“Did you just throw a book at me? In my own den?”
“Yes. And I’d throw it again!”
Fearghus scratched his head in confusion. He’d never met a human brave enough—or stupid enough, depending on your point of view—to challenge him. “But,” he croaked out, amazed, “I’m a dragon.”
“And I have tits. It means nothing to me!”
“What exactly is wrong with you?”
“That . . . that . . .”
“Knight?”
“Bastard!”
“Me or the knight?”
“Both of you!”
His anger crawled up his spine and settled itself against the back of his neck. He briefly closed his eyes, taking in a deep soothing breath. She was making him angry, and Fearghus the Destroyer didn’t get angry. “I’ll come back when you’ve calmed down.” He turned to go, but she seized his tail . . . and pulled.
“Oi! Don’t walk away from me!”
If Annwyl could have punched herself in the face, she would have. Anything had to be better than watching the dragon turn, oh so slowly, to face her. She had clearly angered him. Really angered him. And when he just as slowly walked over to her, Annwyl knew that she might finally see her ancestors waiting to welcome her home. But no matter, Annwyl planned to stand her ground. She wasn’t going to let some dangerously grumpy dragon make her cower. Of course, she did let him back her up against the far cave wall. But she had no choice—he just kept coming.
Annwyl thought briefly about panicking, but that seemed about as useful as punching herself in the face. Instead she straightened her shoulders and looked directly into the dragon’s dark eyes.
“You don’t scare me, you know.” Impressive. She almost sounded as if she meant that.
“Really?” His tail appeared and the dangerously sharp point smashed into the cave wall right beside her head. Her body tensed as bits of stone hit the side of her face. He placed the tip of one of his wings on the other side of her, effectively boxing her in. He leaned in close to her, the flaring nostrils of his snout almost touching her face. “I should scare you, beautiful one. I can turn you to ash where you stand.”
The beast had a point, but no use backing down now. “Then do it if you’re going to.”
The dragon’s eyes dragged across the entire length of her body. Then he breathed in deep, his eyes closed, as if he were sniffing a really good meal. . . . Well, that’s not a soothing thought.
“No one’s ever thrown anything at me,” he finally got out as his dark eyes again focused on her.
“Well, you deserved it. You should have warned me about him.”
Fearghus took a step back. She realized that she’d held her breath the entire time. She let it out as the beast took another step away from her. She guessed he’d decided not to eat her . . . today. “Was it really that bad, Annwyl?” His anger seemed to have dissipated. She wondered how he did that. Control his rage. She envied him the skill.
“Yes. It was.”
“But did you learn anything?”
Damn dragon with his bloody life lessons. “That’s beside the point.”
“Annwyl?”
“All right. Maybe a little.” He chuckled and Annwyl, without meaning to, smiled in response. “I’ve always been better than anyone I’ve ever fought.” Not that she had a choice. Her father knew teaching her to fight was the only way she would ever survive her childhood. Her brother had actively tried to kill her on more than one occasion and she had a tendency to say things that caused some men to want to see her dead. She guessed, though, that none of the men—including her father—expected her to be as good or as brutal a fighter as she turned out to be. “But your knight. He made me feel like I couldn’t fight off a ten year old boy.”
Fearghus sighed. “Give it time. He’s . . . uh . . . doing what I asked him to.” She didn’t want to give it time. Or give the knight a chance. She found him . . . disconcerting. And she didn’t like that feeling one bit. And she hated him for making her feel that way. She hated him a lot.
“You sure?”
“Positive.” He studied her. “All right?” She shrugged. “Annwyl. Answer me.” Gods, he could be commanding. He didn’t yell. He didn’t have to. And it had nothing to do with the size of him. It sent a delicious little shiver throughout her entire body.
Gods, Annwyl. Get control of yourself!
“Yes. All right.” She glared at him, even as her rage slipped away. “But I won’t be nice!”
The dragon looked her up and down. “I don’t think he’ll mind much.”
She rolled her eyes. “Probably not.” She stepped away from the dragon. “Men are disgusting.”
Fearghus couldn’t believe how angry she’d made him. He didn’t get angry. Annoyed? Definitely. Stern? Absolutely. But to lose his temper? He didn’t do that. Ever. Until her. And it didn’t help that when she was angry, she gave off that scent . . . a musk, maybe. Something that called to him. He’d smelled it before when, as the knight, he’d annoyed the hell out of her. He’d worked hard to ignore that smell. But this time he leaned in and enjoyed her scent. Let it pulsate through his veins. It gave him all sorts of visions. Things he could do to her. Things she could do to him. It didn’t help his resolve.
He watched her walk away. Watched her tight rear move in those leather leggings. He couldn’t help himself. He swatted that rear with his tail.
