“How would that make me feel comfortable? In what universe would that make me feel comfortable?”
“You can see my scars.”
“I don’t want to see your scars!”
“There’s no shame in scars. The more scars you have, the more respect you get from the Cadwaladrs.”
“Addolgar—” she began, but her words were cut off when his chain-mail shirt hit her in the face.
“Dammit!” she barked, yanking the shirt off and tossing it to the floor. But before she could get her bearings, Addolgar’s leggings swiftly followed. They were heavier and nearly knocked her on her ass, but she managed to keep her balance and toss them away too.
“See?” he asked when she looked up at him. “I’m just like you.”
Braith could only shake her head and reply, “You have to be the biggest idiot, I’ve
Confused, he looked down at himself, then back at her. “What?” Addolgar asked. “Is it me thighs?” He cringed a bit. “They’re too big for the rest of me, ain’t they?”
Unable to look at him a moment longer, Braith buried her head into the fur covering and sighed, long and deep.
The biggest idiot . . .
Addolgar knelt on the other side of the bed and studied the top of Braith’s head. All that thick, blue hair spread around her, covering her arms, and reaching to the floor. He couldn’t help himself—his fingers were running through it before he even realized it.
That’s when Braith’s head slowly came up. He didn’t quite understand the look on her face. Was she angry? Insulted? Disgusted? He didn’t know her well enough to know what she was thinking at the moment. So Addolgar did what he always did in these situations. He asked.
“I can’t tell. Are you pissed? Or just appalled?”
“Confused,” she said softly, her expression unchanging.
“Confused about what?”
“Why did you touch me? To be kind?”
“Kind?” He thought about that word for a moment before admitting, “Braith, I’m not kind.”
“You’ve been kind to me.”
“I like you.”
“Me? I thought royals like Lady Katarina were more to your taste, Addolgar.”
They usually were. But there was just something about Braith. . . .
Addolgar took a risk and reached his hand over again, gently pushing stray blue hairs out of her eyes. “The more time I spend with you, Braith, the more I like you.”
“I’m not really likeable.”
“Who told you that?”
She shrugged. “Everyone. But I don’t need anyone to feel sorry for me about that.”
“Braith, no one as strong as you gets anyone’s pity. And you certainly don’t have mine.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m drawn to you, Braith of the Darkness. You make my scales itch.”
Her eyes grew wide. She no longer had that hard-to-read expression; instead she just looked overwhelmed. “
“There’s just something about you.” He placed his hands on the bed, then pulled them closer so that she wouldn’t feel threatened. “But that’s just how I feel. You don’t have to feel the same way. I know what I am.”
“What you are?”
“A Cadwaladr. For some we’re a challenge. For others, we’re to be avoided like the plague. I understand both sides.”
“I envy you your family, Addolgar. Their loyalty to each other is something to be cherished.”
“I do. But I also understand how we must appear to outsiders.”
“None of that means anything to me,” she said.
“I know. You’re all about honor and loyalty.”
“It’s how my mother taught me. It meant the world to her and it means the world to me.” She ran her hand through her hair and Addolgar had to bury his fingers in the fur covering so that he didn’t do the same. “I keep thinking about what she’d tell me. Right now. She was a direct dragoness. Not like most royals at all.”
“And what would she tell you?”
“I think she’d tell me to remember my bloodline. My
Her head dropped forward and then Braith was pushing herself away from the bed and easily getting to her feet. She stepped back and, with a deep breath, she used both hands to push her hair off her face and behind her back.
Braith stood there, her gaze on Addolgar’s—and that’s when he understood what this was. What she was risking. For him.
Dragons were never more vulnerable than when they were human, except when they first hatched. Humans had no scales, no claws, no spiked tail, no flame. All they had were their ability to run fast, their interesting human form, and their devious minds. Otherwise, they were as weak and frail as rabbits.
Yet here Braith was, at her most vulnerable, and she was leaving herself open—for him.
Addolgar stood, ready to move to her side, to take her gently in his arms and softly tell her how beautiful she was and—
“Oooof !” he barely managed as Braith suddenly ran over the bed and threw herself into Addolgar’s arms.
“Too eager?” she asked, grimacing as he quickly tightened his arms around her so that she didn’t fall to the floor. Then again, the way she had her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders, she could probably just keep herself up there without his help.
“I like eager,” he admitted.
“I just . . . it’s just . . .” She gazed down at him, and Addolgar didn’t know exactly what to make of this current expression.
“Braith, it’s okay if—”
That’s when she kissed him. Hard. Her arms moving to his neck and wrapping tight, her lips against his, her tongue pressing into his mouth.
It startled Addolgar at first. He usually had to work harder than this. Much harder. Unlike his father, he didn’t have females throwing themselves at him. And yet . . . that’s exactly what Braith had done. She’d thrown all the usual centaur shit away, all the promises and lies and ridiculousness, and she’d just . . . given herself to him. Freely. And with hunger.
Making him perhaps the happiest dragon in the land.
Chapter 12
Addolgar walked them over to the bed, turned, and dropped back against it, Braith still wrapped around him like a shameless snake.
But she couldn’t help herself. He was so handsome and charming and a tad goofy that she couldn’t resist him just standing there . . . naked. Wonderfully, wonderfully naked.
She’d never really found human bodies interesting one way or the other—until she’d seen Addolgar as human. Human and naked. He should always be naked. Just running around naked. Naked, naked, naked!
And now she had that perfect human
