Page 41 of The Dragon of her Dreams

She nodded but didn’t say anything. She took some of the clothing into the blanket pile and began dressing within the folds of its warmth.

I missed seeing her naked beauty, but it was good to see her looking happier at least.

When she finally emerged from the blankets, she was wearing many layers, a long dress, leggings, and an overcoat. Still, she rushed for the fireplace to warm her hands like she was still suffering.

“How are you doing?” I asked, my heart aching in the strangest way.

“I’m a bit hungry,” she admitted with half a smile.

Shit.

“Okay, well, let me make us something. I’m sure I have some food in the fridge.” I managed to find some meat and vegetables and heated those up for us in a pot over the fire.

We ate in silence at the small table I’d grown up sitting at.

Vanya glanced around occasionally, but she was so hunched over, it was difficult to tell what she was taking in.

I cleared my throat with a rough cough. “Thank you for coming back with me.”

She nodded, then shivered again.

“You know,” I said, “If you want to go up to the castle after lunch. I’ll walk you up. Maybe I can show you some of the village on the way?”

Vanya’s head came up and her gorgeous dark eyes met with mine. “Really?” She sounded so hopeful.

I squashed any rising disappointment I felt, and instead injected a happy tone into my voice. “Of course! I wanted to show you the village and my house. So, one thing down, and then we can do the other on the way back to the castle.”

She immediately brightened, eating faster and smiling.

Meanwhile, my appetite was gone, so I just drank some water and watched her.

When she’d finished her lunch, she asked me some questions about my life. “So, you grew up here, right? Your whole life?”

I nodded. “Yeah, as far as I know.”

“And your mom?” she asked, gently this time. “She passed recently?”

“Yeah,” I answered, the familiar pain hitting me again. “It was a few months ago, but it feels like yesterday.”

“Is that why you sought out Uncle Damon?” she pressed.

I sighed and went to clean up our dishes. “Yeah... but that wasn’t totally my choice. My mom made me promise that I’d go and find him after she was gone, so I’d have a family. She was worried about me.”

I didn’t need to tell Vanya I’d been dreaming about her too. That—more than my promise to my mother—had been the driving force. That and Dymitri threatening to out me, of course.

“Why didn’t she want you to find Damon while she was alive?”

I ran a hand through my hair. “That’s not an easy thing to answer.”

Vanya turned toward me and waited. “Can you try? I’m not going anywhere.” But she was. She’d leave me today and never come back, that was obvious.

So, what did I have to lose by telling her the truth? “Well, my mother was proud.”

Vanya chuckled softly and reached across the table to touch my hand, the first sign of affection she’d shown me outside of her need to be warm. “Oh, I can’t imagine that,” she said with a grin.

I knew she was trying to tell me that I’d gotten it from somewhere, but I couldn’t smile or laugh. Talking about my mother hurt. It likely always would. “Mom wanted to tell the king about me, but she said that the whole kingdom was struggling to survive, and as they weren’t fated, she felt conflicted. And by the time I was old enough to want to know him, the king had already married Cass.”

Vanya nodded and waited.

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