He smiled again, his dark eyes looking suspiciously shiny, and I couldn’t help myself, I leaned down to give him a closemouthed kiss.
When I pulled away, Kael chuckled softly. “You’re stubborn, you know that?”
I smiled, wiping at my damp cheeks. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Pushing back the covers, I stretched and swung my legs over the side of the bed. “Now,” I said brightly, “I need some breakfast. I’ll make the tea if you get the rest?”
Kael groaned in mock protest but followed suit, pulling on his tunic and boots as I made my way downstairs. A short while later, we were sitting before the kitchen fire, plates of bread, cheese, and dried fruits spread out between us, laughing and talking as we had our morning meal. The light coming in from the windows was grey, and the tower was dark and draughty, but it felt like we were sitting in a palace dappled by sunlight.
“Are you going to go back to Drakazov when the mage’s magic is reversed?” I asked, trying to sound casual as I sipped my tea.
Kael turned to look at me, blinking as if his mind had been far away. “To Drakazov?” he said, his voice sounding lazy and content. “You mean back home?”
I nodded, taking a sip of my honeyed tea to belay my nervousness.
“Hmm,” Kael leaned back in his chair, his gaze thoughtful as he took a sip of his own tea. “That was the plan. I don’t belong in Telluria, anyway.”
A lump formed in my throat, but I forced myself to smile. “Maybe I could visit you there sometime,” I said, shrugging as if it were no big deal. “I’ve been thinking of leaving Telluria anyway. I heard about a place called Strayhaven, on your country’s coast.”
Kael nodded. “They’re famous for taking in people who have nowhere else to go. It’s a good place for a fresh start.” He took another sip and paused before he spoke again. “But you’d have to learn Drakkan if you moved to Strayhaven. Don’t you think you would find it easier if you moved to a place where they knew how to speak Tellurian?”
I looked up. He couldn’t be saying what I think he was saying, could he?
He was looking at the table, tracing a finger tip into a puddle of tea that had dripped from his cup. “Why don’t you consider moving to one of the border towns? It doesn’thaveto Kalinovo—of course, it would be easier if I was there to help you with everything, but that doesn’t mean you have to move tomyhometown, you could move anywhere you wanted to, I’m sure—”
I stopped him with a hand on his, my heart so full that my eyes were misting. “Are you asking me to move to your hometown with you?”
Taking a deep breath, Kael nodded. He looked at me, his black eyes wide, but said nothing.
I tightened my grip on his hand, unable to do anything but nod. For a moment, we simply sat there, grinning at each other like fools, before the spell was broken by a sudden sneeze that overtook me.
Kael laughed. “Best wrap up more warmly,” he said, pulling my shawl tighter around my body. “I think a storm is coming tonight.”
I smiled back at him, snuggling into the woolen embrace. “I don’t know about you, but I feel lazy enough to go back to bed.”
Kael looked at me, but said nothing. He looked conflicted and I decided to take pity on him and make the decision for him.
“The firewood and the stew and the research and whatever else you have can wait, can’t it?” I said, drawing a fingertip down his hand in a gentle caress. “I could do with some company…”
I let the sentence hang in the air, and I was gratified when Kael scraped his chair back with a bang, as if he was in a tearing hurry. I pushed my own chair back, deciding to take my tea upstairs with me.
Kael, on the other hand, downed his steaming tea in one gulp, even as I stared.
“You’ll burn your tongue right out of your mouth,” I chided him.
“After the experiment, heat doesn’t bother me anymore, it’s one of the few benefits of sharing my body with a dragon,” he said, tipping up his cup to chase the last of the drops into his mouth.
“Well, that’s a good thing then,” I said. Then, unable to resist, I grinned and dropped him a wink. “Because I really like your tongue.”
His eyes went round, and I stifled my giggle.
“Is that so?” His gaze narrowed.
Hurriedly, I placed my tea on the table, where it sloshed with the movement. I took a quick step backward and then another, stepping out of his reach. Smiling, he began stalking toward me, even as I side stepped his reaching hand.
Kael took the hint and chased after me, following me up the stairs and into our bedroom, where he tackled me into the bed covers, making me giggle before he stole my breath with a deep, drugging kiss.
“I’ll show you just how talented this tongue of mine is,” he said with a smirk, kissing his way down my body. I laughed, feeling freer than I ever had before.
