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It started to rain.

I pulled back the curtain in the living room and watched the droplets strike the window then streak down. The branches of the olive trees were still because there was no wind. Just calm rain.

I kneeled before the fireplace and tossed on a few more logs in preparation for the cold that would seep through the cracks in greater volume.

“What doesZuniethmean?”

It was the first time I didn’t jump at his stealthy arrival. I used the fire poker to put the logs into position, the ashes scattering as the older pieces of wood crumbled apart. I returned the bronze poker to the stand and stood upright. “You were there.” I turned to face him, seeing him standing in nothing but his trousers like he lived there with me. A man strong like a tree, who could yank a mighty oak straight out of the ground and rip the roots. When I’d spoken to my father in the courtyard, he was there. I knew he could be in my presence even when I couldn’tsee him. That meant he could be there at any time…or all the time.

He moved to the couch and sat down, his stomach still flat even when seated. His skin glowed in the light of the fire, the muscles distinct under his tightness. Why did a man so beautiful have to be so bad? “What does it mean?”

“Dragons have their own language. It means hatchling.”

His eyes didn’t blink as he took me in.

My father and Khazmuda both called me that. Khazmuda always treated me like one of his own, even though I wasn’t covered in scales and couldn’t breathe fire. He would rub his snout against me and tuck me close like I’d just hatched out of the egg.

I went to Wrath on the couch, and instead of taking the seat beside him, I moved into his warm lap.

His arms immediately enveloped me like he wanted it or expected it. His warm palm slipped underneath my long shirt and gently touched my thigh. His other hand went straight into my hair, pushing it from my face like he didn’t want anything to obstruct his view.

I hadn’t expected him to join me all the other nights. His presence caught me off guard. But this time, I’d waited for his arrival. Waited for him to join me in bed. Waited for his narrow hips to squeeze between my thighs.

He stared at me for minutes, his look confident, his energy intense. He could hold a stare like no one else. There was a calmness to him that was deeper than the slowest river. For a man who ruled the dead, peace throbbed underneath his skin. “Not everyone has the strength to embrace their destiny, but youdo. You will bleed for your people and give your life if need be. You will ruleforthe people, notofthe people.” His focused stare continued to drink me in. “You will be a mighty queen.”

He believed in me the way my parents believed in me. But they’d raised me, and he’d just met me. “You hardly know me.”

“I know you better than anyone.” He said it with complete confidence, with the calmness of that slow river. “I’ve seen regimes rise and fall. I’ve watched greater men succumb to petty rewards. You’re different, Lily Rothschild.” His fingers continued to graze me, to feel the softness of my thigh until he felt the hem of my underwear.

“I hardly know you.”

It was the first time his eyes flicked away.

“I would like to know you.” I had the power to end this at any time, but I continued to hold on. What was worse, I gripped tighter and tighter. Like a slick rope about to slip out of my grasp, I held on with both hands and heaved.

His eyes were on the fire now, his shadowed jawline distinct and sharp.

“Will you share with me?” I whispered.

“What do you wish to know?”

“Anything you’re willing to tell me.”

His fingers continued to touch me, squeezing hard to feel the definition of my muscle under my skin. It felt nice, his big hands so strong. “I lived in a very different time from yours. It’s been three hundred and seventy-seven years since I was mortal.”

“Wow.”

“Nearly four hundred years in your time, but it’s much longer in mine.”

“Why does time move differently for you?”

He never answered.

“Where did you live?”

“Outside a village called Dambridge. In a land far, far away from here. It’s been claimed by many different kings. Changed so much I wouldn’t recognize it if I ever returned. There’s no proof that I was ever there.”

“Did you have a family?”