Page 72

It was while he was staring up at the stars and night sky that he heard her soft footsteps. She didn’t come to him.

She has returned to her room.

It meant he could now go inside.

Considering the hour, he went to his biggest treasure room.I really must move the rest here.He dug underneath it, wanting to feel the cold pressure against him while he slept.

After much thought, he let his snout peek out fully, only letting the riches cover his eyes and top part of his head. He did this so she would know where he was in case she wanted to avoid him.

I do not foresee her leaving her room for quite some time, though.

He allowed himself to fall asleep. He was tired from venting his anger, hunting, and then dealing with Glov.

After what he could only imagine was many hours later, she disturbed him from his slumber by digging through the riches he lay under right next to his face.

She smelt heavily of the perfume she knew he hated.

The figment of burning flesh has returned.

He lifted his head slowly as not to startle her, wondering if perhaps he’d moved while he slept and covered himself completely in treasure.

She didn’t stop digging. She also didn’t say anything even when he looked at her. Instead, she started to dig lower until she uncovered his arms, the curvature of his neck and top half of his chest.

What is she doing?he thought when she crawled into the space between his arms and curled into a ball up against him, facing his chest. She was using his arm as a pillow and clasped her hands tightly against her chest.

He noted she looked tired, her face a tear-shed colour of pink.

“I cannot sleep,” she explained.

He figured it was so that he wouldn’t ask her to move.

She is afraid.And the fact she was seeking comfort from him meant that she still regarded him as something safe.

Something stirred in his chest, some unknown emotion. He moved the arm she wasn’t laying on so that it would curl around her body. Then he also lowered his head so that his neck would lay across her to give her warmth.

Rurik remained awake even when she fell asleep, and he watched over her as she did. It was fitful and she woke often with the stench of fear coming from her.

She immediately calmed when she realised where she was.

Chapter 16

A week had come and gone since the incident with the green Dragon, and Amalia had gone back to feeling comfortable in Rurik’s home.

Since that day though, the other Dragon visited infrequently and in short bursts. She knew his name now to be Glov. Amalia wasn’t as trusting of him as she was with Rurik. She often stayed away and avoided them when they spoke together, which to her relief, was usually in the main room of the cave that could fit them both comfortably.

There had been no apology, and the only words he’d ever spoken to her were given the only time he wasn’t greeted by Rurik at the entrance of the cave. It was the one time he’d been alone to do so.

He’d walked his scaly body down the tunnel in search of Rurik, but he’d given her a warning when he was passing her room. A warning not to harm the Dragon who was allowing her to live.

He didn’t like it when she had rolled her eyes and propped her book up so she didn’t have to see his ugly, green face.

But Rurik had assured her that she wouldn’t be attacked by another of his kind again in his lair. She felt comforted by that.

He never confronted her about why she’d chosen to sleep against him that night. She also didn’t plan to speak of it.

She had needed to, had needed to be beside him because she’d been unable to rest as nightmares of her time on the stake had riddled her sleep. Anxiety gripped her throat so tightly that she sought comfort and security from the one being available for her to do so.

She also did it because of the times in the past when her memories had been bothering her. He may not have saved her from obtaining them, but he saved her from death and healed her wounds.