. I’m going back to bed.”

I stomped off, hearing my own footsteps on the stairs and telling myself that I was behaving like a child but totally unable to stop. I didn’t even know what I was so upset about.

A little voice at the back of my mind called me a liar.

---