Chapter 18 #2
He lifted a book and nonchalantly inspected the cover, twisting it one way and then the other. “Moral excellence, honour, elegance. Such things would also be deemed noble. Status can have little to do with it.”
Carwyn opened her mouth to refute him, only to clamp it shut with a puzzled cringe. Is he calling me those things or merely explaining the difference? Sometimes he was impossible to understand.
Still, she bounced in place with a whining groan before stamping her foot. “Cease with the gifts, dragon.”
“Kier,” he corrected once more. He lifted the book over his shoulder with a sigh and a roll of his head. “Why?”
Because it feels like the strangest form of courtship! she wanted to yell. Because she had a deep understanding that male dragons only did this with a female they wished to woo in mateship.
And it was confusing her.
He’d apologised enough through his actions and had amended his earlier callousness. One dress, the cloak, and the chaise in this very room sufficed. But five dresses? Two pairs of shoes? A random table and chair that appeared one evening while she was eating?
It was all too much!
What use did she have for a chair and table anyway when she intended to leave? There was no need to furnish a room she was only temporarily staying in.
“Kier,” she gritted out, refusing to share the truth of her thoughts.
He wasn’t courting her. He’d likely be disgusted if she even insinuated it, and she didn’t want him to be a prickly thorn.
“Fine. What would be deemed a better gift then, if not garments?” He slid the book he was holding onto the shelf with a clawed finger and turned to her with his arms folded.
So he has no intention of ceasing. How bothersome.
Giving up, she slapped her hands down on the sides of her thighs in frustration. “Something practical then?”
Not something she’d wear or that was high in value. Not something... tender, which was what a man who truly wished to gain her affection would give her.
Carwyn thought she could be swayed by gifts. Grand gestures and soft, sweet words. They’d already worked, had already charmed. She was a woman who wanted to be shown she was cared for and worth something, even if it was a mere wildflower picked and offered because someone thought of her.
She was easy to please.
“Practical?” He cocked a spiked brow. “Are the chair and table not practical?”
“I’m not a noble! I don’t need something that appears to be carved for a princess.”
He hummed a chuckle as he looked away coyly. “So no four-poster bed, then?”
Heat drained from her face. “You better not!”
He unfolded an arm to wave it up and down dismissively. “I own no such thing – hence the pillow and furs. Beds are for those who sleep like humans.”
Tired of his antics, Carwyn lifted her head superiorly. “If you bring me another gift, I’ll burn it.”
His face morphed into a menacing growl, and his wings pulled in tight. His pupils retracted into thin slits. “Don’t burn my hoard.”
She lifted her chin even higher. “It’s no longer part of your hoard if you give it to me. Then I’d be allowed to do what I wish with it.”
His growl deepened until it gave her the most exhilarating rush. One that left goosebumps in its wake and made her nipples pearl. She’d be horrified over that fact if she wasn’t too busy staring him down.
With a snorting, aggravated huff, he lowered onto all fours. “Fine. What would be suitable then? What would make you content? Pleased?”
She wanted to throw her hands up in a tantrum because she didn’t understand why he wanted that for her! But she did ponder the idea. What would make her content? Other than her freedom, of course.
Her lips quirked. “A bath.”
His head shot back. “You want me to bathe you?”
Carwyn choked as her face flared with such intense heat, she feared the ends of her curls would catch fire. “No! You silly dragon!”
Gosh, her heart raced at the idea of his clawed hands running over her bare, naked skin with delight. Just the mere idea of being touched so thoroughly for the first time without being sickened or consumed by another person’s emotions lit a fire in her belly.
Desire pooled between her thighs too swiftly, and she took a step back when she thought his pupils may have dilated a little. Surely he couldn’t scent her sudden arousal from all the way over there, right?
“I-I mean some form of tub,” she answered shakily. “Something I can fill with warm water and lie in.”
She’d kill for a proper bath. Something that wasn’t the cloth and cold water she wiped down her body with.
“I don’t have such a thing in my collection.”
“Then I want nothing.”
With a harrumph, Carwyn feigned annoyance by crossing her arms over her chest to hide her peaked nipples.
It was hard to deny that she was attracted to him. To the possibilities he presented. Okay, so all his actions had allowed an odd tenderness to grow within her. Foolish on her part.
But the deeper she dived into Selene’s mind and saw who he was beneath all the anger and hurt, the more it softened her to him.
The more he showed her only kindness, the more she found his companionship...
enjoyable. Pleasant. The gifts, the care, the silent support against her back.
The way he’d brought her into his side by his tail and they’d watched a beautiful sunset together.
The way he held her when she’d been freezing for far too long so she could bask in the balm of his heated body.
He knew I lied. It would’ve been impossible not to, since she’d stopped shivering. Yet, rather than pull away, he’d... put his arms around her middle and embraced her, deepening his hold.
And she’d adored it.
Warm fuzziness had come to flutter in her chest until she’d fallen asleep in his arms, like she’d always wanted to with another.
She would’ve preferred to do it naked, so she could’ve felt his scales everywhere they’d touched.
Felt his warmth with no barrier, so it could’ve soaked into every fibre of her being.
Her breasts had pressed firmly against him while her thighs had cradled a scaled leg that she knew would have both abraded and soothed her bare skin.
Would he be enraged if he learned I desire him a little? For the wrong reasons – and the right ones?
Somehow, in the back of her mind, she didn’t think so. Perhaps he’d be annoyed or confused, but she didn’t think he’d be angry.
No matter. So long as I keep my desire and scent under control, he doesn’t need to know of it. She’d just increase the amount of soap she used for her skin and clothing to ensure the scent of her possible future arousal got lost to the rest.
Once I complete my journey, it won’t matter anyway.
She’d finally get what she wanted, and she wouldn’t need someone covered in scales to give it to her.
Since he seemed to be mulling too hard, Carwyn rolled her eyes and turned to leave, wanting to escape him possibly smelling her.
“No more gifts,” she reiterated.
“Wait,” he called.
She put on a grand show of sighing as she turned back around. “Yes?”
Kier looked off to the side as his arrowhead tail tip tapped pensively against the ground. “I cannot offer you a tub, but I have something else that should be suitable.”
Her brows came together. “Like what?”
Dread crawled through her when he walked towards her, and she attempted to match him step for step. Her backwards retreat couldn’t keep up with his longer, quicker strides, and he’d shrunk the distance between them by the time he made it to the entryway.
“It would be best if I show you.”