Page 20 of The Witch & the Dragon

“This is the family cabin,” Tiran said. “Me, Dad, Mom… we’d come out here in the summer and autumn. It was the one thing we had, always, even when sometimes there was drama from the other dragons. It’s my favorite place.”

“Oh.” Chloe’s heart twisted, and a strange lump developed in her throat. “You took me somewhere important…”

“I wanted to show you my favorite place. There are a lot of beautiful things here. But let me know when you want to leave. I’ll carry you back to Dreadmor.”

She nodded, walking ahead and taking in everything. The wonderful lake and a small boat bobbing by some mooring below the cabin. She wanted to look into the cabin but worried that might be disrespectful. However, Tiran seemed delighted in her interest and showed her the cabin with a solemn, smiling air.

Inside, it had a cozy touch – clearly, some effort had gone into the decoration. A white bearskin rug covered the floor, and there were three armchairs and one large sofa in the spacious living room. The kitchenette itself had all manner of utensils hung up, a coffee machine, kettle, cooking pans, oil, microwave – everything possible to make a good meal. Tiran rummaged through the cupboards and pulled out some ingredients – checked the refrigerator and the frozen products within it. He pulled out what looked like frosted beef chunks.

“This will still be good. The last trip we had was just over two months ago. Before…”

He grimaced. She went up to him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“I didn’t know that last cabin trip would, well, be the last.” He put the meat out to thaw in the slow cooker that was nestled under one of the upper wall cupboards. “I… I think I want to make their favorite dish. You don’t have to stay around for it; I’ll fly you back well before. But… I’ll make it.”

“I wouldn’t mind trying,” she said, hugging him. He accepted it, his hands digging into her arm, leaning onto her for a moment. “If you want, I can help you with some of the prep.”

“Sure.” Quietly, aside from murmured directions, they prepped for what he said was hearty dragon stew. It's not made with actual dragons. He browned the thawed meat chunks while she finished cutting the leek, potatoes, and carrots. He also cooked bacon bits, tossing them in the slow cooker with the cubes, potatoes, carrots, some dark beer, chicken stock, and a generous smattering of herbs. The leek was cooked in the remaining fat, coated with a little flour, and along with a squirt of tomato paste, everything was tossed in, and they left the stew to cook.

It felt good to help out with something like that. She felt as if he was honoring her with this memory, and she wanted to do right by it. Reminders of his parents were everywhere. A pipe by one of the chairs that belonged to his father. He had a stack of Sudoku puzzles in the bathroom from his mother.

Slippers, bathrobes, coats, boots, fishing tackle, and a cooler box, a lot of things, and she saw Tiran getting emotional at times, sometimes stopping so that his gaze might linger on something.

“Let’s go out. The stew takes like six hours or something anyway, right? Let’s go around the lake for a bit.”

He agreed, and they left the cabin and they walked around the lake together, arm in arm.

“We’d go fishing here sometimes. All this area is private property. It’s not really known to the other family members.”

“Not even your uncles?”

“No. This was something Dad kept secret. He didn’t want it contaminated by the others, as he put it. He wanted this little corner of the world only for us.”

“It’s lovely,” Chloe said. “What a dream to be able to see a place like this so often. To be able to come here on random trips and fish and walk and just live in nature. How wonderful. Thank you so much for taking me here –”

Whatever else she’d been planning to say, it got interrupted by Tiran’s mouth closing on hers. She inhaled sharply, not expecting the contact, and he withdrew instantly as if bitten by a snake. His eyes were wide, suddenly terrified, looking into hers.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You just looked so happy and beautiful in that moment, and I –” He flushed. “I’m sorry. Forget that happened.”

“Tiran,” she said softly, and he continued to babble something. “Tiran...”

“It’s not that I’d ever want to put you in an uncomfortable situation and –”

“Tiran.” The tone caused him to stop mid-babble, and again, he stared at her, wide-eyed and anxious. She took a deep breath, accepting the fluttering sensation within, and leaned over to kiss him. It was slower than his kiss. Her lips hovered close before bridging the distance with a soft, toothless bite of his upper lip. Now, it was his turn to inhale sharply, and she moved backward.

“I didn’t dislike it. I was just… not really expecting it,” she explained.

“Uh… yeah,” he said weakly. “I wasn’t expecting… that, either.” Something in his expression made her lean forward again, now brushing a part of his lip with her fingers.

“It’s okay. Really.”

“I wasn’t sure if you liked me in that way –”

“If I wasn’t sure before, now I know,” she said, and that got him to fall silent again, this time with a growing smile. The glimmers of doubt vanished, and he leaned forward to kiss her, this time both of them meeting it with enthusiasm, exploring the texture and taste of each other’s mouth by the side of the lake. Soft at first but more demanding by the second, and they both pushed and pulled against one another, reveling in the close contact of their limbs, entangled together, swaying as if taken by a light breeze.

Chloe’s feelings were all over the place, from shock and happiness that things had developed this way to a burning sensation within – something that wanted to reach out and merge with him entirely. That wanted to explore things further, to feel his skin on hers, to give into the churning heat that energized the lust now rising.

They stopped the kisses, her forehead resting against his neck, palms pressed into his rib cage. He brushed his cheek against her hair, nuzzling it in a way that somehow felt more intimate than his kisses.

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