I coughed into my elbow to hide my laugh. “Oh no, hun. Your arms are still right where they always were.” I took hold of his upper arm and gave it a squeeze.
Dante took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I don’t wanna live in a world where my arms can just leave me.”
This poor baby. “Again, sweetheart, your arms are still on your body.”
“All I wanted was the scent of spring.”
It would be a lot harder to feel bad about my actions if he didn’t keep giving me the giggles. “I… I don’t know how to help you with that.”
Dante tore his gaze from the ceiling to look up at me. His hand came up to caress the end of my braid. The back of his knuckles dragged against my shoulder. Heat pooled in my skin from the small gesture, making me shiver. My eyes roamed down the expanse of his brawny arms. His large frame suddenly became a little too interesting, and I leaned away from him.
His hand fell away, and I tried not to read into the disappointed look on his face. “Don’t you?” he asked, sounding almost accusatory. His head fell back and he let out a deep shuddering breath. Unfocused eyes scanned the room, his voice came out in a half-broken sob, “Why do I hear colors?”
My mouth quirked at the ridiculousness of his question. “I’m sorry, Dante. The truth is, I drugged your drink.”
He scoffed. “Yes, I’ve gathered that from the talking banana.”
This time there was no fighting the laugh that escaped my throat. “Please tell me what the banana is saying to you.”
“It’s saying I should have escaped you when I had the chance.” Dante closed his eyes and relaxed as if to accept his fate. “Now I’m doomed.”
Guilt weighed heavily on my shoulders. Poor guy just came to check on his friend. Now he’s sprawled out on the floor talking to bananas. “I’m so sorry. I promise I don’t mean to hurt you or anything. You’ll be fine in a few hours.”
The dragon-shifter barked out a laugh. “I know you will not hurt me. How could you? You’re a human. It’s you I’m concerned about.” He lifted my arm and shook my wrist. “Look at these tiny things,” he lamented. “A flick of my wrist and they’d snap.”
Welp, no way he’ll be any use to me now.“Can you stand?” I asked. “Tiny arms or not, I don’t want you to have to sleep off the high on a hard floor. You can rest in my bed until you recover.”
He gave me an incredulous look. “While I admire your ability to cut to the chase, I don’t think I can perform under these conditions. I haven’t even marked you yet.”
I stared at him. “What? I’m talking about sleeping, you pervert.”
His eyes became unfocused again. His hand feathered its way up my arm, before taking my hand and bringing it to his face. My cheeks burned as he ran his nose along my wrist. “Cherry, why did you drug me?”
There wasn’t really a point in lying anymore. Mybrilliantplan had gone up in flames, and I was left with nothing but guilt and a very high dragon. I shifted to sit next to him and decided to come clean.
“The truth is, I’ve been stuck here a long time. About five years to be exact,” I began. “If I have to spend another five, I may just hurl myself off the roof. So I drugged your tea to see if I could convince you to take me home. The other dragon won’t let me leave or even speak to me, so I knew he wasn’t an option. I thought maybe if you had a bit of ayahuasca in you, it would loosen you up and you would be more likely to say yes.”
“Why didn’t you just ask me?” Dante inhaled against my palm. His breath came out in the warm tickle against my skin. Fireflies began swing-dancing in my tummy. I pulled my hand free and tucked it at my side.What is wrong with me? First you drug him and then you ogle him? Get your shit together, girl.
Absently, I picked at the edge of my skirt. “I wasn’t sure if you’d kill me for even asking.”
Dante shook his head. “I can’t kill you; you smell like flowers,” he said, sounding like he just revealed the great truth of existence, instead of just more high nonsense.
I nodded. “Not sure how that correlates, but thank you. Still, I didn’t expect you to have a bad trip. It would be far too dangerous to fly in your condition. So, clearly I didn’t think this through.”
His brow furrowed. “You said Gideon won’t let you leave. Why?”
“Wish I knew. It was his creepy little water dog that dragged me here in the first place. The only time I ever see that dragon move is to stop me from escaping.”
In a flash, Dante shot upright. The sudden movement caused me to jerk and fall back. He looked around the room wild eyed. “Has he hurt you?”
“I mean, sort of?” I shrugged. Being thrown back into a tower several times wasn’t exactly a pleasant affair.
He leapt to his feet and rushed to grab the satchel he had left by the door. “We need to get you out of here. I need to take you home.”
My stomach fluttered. He was still willing to take me home, even after what I’d done? Dante staggered to the side, and I rushed to steady him. Turns out the incredibly tall man was also incredibly heavy. I grunted and braced myself as he put more of his weight on me. He threw his satchel on the table and quickly began rummaging through it.
“Dante, calm down,” I began. “We’re not, like, in imminent danger. You’ll be fine.” Lightning flashed outside the window. A chorus of thunder rolled through the air with the force of a pride of roaring lions. As much as I wanted to leave, only an idiot would try to brave this weather.
