Page 301 of Dragon Slayer

Except there was no way she could. She’d seen herself when she first woke up. And here she was, face smushed into a pillow, possibly drooling on herself. Ugh.

She braced a hand in the sheets and eased up to a sitting position. Dizziness swamped her, and she closed her eyes against the sensation.

He put both hands on her bare shoulders – she wore nothing but a tank top and shorts – and steadied her. “It’s getting worse.”

No sense lying when that’s why he was here. She cracked her eyes open, wincing and smiling – trying to. “Yeah.”

His expression had grown serious. Grave. One hand slid up to her neck, holding her there. “Mia.” Voice heavy. “I want you to know that I’m doing this for you. That I want you to be healthy. If you don’t want anything from me beyond that, I’ll understand.”

Never been able to choose, Vlad had said. And he was choosing now. And he was going to do this monumental thing for her, save her life – even if she didn’t want him in return.

She leaned in and knocked their foreheads together, lightly. “Val. Sweetie. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t want to be with you.”

He pulled back, eyes wide. “Ohno. You can’t – it can’t just be forme. You have to–”

“Imeant.” She laid her hands on his face, and he quieted. “That I trust you.”

He studied her a long moment, gaze shifting over every part of her face, his own expression held in careful check. A muscle flexed in his jaw; she saw it, felt it leap against her palm. “Do you love me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Yes.”

He smiled, slow and sharp, fangs too long, but it didn’t quite touch his eyes – which glimmered bright with tears for one fast beat before he blinked them away.

“Kiss me,” she urged, and he did.

~*~

In his cell, with two freshly-bound, blood-drunk wolves propped against one another at his feet, Vlad had seen fit to share some brotherly wisdom.

“Turning a human is a powerful thing. It’s intimate.”

He knew that. But rather than talk of Arslan, a little blood-drunk himself, relaxed and cocky, Val had said,“What sort of intimate are we talking here, brother?”And thrown an eyebrow waggle in for good measure.

Vlad had doubled down on his scowl.“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Does that mean you fucked that little soldier girl when you turned her earlier?”

Vlad scoffed.“Intimate for others. Not me. You, since you care for the–”

“Love.”

“Since you love the girl, it will be powerful for you. And her, likely, if she’s sincere in her affections.”

“Brother dearest,”Val had said,“how is it that I’m the one who was used as a plaything most of my life, and yet it’s you who doubts true love?”

“I doubt most things,”Vlad had deadpanned. Then had come the truly terrible part:“Have you ever bedded a woman?”

Val had straightened up from his relaxed sprawl, trying to gather his dignity, thin though as it was.“Yes.”There had been a woman or two, during his long captivity. He’d been chained up, and they’d done most of the work, but he understood the mechanics of it. (And he knew the intoxicating heat and softness and wetness of the experience; desire coiled tight in his belly when he thought of having Mia like that, above him, hair loose on her shoulders…)

Stone-faced, Vlad had said,“You understand that you’re supposed to–”

“Yes!”

He didn’t want that conversation in his head now, one hand braced on the mattress, the other smoothing slowly up Mia’s bare stomach, but it had stubbornly taken root, fed by his sudden self-consciousness. Because here he was, and he knew he was beautiful to look at, but she was stretched out beneath him, unclothed, willing, looking up at him with soft invitation, and she wasperfect. What if he couldn’t make her feel good?

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