Page 82 of Charms and Tomes

“A coin for your thoughts,” I quipped.

He shook his head. “They’re too numerous, but the one that stands out is all the faces at the table.” He smiled down at me. “You and I helped bring them together.”

I dropped my arm to my side and snorted. “It’s you who has all the influence.”

He shrugged. “Perhaps, but what is influence without determination? You bring that with you wherever we go.”

I sat up and stared forward. “I suppose that’s what got me out of that trouble.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “What trouble?”

I dropped my gaze to the floor and bit my lower lip. “I. . .I didn’t get a chance to ask you something. About the night you got hurt.”

He smiled down at me. “Ask me anything.”

“You. . .was that really you I was dealing with? Or was it someone else?”

A plethora of emotions flickered across his eyes before he stared ahead. “It was me. Or rather, the me that belongs to the dragon’s curse.”

“So, um, what was your intention toward me?” I asked him.

A lustful glint slipped into his eyes. “Destruction isn’t the only thing a dragon knows.” He wrapped his arms around me and drew me down onto the bed.

I yelped and instinctively thrashed in his hold, but he was too strong. “Ben! Let me go-” A loud sound interrupted me.

It was snoring. He’d fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillows. I rolled my eyes.

That was one adventure wrapped up, but little did I know that a hair-raising undertaking of mummies and mayhem awaited us on the southern horizon.

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