Page 144 of Between Soul and Vessel
“It is not a bad thing to have refined tastes, Little Mortal—”
“Sage,” she corrected, just as she had done hundreds of times before.
I smirked. Oh no, if she was going to sit across from me and eat fish every night—something I detested—she could have a taste of her own medicine. “I think I’ll stick with Little Mortal.”
She rolled her eyes, took another bite, chewed, swallowed, then said, “Speaking of names, we’ve been stuck down here for months, and I still don’t know yours.”
“Ah, you mean you’ve finally come to the conclusion it’s notBastard?”
She gave me a smug look. “I didn’t say that.”
Coy little creature.
I opened my mouth to give her my name, but something in me paused—perhaps it was the way people seemed to cower from me once I told them who I was. The stories attached to my name, although not always true, were horrible.
So naturally, people feared me.
I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want her to fear me too.
So, I didn’t tell her my name was Nockrythiam. Instead, I said, “Von.”
“Von,” she said, tasting the name on her tongue. “Is that short for something?”
“Draevon.”
“And of the two, which do you prefer?” she asked, her sky-blue eyes meeting my black ones.
“No preference.”
“Then I’ll call you Von.”
The corners of my mouth lifted. “Von it is.”
She giggled. “You are smiling like an idiot.”
My expression snapped back into its normal scowling state. “I am not.”
“You were,” she teased, smiling back at me like the little brat she was. So proud of herself. She dropped her voice an octave, feigning seriousness. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell the other scary dragons you are a big softie.”
I rolled my eyes.
She giggled some more then tossed a piece of fish at me. It landed beside my boot.
I eyed it, then her, quirking one brow. “Are you throwing food at me?”
“I would never,” she lied.
“You just did.” I flicked my eyes to the chunk of fish.
She tried not to smile. “How odd. How did that get there?”
“You’re impossible.” I cursed my destiny for leading me here into this hole, where I was stuck with a woman who had the mind of a child. A woman I was starting to care for. No. Nope. I was not catching feelings for her. Mortal lifetimes were brief, and I had no desireto fall for a woman who’d only get to spend a few short years with me.
I needed to put some distance between us—both figuratively and literally.
Boots shifting, muscles contracting, I got up.
“Where are you going?” she asked, standing as well.
