“It’s so sweet of you to ask that like it’s not possible…even after meeting my kin.”

“Now the bigger issue—”

“There’s a bigger issue than your insanity?” Ragnar demanded, wondering what this female was thinking.

“Surprisingly—yes! And that bigger issue, of course, is what are we going to do with you?”

“Pardon?”

“Well, in the past when Ren and I—”

“Yes. Your perfect Ren. How could I forget him?”

“That sounded an awful lot like sarcasm, but I’m choosing to ignore it. Now, I’ve thought about this all the way from Devenallt Mountain. And we need a good, solid reason for you to be around me. You can’t just follow me like a puppy. So, after some thought, I think the best idea is for us to be lovers.” She smiled. “Isn’t that a lovely idea?” Gods! This female!

“What?”

She had the nerve to look insulted. “You don’t have to look so panicked. We can just fake it if it makes you more comfortable.”

“I’m not panicked—I’m trying to keep up.” He scratched his head as it dawned on him that she hadn’t said they would pretend to be lovers, which meant what exactly? “Do you want to be lovers?”

“Sure. Why not? You know, while we’re here.” She was truly trying to drive him into drinking every day until he blacked out, wasn’t she?

“It’s kind of a ‘two mountains, one boulder’ sort of thing,” she explained. “It will give us something fun to do while waiting to stop a war that may devastate our entire continent.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And,” she continued, smile widening, “everyone will be disgusted that I’m willing to lower myself to actually bed a barbarian lightning breather. A definite win-win, wouldn’t you say?”

“How is that a win-win?”

“They’ll all assume I’m doing it to torment my mother, not realizing my mother could give a blessed shit, which will draw the traitors out sooner rather than later. See? It’s brilliant.”

Ragnar began to rub his temples with one hand. “Let’s try this again.

Do you want to be with me?”

“You mean actually f**k you?”

Ale. He needed ale so badly right now. “Sure. Why not?” Keita leaned back and studied him. “Aye. I think I’d enjoy f**king you.” Her eyes narrowed. “Is there something wrong with your chest?” Ragnar slammed his hand down, and Keita leaned farther away. “You don’t have scale fungus, do you?”

“I do not have scale fungus! If you want the truth, this is your fault!”

“My fault?”

“You stabbed me, and this damn thing hasn’t healed in two years. Did you use a poison on your tail?”

“Of course I di—” Keita abruptly stopped talking, her hand covering her mouth.

“You did, didn’t you? ” Ragnar bellowed. “ You did bloody poison me! ”

“It shouldn’t have lasted this long,” she argued while not trying very hard not to laugh. “I just rubbed it against an iustig plant before I—”

“Assaulted me?”

“If you want to be literal. But the itching should have stopped ages ago.”

“Well, it didn’t. Dammit, Keita! I thought I was losing my bloody mind.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Like hell you are.”

“No. Honestly. I am sorry.”

Ragnar shook his head. “Maybe we should talk about this later.”

“No, no.” Keita crawled into his lap, facing him, and pressed her hand against the scar. There was a shirt between her flesh and his, but he only felt Keita. “I am sorry, and I can get you an antidote.” He grunted, looking off.

“Don’t be angry with me now—we were just getting along. For once.” He still said nothing, and that’s when she asked, “Have you ever kissed as human?”

Was it possible for her to stay on one topic at a time? He didn’t think so.

“Once or twice.”

He’d been joking when he replied, but she winced, just a little. It was enough.

“Are you any good?”

“As a matter of fact—”

She raised her hand, cutting him off. “That’s all right. It’s not a large issue.”

She settled against Ragnar’s waist, her knees on either side of him. “I love kissing as human,” she explained. “I love f**king as human, too. Hope that won’t be a problem for you.” He again didn’t reply, not knowing what to think of any of this. “And the most important thing to remember is not to choke me to death with your tongue.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Although he was sure he would have sounded much ruder if he wasn’t panting just a little. But damn her, she was naked under that gown. He’d forgotten.

“Good.”

Keita closed the gap between them and pressed her mouth against his.

Small kisses at first, nothing rushed or too forceful. It surprised him how innocent those first few kisses felt. Taking his supposed “inexperience” to heart, she didn’t push him, simply continued with those small kisses, lengthening them by degrees. As each kiss grew in intensity, the damn itching of the scar she’d given him flared to life again. He clenched his hands into fists to stop himself from scratching the area until there was blood.