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She’d been trying to calm her heart rate when his arms fell. It spooked her. She reached for anything to take her mind away from her own body, so she commented on his hair. When that hadn’t seemed to work, she just wanted to flee.

So, she did.

Amalia fled to the only place in this cave where she felt comfortable... her room.

She hid next to the entryway with her back against the wall. Her hand shot to her chest in hopes of calming her breathing from running and whatever emotions were crawling up inside her.

How can I feel desire for someone who hates me?Well, not her, but her kind.

He is also not human.But she also knew that Rurik wasn’t some fumbling stableboy either, like the one who had made her turn away from such thoughts and desires.

How can I possibly feel this way towards someone who has me trapped here?She knew the answer to that question.

It was because she didn’t feel trapped here.

In the small time she had spent in this cave, she begun to feel safe. Not free, not content, but safe.

The outside world had become scary, and when he gifted her this room, he’d given her a piece of tranquil calm. Because he held her while she wept, she had begun to feel secure when she was around him.

Whenever she felt unwell, the sadness and pain crawling in because of what happened to her, she often sought the Dragon out. It was as though being in his presence made the feelings go away, like he guarded her from them.

Do... Do I like him?Had Amalia turned pure feelings of trust and sometimes playful banter, into something it shouldn’t be?He will not appreciate this.

She could picture him becoming enraged that one of his enemies would feel this way towards him. She ran her hands down her face, her eyes darting around the room.I must clean my mind.

Her gaze fell on the tub in the room.

Perhaps if she cleaned her body of its reaction, it may also cleanse her thoughts.

Seeing no other way to free her mind of impurity, she filled it and disrobed before hopping inside of it. She sat with her knees up, unable to stretch out because of the size of the tub, but she did lean back and dunk her head, scrubbing at her face in frustration.

I touched a half-naked man I am attracted to.Then again, she couldn’t particularly blame herself because she didn’t know it at the time.

I am not right of mind.She almost laughed when she realised that seeing her own naked body seemed to deepen the way she felt.Perhaps the flames have truly unhinged me.

She stayed in the tub, waiting for it to go away. She knew it would. She was just too flustered at the moment, too embarrassed with herself.

When movement to her left caught her eye, she quickly covered her breasts and brought her knees closer to her body.

“What are you doing?!” Amalia yelled when he walked around her to stand in front of her.

He leaned his human body against the tall chest of drawers, his shoulder resting against it as he folded his arms. He took a bite of a fruit, chewing it for a moment.

He stared at it like it was more interesting than her.

“Eating an apple. They are my favourite when I am in this form.” Holding it in his fist, he pointed his index finger and shook his hand up and down as if to punctuate his next words, “But only the green ones, that is very important.”

“Not that! Get out, I am bathing!”

“How did you fill the tub?” There was an accusatory hint to his tone, but his eyes remained on the apple as though he didn’t have a care in the world. He even turned the apple side-to-side.

Her eyes widened with horror.

“There is a bucket.”

She waved her hand towards the wooden bucket she had in her room, the one she usually washed her clothes with.

It wasn’t a lie. She didn’t say she used it to fill the tub with water.