Page 41 of Blood of Dragons

Commander Luxe continued not to notice.

Then I realized I was the only one who could see him.

“Have you ever been in love?” Commander Luxe repeated for the third time.

I turned to look at Commander Luxe beside me.

“Look at me.”

My eyes snapped back to Talon across the table. “You know, I’m feeling unwell all of a sudden… You should go.”

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked. “Do you need some water?”

“No,” I said quickly. “I just need to lie down.”

“I can do the dishes before I go.” He got to his feet and started to collect the plates.

“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “I can deal with them tomorrow. Goodnight.”

He stilled as he looked down at me, like he knew something was wrong but couldn’t piece it together. “I’ll check on you in the morning, Calista.” He turned away and walked out, his footsteps growing quieter as he left the tree house. The door opened andshut behind him, and then the sounds of the crickets and the frogs became audible in the distance. Serenity returned, but Talon’s potent irritability remained.

I looked across the table at him, his angry stare matching his mood. “Why can’t he see you?”

He stayed quiet for a long time, like he was too angry to speak. Seconds turned into minutes. Night deepened in the forest. In all that time, he didn’t blink. “Because I only present myself to you.”

“So, are you real?”

“Yes.”

“But you aren’t here.”

“I am here.”

“But you just disappeared, like a spirit or something.”

“Because I’m more powerful than you ever imagined.”

I felt a chill down my spine, because I knew so little about the man I’d been fucking. “He couldn’t see you.” So he wasn’t present in his physical form. A projection of his mind…or something.

His hands continued to grip his muscular arms. “Are you going to answer the question?”

“What question?”

“Have you ever been in love?”

My eyes shifted away, embarrassed that Commander Luxe had asked that question. “What about you?”

“That asshole asked you, not me.”

“He’s not an asshole.”

He suddenly raised his voice, so loud that it would be audible to others in the forest if he were visible to anyone else but me. “We’ve been apart for two weeks, and you’re already fucking someone else?”

“I’m not sleeping with him.”

“Well, he’s trying very hard to fuck you.”

“He’s just helping me acclimate.”

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