Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
That is a fate I’m willing to do anything to oversee.
—Roland
I crumpled the letter into a tiny ball. He couldn’t even face me in battle as an honorable berserker. Just worked behind my back. An ash-born coward.
But the worst part? Losing Commander Hoffmann.
“What else?” I croaked. “You said for starters. So what is next?”
She darted her gaze. “Only that we’ve now gathered all the ingredients, so Emma can start the mixing process.”
“What’s the problem?”
“Well…” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “The potion kinda needs to steep for, like, seven days,” Adelaide admitted and winced. “Oops?”
“Seven?” I blurted, staring in shock. Seven days with Taron. In my world, my home. As my friend. “But I thought—”
“Yeah. My bad.” She spread her arms, all it is what it is. “I failed to read the full recipe.”
Taron muttered something under his breath and rubbed his chest, right over his bond-scorched heart. “I took a leave of absence from work and didn’t specify a time for my return.”
So. The professor would be my guest. Probably sleeping in my room. I would assign guards to him, but if I knew him, and I was beginning to think I did, he would give them the slip and go wherever he wished. I licked my lips. “Make the announcement,” I instructed Adelaide. “Touch him, and heads roll.”
“I can handle myself,” he answered with a frown.
“I know.” Wait. “Did you think I doubted your strength?” I rolled my eyes. “As if I am so foolish. If anyone touches you, you’ll take their head as a trophy, and I’ll have to punish you or face revolt.”
He blinked in surprise. Then he smiled, suddenly sheepish, basking in my praise, like he valued my opinion. I almost couldn’t stop myself from flying into his arms.
“I’ll behave,” he promised.
“Thank you.”
“Ugh. Please wait till I’m gone to continue whatever kind of banter this is,” Adelaide muttered, waving a hand between us. As I pursed my lips at her, she patted herself on the back. “By the way. We found and destroyed Lorik’s rift. You’re welcome.”
Hmm. So quickly? So easily?
“That was quick,” Taron said with a frown, mirroring my thoughts. “Too quick. I bet he has at least one other.”
Yeah. I bet so too. “And that’s not all.” I told my sister about Nyla being with Cedric.
She cringed. “Ja. I intended to get to that. I fought her while she was springing him. But I’m fine now. All healed up.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Just…send out another search party and find any other rifts before Cedric and Nyla escape this realm.” What was their end goal? My death? Total takeover? “As for the traitors and Lorik, I want their heads on a platter.”
My focus slid to Taron and arched a brow. “Seven days.”
He nodded. “Seven days.” He didn’t exactly appear upset by the delay.
Seven days to spend together and resist the attraction blazing between us.
Though a heady mix of anticipation, dread and excitement rushed through me, I stated, “I can do it. Can you?”
“Baby, I’ll still be standing tall when you fall.”
A slow smile bloomed. “Challenge accepted.”
Chapter
Fifteen
End every adventure with laughter. And a souvenir.
-Humaning for Beginners: A Dragon’s Tale of Human Management
DAY ONE
Isquared off with Taron.
As reluctant seven-day roommates who absolutely would not, under any circumstances, become romantic, we’d come upon our first battlefield challenge: dinner. A long, dark wood table stretched before us, burdened by a feast fit for a royal celebration—or a final meal before execution. Roast pheasant glazed in honey and thyme beside buttered root vegetables, blackened trout with lemon slices, wild rice wrapped in grape leaves, crusty bread still warm from the oven, and a decanter of spiced plum wine that glowed like liquid garnets in the candlelight.
Fall for him while he remained unfazed by his attraction to me? Hardly. Let the games begin. “I’m ravenous,” I purred at him. “So hungry I could eat a human.”
“Someone is playing with fire,” he said, gripping the back of his chair with both hands. His glimmering gaze swept over me, leaving a slow burn in their wake. “That dress should be illegal.”
I’d decided to make things interesting. My gown was silk and dreams, a deep rose gold beauty that clung to every curve and shimmered with a faint metallic sheen. It dipped low in the back and barely contained me in the front, with a high slit running up one thigh. And don’t even get me started on my jewelry, each piece selected for maximum luring. Dangerous attire, considering our objective––resisting the attraction blazing between us. But then again, he had issued a challenge, and I did accept.
“You are illegal,” I told him, loving and hating how annoyingly gorgeous he looked. More so surrounded by the opulence of the dining room. A vaulted ceiling soared overhead, etched with faded frescoes of dragons and newborn stars. Gilded candelabras glowed romantically, their flames swaying in rhythm with an unseen breeze. The walls were clad in rosestone veined with gold, and a massive hearth blazed at one end, casting flickering light over every powerful inch of him. “But hot enough to be worth the jail time,” I added, blowing him a kiss.