Page 62 of A Witch and Her Dragon
Chapter 27
Alina
SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH RAELAN. EVER since our evening together in the greenhouse, he’s acted distant, colder now than he was when first we met. His eyes rarely meet mine, his lips remain pulled into a focused frown, and he speaks only when spoken to.
And it’s tearing me up inside—to the point where I finally grab hold of Lyra’s wrist and drag her up into our loft, where we sit cross-legged on my bed. I pull the drapes closed, then level my gaze on her.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Lyra asks, arching a brow at the closed curtains hanging from my bedposts.
Yuki was taking a nap at the foot of the bed when we intruded upon him, and he makes a huff of disapproval before yawning and jumping off the bed, then padding down the stairs, probably to go sit with Poppy in front of the fire while she studies.
“I have to tell you something,” I say.
Lyra’s brow remains quizzical. “Okay. What is it?”
I turn my words over in my head, trying to figure out how to say what I need to. But Lyra’s slept with boys before, has more experience than I can even hold a candle to. She’ll understand.
“I . . . kissed Raelan. A few times.”
Her brows arch up.
“And then he . . . touched me.”
“Hetouchedyou?” she asks.
Cheeks starting to tingle with warmth, I tell her what we did in the greenhouse and only have to shush her once when she squeals too loudly.
I was so mad at her on Samhain—perhaps unfairly so—and watching her dance with Raelan that night lit a fire beneath my skin, stoked my hunger for him until I had to act. And I know now that she did it all on purpose.
Clever fire witch.
Finally, after she’s calmed down, she asks, “Wait, why are you telling me this?”
“Because he’s acting strange now,” I say, and feel the truth of it in my stomach. Grabbing one of my pillows, I hug it to my chest. “He’s not acting like himself. And I don’t know what to do.”
Lyra purses her lips and leans back onto her hands. “And you think this has to do with that night?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. But I can only assume so. What else would cause him to become so cold toward me?”
Twirling a strand of wild red hair, Lyra considers this. “Maybe he’s afraid.”
My brow arches. “Of what?”
“Seriously?” Lyra pushes herself up. “Ofyou. Of your position. You’re the princess. What’s he supposed to do? Ask thekingfor your hand?” She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I mean, I obviously don’t know your grandfather, but do you think he’d allow this? You to be with one of his knights?”
I want to say yes, that Grandfather would never attempt to keep me from a man I—
Love?
The word hits me with such force that I have to blink away the surprise.
I don’t love Raelan, do I? I may dream of him, and my eyes may seek him out even when I don’t mean for them to, and I might wish he were beside me every night when I fall asleep, but that doesn’t mean I love him.
My body feels drawn to him, almost like something in my magic calls to his, a connection that simmers just beneath the surface, there but intangible, a mirage or a shadow that just brushes my awareness before vanishing again.
I know I want him. I want him even more now than I did before the greenhouse. His touch was like fire, his mouth the only air I wanted to breathe.
And I thought he wanted me too.
