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She cast him a glance when she placed a log into the fire. Then she sat exactly where she’d been before.

The lingering growl evolved into his purr once more. When his tail curled around her, it slid her just a little closer to him until she was pressed completely against the folded thick limb. His entire body seemed to vibrate with the noise, tingling her senses and somehow softening her muscles.

The bass of it, how content it sounded, had her melting a little. Big and scary things shouldn’t purr so easily, and it made him come across as caring in the strangest of ways. It also showed that he liked her presence, and she already surmised she didn’t mind his.

The more time she spent with him, the easier it was to lower her guard. And not once, even when she began to eat the food he offered, was that trust violated. He just sat with her.

She did notice that his body would clench and ripple everywhere except for where she was pressed. His muscles against her remained lax, and she ended up letting out a small laugh.

“I thought you wanted to hold me, but you were really just stealing my warmth, weren’t you?” It made what he was doing less sweet.

He answered her with a snorted huff. She peeked at him, and he shook his head.

She lifted her chin, while trying to keep her small smile of playfulness from curling her mouth. When she almost lost that war, she covered it with the tips of her fingers and tapped her lips.

“Excuse me, but I do remember a certain snake Duskwalker using me as a living heat source just the other day.”

To her surprise, Nathair opened his maw. Then he closed it, only to open again, while he wiggled his head side to side.

“Are you mocking me?” she asked, her eyelids lowering in feigned annoyance.

It almost looked like he was doing what humans do when mocking each other by opening and closing their hands like a mouth! So, she placed down her nearly eaten fish, lifted her hand, and did just that. She flapped it, then opened it in his direction while doing a hiss.

He paused before coming closer to sniff at her fingers.I must admit, the shape is similar to his skull.Her whole arm kind of looked snake-like.

His breath is remarkably warm.She hadn’t expected to feel any heat from him, considering he was a snake. She expected him to be cold-blooded, but perhaps he was actually lukewarm-blooded instead.I guess he’s not completely reptilian, then.

The heat drained from her horrified face when Nathair closed his maw around her entire hand. He didn’t bite down, didn’thurt her, but a shiver of trepidation raced down her spine when his forked tongue licked against her palm.

My hand is in a Duskwalker’s mouth!She didn’t know whether to scream, grab his tongue and yank on it, or faint. She didn’t dare pull away in case she ended up hurting herself.

Thankfully she couldn’t feel the fangs she’d seen him sink into one of the bandits. As she trembled, her eyes wide, a chuckle radiated from his throat. He pulled back slowly until her hand popped out of his mouth.

Linh spread her fingers when she discovered copious amounts of saliva. It was clear and clung to itself, and her lips twisted in disgust.

“Yuck!” Just as she was about to wipe her hand clean on her clothes, she leaned forward and swiped it back and forth against his scales. “Here. Take back your drool.”

Nathair’s chuckles deepened. He pinched her wrist gently and shoved her wet hand against her face.

“Ewww!” she squealed even louder, rolling onto her back as she wiped at her face with the backs of her arms.

Her cheeks flushed in both embarrassment and annoyance, and she rolled to sit up with her features in a tight pout. She opened her mouth to yell her outrage, only to close it.

She began to laugh as well, since he continued to do so while he held the end of his snout like he wished to hide it.I guess it was kind of funny. She also hadn’t expected Nathair to have an odd side to him like this.

“I didn’t know you could be devious or playful,” she teased.

Her heart was racing, but the humour-filled beats were so strong in comparison to the pacing of fear and anxiety she’d been experiencing for months. Each one pounded, but the relief of them touched her all the way to the centre of her being.

I didn’t know Duskwalkers could laugh.Despite how disgusting it’d been to have his saliva all over her, and how muchshe’d been afraid that she was about to lose a hand, she found the aftermath rather charming.

If his voice was anything like the deep bass of the chuckle that came from his throat, she knew it would be soothing. He’d also... picked on her, and she didn’t mind a bully – she could be rather conniving herself. She would find a way to get back at him.

It’d been so long since she’d felt anything nice. Tears threatened to bubble in her eyes at just being able to experience even a small amount of joy. The fact that she wanted to cry because she felt that way only brought on a crushing wave of sadness. The realisation why was rather painful.

The tears never came, although they tingled her sinuses. Instead, she focused on just this moment. A strange time where she laughed with a Duskwalker – someone who meant death, and currently felt like salvation.

Who else could say they ever experienced something as absurd as this?