I made my way home with a basket full of unusually large eggs in my right hand, a pail of milk in my left, and a smile on my face.

  Hagmar had warned me to bring the milk to a boil before drinking it. I’d been careful to conceal how this warning amused me. The bacteria in raw milk could be a real concern to mortals, but it was not something a fae needed to worry about. Nor draconians, I was fairly certain. But I planned to follow his instructions, just in case.

  Between my good mood, decent walking pace, and the improved bridge, it didn’t take long for home to come into view. Not for the first time, I felt nothing short of impressed.

  Alys’ house was an appealing sight all on its own, and now a second house was slowly taking form right next to it. Tall obsidian walls prevented me from glimpsing the inside of what I knew to be a mostly completed first floor. The only hints about what was happening in there were occasional gusts of flames that peeked above the walls, struggling to be seen against the dwindling brightness of the sky.

  My chat with the elders and then my visit to the pregnant couple hadn’t taken too much time. It was still barely mid-afternoon. In spite of that, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away from Alys for long.

  I tried to delay a bit by dipping inside to drop off my bounty, but then my feet took me directly to ‘my’ half of our future home. Leaning in the empty door frame, I finally got a good look at my dragoness.

  She was dressed in her usual work outfit, but under the glow of flames and the darkening sky, she looked even more enchanting than usual. Those scales of hers glittered like each was harboring its own inner flame. Her claws moved quickly and dexterously as she worked away at an inner wall, one that would eventually separate the shopfront from the back rooms. The material she was working with gradually cooled as she settled it into uniform shape.

  My dragoness nodded proudly before she suddenly paused and turned around. Her eyes found mine instantly and lit up, bringing another smile to my lips.

  “You’re here early.” She headed my way languidly, tail swaying with each step and wings rustling ever so slightly. “Is everything okay?”

  I did nothing but watch her for a few moments, which seemed to amuse her. Finally, once her snout had quirked up in a small smile, I replied, “I’m perfectly fine. Better than fine. I finished the powder and took it to Nelaeryn and Hagmar.”

  She halted. Then her eyes grew even brighter as she quickly closed the remaining gap between us and pulled me into a hug. I closed my arms around her, relishing the warmth coming off of her in waves and breathing in the aroma that clung to her.

  I had never known before that ‘burned earth’ had a smell. It was a distinct scent I’d only grown familiar with once Alys began working on my half of the house in earnest. I didn’t particularly mind the unusual scent, especially when it came attached to Alys’ hugs.

  “Nelaeryn is safe, then? She won’t get sick while she’s pregnant?”

  When I didn’t answer immediately, my dragoness drew back a little to spear me with a look.

  “Well, she shouldn’t,” I said slowly, wincing a little at the displeasure on Alys’ face. “I won’t lie and say it’s impossible. Highly unlikely, yes. Some very rare and potent mortal diseases might bother her, and magical plagues are a completely different threat. For the most part, though, she and her child should be safe now.”

  Alys took a moment to think that through before nodding with obvious satisfaction. “Good.”

  And that was that. She went right back to hugging me.

  I gently ran a hand over her wings, drawing a small quiver from my dragoness. “You are not upset I disrupted you?”

  “No. I missed you.”

  A spike of regret shot through me. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “You are not going to pull away from me again, are you?” she asked, leaning back a second time to squint at me.

  “No.” I didn’t even try to resist the urge to scoff at myself. “Definitely not.”

  “Good.” She pressed her face into my chest. “What even happened? I could tell something was wrong, but I didn’t want to push.”

  “I…”

  I faltered. I hesitated.

  And then I decided I was through with such foolishness.

  “I was just… scared. That you would find me repulsive, or that I’d do something to hurt you accidentally. I don’t want either to happen. Ever.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Why would I ever find you repulsive, you idiot?”

  “Because… I…”

  I floundered, not because I didn’t want to tell her, but because I was at a loss for how to put it into words. How does one even begin to describe the level of yearning and obsession I had experienced in that moment?

  Somehow, I found the words. My cheeks burned, and I couldn’t meet her eyes, but I pushed through the embarrassment and fear to reveal the heart of what I’d felt that day.

  There was silence after I finished. I was standing there, awaiting judgment, when a loud sigh made my heart shrivel.

  A moment later, her forehead hit my chest. Then again. Then a few more times.

  “Alys? What are you doing?”

  “Considering how dense you are? Hitting my head against a wall,” she snapped.

  I blinked down at her in pure astonishment. “What?”

  “Thorn… I am a draconian.”

  “Yes.” My eyes trailed over her tail, wings, and wonderful iridescent scales. “I am very much aware.”

  “Passion is our thing, you stupid fae. I thought I told you this already. You. Are. Mine. I could swear you confirmed that and said it back? Or am I misremembering things? Doesn’t matter! Why are you feeling so horrible about getting all possessive over one of the most possessive species ever to exist?”