“Oi!” She jumped and turned to glare at the dragon. “What was that for?”
For having the most amazing ass I’ve ever seen. No. He probably shouldn’t say that.
“To remind you that you’re in my lair. And don’t forget it.”
She should have been angry, but she smirked instead. Interesting. “I’ll bear that in mind.”
They stared at each other. And, if Fearghus had been in human form, he would have kissed her and anything else he could think of. But he couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that. No involvement with the human. He’d made the decision. He’d stick to it. No matter how much he wanted to suck on those . . . Dammit. He needed to go before he did something inappropriate. Fun. But inappropriate. “Well, is there anything else?”
“No.”
Good. Fearghus walked to the exit.
“But . . .”
Fearghus cringed and looked back at her. “But?”
“Well, now that”—she cleared her throat—“we have all that resolved, I was hoping we could talk.”
“Talk?” That completely distracted him from sucking on anything of hers. “About what?”
“About anything.”
If Fearghus had eyebrows he would have raised them. She couldn’t get away from the knight, who she believed to be human, fast enough. But she wanted to sit and chat with the dragon who had, just moments before, threatened to burn her to embers. Such an odd girl.
He smoothly turned his big body around and sat back on his hind legs, his head scraping the ceiling. “Well . . . I guess I can.”
“Good.” She eagerly jumped up on the table, sitting cross-legged. “Should I start then?”
“Perhaps you better.”
“As you wish.” She fell silent as she thought, and he stared at her br**sts. She’d taken the bindings off and he could see the outline of the perfectly round mounds under the cotton shirt. Gods, Fearghus! Get control of yourself!
“I know. How old are you?”
“Two hundred and sixty-eight.”
“Years?”
“Aye.”
“So dragons are immortal?”
“No.”
“But legends say you are.”
“They’re wrong.” She prompted him to continue. He wasn’t used to talking so much. “The first dragons, the elders, were immortal. But a mated pair asked the gods for the gift of children. The gods agreed, but the price would be that they lose their immortality. Our line is descended from them.”
Annwyl stared at him with her mouth open. “That is the sweetest story I’ve ever heard.”
“It is?” The girl read too many books.
“Yes. It’s romantic. They gave up immortality to be together and start a family.”
Fearghus shrugged. “It’s a tale they tell the hatchlings. I’m almost positive there was more to it than that.”
“Are you always so cynical?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re not immortal, but your kind clearly lives a long time.”
“Yes. About 800 years or so.”
“So, compared to other dragons, you’re kind of a baby?”
Fearghus grunted. “If you feel the need to put it that way.”
“Any siblings?”
“Yes.”
“How many?
Fearghus sighed and settled down for what would clearly be a long and painful night. He almost missed the days when she lay unconscious and near death. “Too many. And you?”
With a frown, “Is that meant to be funny?”
Oops. He actually just meant to be polite. Of course, he’d never been very good at polite. “No. Just wondering if there was anyone else besides the demon-spawn you call kin.”
“Sadly no. Or at least none that my father has claimed.” She propped her elbows onto her knees and cupped her chin in the palm of her hands. “Are you close to your family?”
“Just one sister. The others I only see at family times. And that is grudgingly.”
“Dragons have family times? Is that just a simple get together or are virgin sacrifices required?”Fearghus barked out a laugh and the girl smiled. “See? Got you to laugh.”
“That you did.”
Maybe the evening wouldn’t be that painful after all.
Chapter 5
Brastias, general of the Dark Plains rebellion and Annwyl’s second in command, leaned back into the hard wood chair and rubbed his tired eyes. She must be dead. She had to be dead. Annwyl would never disappear this long without word sent. He’d already sent trackers out to find her, but they came back empty-handed, losing her trail somewhere near Dark Glen, a haunted place most men dare not enter.
Of course, Annwyl was not most men. She often dared where others fled. She remained the bravest warrior Brastias knew and he’d met many men over the years who he considered brave.
But Annwyl could be foolhardy and her anger . . . formidable.
And yet every day for two years Brastias thanked the gods for his good fortune. On a whim they had attacked a heavily armed caravan coming from Garbhán Isle. Its cargo had been Annwyl. Dressed in white bridal clothes and chained to the horse she rode, her destiny to be the unwilling bride for some noble in Madron. And based on how heavily armed her procession was, dangerously unhappy about it as well. Once the attack began, one of his men released Annwyl and told her to escape. She didn’t. Instead she took up a sword and fought. Fought, in fact, like a demon sent from the gods of hate and revenge. Her rage a mighty sight to behold. By the time the girl finished, she stood among the headless remains of those she killed. Her white gown completely covered in blood. On that day the men had given her the name Annwyl the Bloody and, as much as she hated it, the name stuck.