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He extended his paw when it seemed she was unsteady. She righted herself using it and then released it when she felt she was stable.

After walking over to the tub, he watched her fill it and then heat it with her hand. He walked from the room before she removed her dress. He knew by the time they walked past her room she would be inside of it, and Glov wouldn’t be able to notice.

Perhaps it is a good thing that I warded Dragons out of my lair because of her.Glov would have let himself in, otherwise, and Rurik would’ve been caught.

His Dragon body would not smell of her because his flames would have destroyed her scent on him when he shifted.

He went to the entrance to let him in and noted that the sky was dark, telling him that Amalia and himself had been speaking for quite a while.

“Rurik! I am pleased that you are alive,” he said before Rurik even finished making his way to the entrance.

“Why would I not be?” he asked, placing his hand on the ward to allow him to pass.

They walked down the tunnel.

“Witch.” He nodded in greeting.

She was in her room with her back to them in the tub.

Rurik blinked. Not once in the time Amalia had been in his lair and this Dragon visited him had he ever greeted her. He was just about to ask him about it when they reached the main room of his lair, but Glov turned to him.

“Did you not see it?”

“See what? I have been inside my lair for most of the day.”

“I had just been leaving Falen’s lair when-”

“I thought you were not approved to stay in her home.”

It was the whole reason he allowed him to stay here the night before last.

“Ah, so, she allowed me another chance to have a go at twisting her tail, and I succeeded.”

His snout bunched in irritation. “I let you stay in my lair for no reason? I played lairmaid like some fool!”

“WitchSlayer, calm yourself. I must speak with you about what I saw. It is urgent.”

With a sneezing huff, Rurik shook his head once in an attempt to remove his anger. “Go on, speak.”

“I had just been leaving Falen’s lair when I saw this bright light shooting towards the sky.” Rurik’s eyes widened at Glov’s words. “It was like nothing I have ever seen. Even from a great distance away I was able to see it.”

His eyes widened further when he understood he was speaking about the power Amalia had released earlier. He hadn’t thought on whether others were able to see it.My lair may be compromised.

Rurik cringed. He didn’t want to relocate.

If Witches try to go through my lands to find the source, it will mean I have a hunting ground.Even still, he didn’t wish to have his lands scattered with Witches or humans. He had spent far too much time shaping his home to want to leave it.

From a distance, nobody would have been able to know that it was dragoncraft since they didn’t often use lightning. Witches may be searching for others of their kind, ill-prepared to take on a Dragon instead.

“I came straight here because it seemed as though it was close to you, and I worried that Strolguil the Vast found you since you told me he has produced such power.”

“No, I did not see it. Like I mentioned, I was in my lair for most of the day.”

“It must have been loud though! Did you not hear it then, and go to discover what made the noise?”

“Why would I fly into a storm? I am not as imbecilic as you!” he snapped, eyeing Glov’s wettened state. “I could not hear anything other than thunder.”

He couldn’t let the rest of his kind know what he now did, not yet at least. In many years to come, when everything settled and he could do as he pleased with the Witch in his home, then perhaps he could share this information.