Page 38 of A Witch and Her Dragon
I need to get my head straight. Alina’s very presence casts a spell over me, muddles my brain until I can’t remember up from down, can scarcely remember my own name and place in this world.
And though my instincts rage against it, the truth is that my place is not inside her; it’s beside her, guarding her, protecting her. I’m not the one who’ll get to lie alongside hereach night, to taste the heat between her thighs, to fill her with my seed and watch as it spills out of her.
Because if I do that and someone finds out—if the king or any member of the royal family were to discover what I’ve done—I’d be banished from the castle and perhaps even the kingdom. Then I wouldn’t get to see her again, wouldn’t get to catch her scent on the air or watch the way her pale eyes shine when she smiles. And that may very well kill me. It would be a slow death of the most tortured variety.
It takes every ounce of willpower I have to break our kiss and ease Alina slowly back onto her feet. When her toes are touching the cold floor, I plant my hands on either side of her head, curling my fingers into the stone as my arms shake with the fight raging inside me.
“Are you okay?” she whispers. Her eyes flick to the chain about my neck.
The magic is burning my skin again, but I scarcely feel the pain. Beneath me, with her head tipped back against the wall and her lips swollen and red, she’s the most enchanting woman I’ve ever seen. And I have to get away from her before I do something that can’t be undone.
Before I fuck up again like I did earlier this evening.
“I’m fine,” I growl out. Pushing off the wall, I take a few wide steps back from her, putting enough space between us that I couldn’t touch her even if I were to reach out. My dragon doesn’t like it, but there’s not a damn thing it can do about it, and neither can I.
Alina lifts a hand to her mouth, fingertips touching her lips. Then she smiles, and a small laugh drifts from her, a melodic sound accompanied by the crackling of the fire.
“What’s funny?” I ask her.
She shakes her head, sending the blue strands I was just grasping drifting around her cheeks. “Not funny. I’ve just... never been kissed like that.”
I think that’s a good thing, but I hadn’t realized she’deverbeen kissed, and an ember of envy flares to life inside my chest. Who the hell has she been kissing? Who would dare put their mouth onmy—
I stop myself again.
But no matter how many times I remind myself that I can’t have her, my dragon refuses to acquiesce. And I realize that as long as I’m in her vicinity, this battle will never end. Yet I’d rather spend my whole life fighting than to be parted from her.
And I must therefore tread very carefully. Everything is balancing on this, on my being able to do my duty and not overstep, not fall from this delicate tightrope I’m walking with her.
“We should get you back to your room,” I say, adopting the formal tone I typically use with her—and every member of the royal family.
Alina’s smile slips. For a moment, I think she looks hurt, but then she straightens up, adjusts her nightdress and robe, and says, “We should.”
She finds her slippers and eases her toes into them, then runs a hand over her hair, smoothing the wild strands. I open the door for her and hold my breath as she walks by, even though I know my whole room smells of her now—and even worse, it smells like our desire, likeherdesire.
Dammit.
This will be yet another sleepless night.
We descend the stairs to her room, me following a few steps behind. When Alina gets to her door, she pauses and turns to face me.
“So . . . you’re okay?” she whispers, voice soft.
At her question, I’m reminded of the burn marks on my neck, the way the metal chain rests uncomfortably against them.
I give her a firm nod. “I’m fine, Your Highness. Please don’t worry about me.”
Her eyes narrow slightly, brow wrinkling. Then she lets out a breath, rights her shoulders, and grips the door handle.
“Well, good night, then.”
“Good night,” I whisper.
And then she’s gone, the door opening and closing softly behind her, and I’m left standing in the hallway alone.
Chapter 19
Alina