  I understood what she was saying. Even so, the fact that she seemed genuinely upset that I’d been holding back some of my worst impulses was… unexpected, to say the least.

  “You don’t mind?” I ventured.

  “Don’t mind? I would have been thrilled if you’d just told me what you were feeling at the moment, and… wait.” She looked up at me slowly. “Is this why you stopped back then? Oh, it is. And it’s also why you’ve been avoiding me recently?”

  She chortled. It wasn’t a happy sound. For a second, she even looked tempted to singe me a little.

  “Perhaps we should go inside?” I managed, trying to wriggle out of the suddenly iron hold she had on me. “I can prepare a meal for us. Something nice and filling after the day we’ve had.”

  The smile she gave me was sweet as honey and four times as deadly as my Belladonna-issued daggers.

  “You are a sweet, dumb man. If you ever try to ‘protect me’ from yourself again, I will break your spine. You are also never going to ignore me ever again. Got it?”

  I wanted to argue that I hadn’t ignored her, strictly speaking. We’d still cuddled each other to sleep every night. I had cooked for her. We had talked.

  Of course, the excuses fell short when I knew deep down that I’d been running from her for nearly a week. So, I simply nodded.

  “Excellent.” She gave me a rib-crushing squeeze before releasing me and heading towards the basement door. “Now, we’re going downstairs. We are going to draw a bath, and you are going to wash my back and wings.”

  Pausing, she sent me a smirk over her shoulder. “Oh, and Thorn? I don’t mind if your hands wander a little.”

  I followed her, my face trying to combust on the spot.

  —

  According to Alys herself, she was immensely proud of the basement level of my half of the house.

  I could only agree. The obsidian-like material of the walls and floor gleamed pleasantly in the pale blue light of the sconces, which I had filled with a powder solution that burned for months without extinguishing. The sconces only appeared in the areas that weren’t part of my future laboratory. The fumes produced there could interact with the powder in equally interesting and horrible ways, and I didn’t want to take that kind of risk.

  The bathing area, however, was cast in a blue glow and fully usable already.

  Alys had struggled to come up with a drainage solution until she got frustrated and went for the simplest one possible. She dug a ridiculously deep, thin hole, and then crafted a pipe out of the obsidian-like material with tiny holes peppered throughout. When water was poured down the drain, it gradually seeped out through those holes into the surrounding ground, with most of it landing on the bottom to be absorbed there.

  It wasn’t perfect, and Alys grumbled a little about how she’d probably have to breathe fire down the thing occasionally to prevent mold, but it would do.

  This had freed us to transport the bath down to the basement level properly. Alys had placed a precise indent for the tub in the floor, right over the drain. She’d then made an aligned opening in the floor of the tub. There was a stopper there now, made out of some soft, almost spongy wood Alys had treated meticulously against water damage.

  Even more impressively, Alys had begun decorating the bathroom. Wavy lines covered the walls, instantly conjuring images of a sea horizon. They drew the eye to trace over them until it landed naturally on carved figures of various water-based monsters. She had even asked me for inspiration. I’d been more than happy to share stories and little details about such creatures I remembered from my training.

  I’d simply neglected to mention that the main point of said training was to learn about the useful alchemical ingredients you could extract from the creatures.

  I gazed at these carvings as we gathered by the bathtub, hoping they would distract me from my nerves about the current situation.

  It was not working.

  Certainly, we were ‘dressed’ in towels, which preserved most of our modesty. But as my dragoness perched on the tub’s rim and looked back at me with a teasing smirk, pressing a towel against her front and having gently laid the ends of it over her hips, there was still far too much on display.

  Her curves were peeking out from the sides. I was studiously ignoring the fact that I’d eventually need to look below her waist if I wanted to wash the ends of her wings properly. She’d also not mentioned her tail explicitly, but she wanted me to wash her back, and it was part of that package, and…

  Clearing my throat, I focused on running the lathered sponge over the places where her wings met her shoulders. This was safe enough, though my fingers still brushed over her scales regularly.

  That shouldn’t have been enough to fluster me. I had run my fingers over her wings and tail plenty of times. Never once had it made my heartbeat echo this thunderously in my ears.

  It was about the atmosphere she had set up, I supposed. The situation felt delightfully playful and far too charged, all at once. And the smug amusement in her expression didn’t help matters at all.

  Then there was the way her attention prickled away at my skin, almost threatening to ignite me. That’s why I was doing my best to avoid those golden orbs of hers. If I let myself look too deeply into her eyes, I wasn’t sure what would happen, or if I was ready for it.

  Or ready for the consequences, perhaps? I didn’t know. But it seemed like Alys was intent on forcing me to find out.

  “Hurry up, will you?” She wriggled a little on the edge of the bath. “The sooner you’re done, the sooner I can return the favor.”

  I swallowed thickly. Some kind of noise must have escaped me, or I made some kind of face, because Alys’ grin grew pointedly toothier.