Page 42 of Rurik
“Most of the time?” He quirked abrow.
“Yeah, mostly. Sometimes you slip and say something adorably old-fashioned.”
“I’m not old fashioned.” He shook his head, and she grinned athim.
“Yeah you are, like when you call me ‘delicate flower’ or ‘littlerose.’”
“I call you ‘flower’ and ‘rose’ because of your scent.” He nuzzled her neck, chuckling before he took a playful nip of hershoulder.
“My scent?” She wrinkled her nose, and then she lifted her forearm to her nose and inhaled. “I don’t have a scent, except for my body wash from the shower.” She sniffed again, and he couldn’t help but laugh. She had no idea what he could smell. And then shetensed.
“What?” he asked, his eyesserious.
“The lab…I stole a dragon pheromone the Brotherhood had been synthesizing. I wore it whenever we were together, but it’s washed offnow.”
“Synthesized pheromones?” Rurik rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. “Why would you want to createthat?”
“I figured it would get you to relax around me. None of the hunters who tried to contact you got very far because you sensed something was off around them. I thought it might help get you to trustme.”
Rurik rubbed her back, thoughtful. “That first night you did smell…wonderful.” He tilted his head. “That could explain why Grigori told me he found your scent irresistible. Interesting, but also concerning.” He leaned in and brushed the tip of his nose along her throat, inhaling deeply. “But I don’t smell it now. And you still smell wonderful, but it’s more…natural. Before, the scent was overpowering. It made me a little crazy. Now when I breathe in your aroma, it makes my dragon purr rather thanpace.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” She loved the way he spoke to her now, gentle andlow.
“Oh yes. Your natural scent is layered beneath those you use from day to day, perfume, shampoo, and so on. It stands out to me. In time I will be able to track you across great distances,” he explained. “Our dragon abilities give us some advantages, even while we aremortal.”
She eyed him in a critical and assessing manner, the look of someone who liked puzzles and challenges. “What kind of advantages?” It was the way he expected a scientist with a thirst for knowledge and natural curiosity would look athim.
“Well, we have an excellent sense of smell, eyes like an eagle, the ability to create and manipulate fire, and mesmerizing, ofcourse.”
“Wait, fire? I know you guys can breathe fire like in the movies, but what do you mean create and manipulate? How does that work? Do you have gas stores somewhere?” Her intense scrutiny and flurry of questions made himlaugh.
“Fire for us isn’t about storing gases, but the manipulation of energy. You would call it magic, but it’s the most basic kind. After all, fire is just very excited molecules.” Rurik snapped his fingers. A small red flame burst from his fingertips. He opened his hand, and the flame hovered an inch above his palm, flickeringslightly.
Charlotte started to reach out, but before her fingers could touch it, he curled his fingers into a fist, extinguishing theflame.
“That’samazing.”
“It has its uses,” he replied, but he remembered all too well that those uses could be for dark and bloody ends. Just then he realized the long-standing mistrust between his kind and the Brotherhood wasn’t one-sided. The power they wielded was unlike anything normal humans could comprehend. Of course they feared it. They always would, unless they understoodit.
They were silent a moment, simply holding on to each other before Charlotte spokeagain.
“Rurik, how did you get that scar?” She reached up to trace the line from his brow down to hischeek.
“That is a very long story,” he said. “But if you want to hear it, I suggest we go to the Catherine Palace. I can showyou.”
“The Catherine Palace? Not the WinterPalace?”
“I have more of a personal history there than with the Winter Palace. My brother Grigori spent much time with the Romanovs in the early twentieth century. I was more involved with Russian royalty in the eighteenth. Much of court life was centered around the Catherine Palacethen.”
She sat up on the bed as she looked around for her socks and boots. “So you spent time around theczars?”
He watched her, wondering how his next words would affecther.
“You could say that. I was once Catherine the Great’s secretlover.”
Charlotte whirled to face him. “What?” She gaped at him. “Seriously?”
“The Russian court joked that none but a stallion could satisfy Catherine in bed, but the truth was, she needed a dragon. Her husband was a child who played only with toys and never came to her bed. She was lonely and in a marriage without love, and I saw her for what she was: a woman ahead of her time. I adore intelligent women.” He flashed a little wickedsmile.
