He relit the dead pitfire with a blast of flame. “What do you think?” Absently he lifted his head and sniffed the air. He smiled. “Stay here.”

Then he was up and disappearing into the forest.

With a shake of her head, she grabbed her discarded nightdress—struggling hard not to imagine him slipping it off her body while she slept—and tugged it back on.

Forcing herself up and moving, Talaith put more wood and twigs on the pitfire. She could be wrong, but she wondered if those really were screams and war cries she heard off in the distance. She couldn’t be sure, so she decided not to worry about it since the sound never came closer.

Eventually the dragon returned. He had a large satchel over his shoulder and a beautiful black dress in his hand.

“Here. See if this fits. I can’t stand you in that hideous nightdress anymore.”

She glanced down at herself. “Besides the dirt—which I blame on you—what exactly is wrong with it?”

“It’s dull and plain and boring. All the things you are not. So take it off and put this on. At least this will keep you warmer until we can get you better clothes.”

Talaith took the dress from him. Made of the finest wool, she’d guess it cost more gold than all her dresses put together. Still, her rescuer had no pockets whether dragon or man, so where did he get this from?

“Where did you find this dress?”

He pointed back where he’d come from. “Caravan on the road.”

Talaith shuddered. Now she knew those screams had been all too real. “Are you telling me you killed the girl whose dress this is?”

“No. That’s not what I’m telling you. She ran away screaming. As did her rather plump handmaidens. The soldiers with her, though—”

She held her hand up. “Please don’t.”

“Don’t feel bad for them. They’re enemies of my brother’s mate…I think. Maybe. Anyway, it was like two birds…one stone.”

When she only stared at him, he held up the satchel. “Hurry and get changed so you can eat. They had bread and cheese.”

Sighing, Talaith placed the dress down carefully and proceeded to turn her back to the dragon and remove her nightdress. Once naked, she quickly scooped the dress back up and hastily put it on, knowing the dragon watched her every move.

She tied the bodice and turned to face the dragon. “Well?”

He smiled warmly. And for the first time ever, Talaith felt beautiful. “Much better.”

She reached for the nightdress, intent on washing it as soon as she could manage, but a small blast of fire beat her to it, destroying the garment in seconds.

She looked at the dragon, one eyebrow raised. “Was that really necessary?”

He shrugged. “I really hated that nightdress.”

“I think I’m grasping that.”

* * *

She was hungry. That’s what she said. Even after the bread and cheese. So, a few hours into their flight, he landed in a clearing and now they walked through the forest toward a town so they could get her food. And the entire time she kept talking. Constantly.

Mostly it was complaining. But some of it was observations about everything. Constantly.

“Shouldn’t you be living in a cave somewhere, waiting for virgins to be thrown at your feet or something?”

“Well, I—”

“I mean, exactly how long are we going to keep this lunacy going?”

“Look, I—”

“Did you ever consider how I might feel about all this? No. Wait. Don’t bother answering that one. I can well imagine your feelings on what us lowly humans think.”

She looked at him over her shoulder. “Well? Aren’t you going to say something?”

When he only laughed at her, she stomped away muttering to herself.

“Don’t be mad,” he called after her. She stopped walking and turned to face him. “I’m just not used to so much…uh…conversation.”

Her eyes narrowed. By the moment, she seemed to become less and less fearful of his dragonform. Shame he couldn’t say the same about when he was human. “Are you saying I talk too much?”

“You don’t think you talk too much?” He sauntered up to her, enjoying the view of her in her lovely new dress. Although nothing could quite beat how beautiful she was naked. Slipping that horrid nightdress off her the previous eve had made all he’d had to endure since taking her quite worth it. “Not that I don’t enjoy the sound of your voice.”

That surprised her. “You do?”

“Aye.” He circled her, his tail sweeping in front of her. “You’re beautiful. Intelligent. A little mean.”

“I am not!”

“And clearly hiding something.”

Her body tensed at that, but she didn’t say anything. He slid his tail gently around her legs, enjoying the little shiver he caused her. “Aren’t you? Hiding something?”

“If I was, do you actually think I’d tell you?”

“Fair point. Still…” He dragged his tail up her legs and across her ass.

She gave a little squeal and slapped at it. “Stop doing that!”

“You’re much too smart and well-spoken to be some mere peasant. You say you can read and write. Therefore, definitely not peasant stock. You’re from Alsandair, yet you have no family close by. I’ve never met a female from the desert lands who traveled this far north without another female or their kin. Add in that Magick—untapped, mind you—just pours off your body like rainwater and you make me think that perhaps you hide something.”