Page 21 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
“Why? Would it have come back on you?”
“If they didn’t kill you outright, probably.” Callum said it so casually that I had to do a double-take when I realized he wasn’t joking.
“You said I could explore, that the door was open,” I said. “Are you telling me I could have been killed for doing so?”
“If you caused trouble or gave your angry attitude to the wrong person, yeah,” he said, looking through his fridge. “Tell me, what kind of food do you like?”
I stared at him, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The casual reference to me being killed and then wanting to know what I liked to eat? It threw me off balance.
“Well? I need to know what to make for dinner,” he explained.
“You’re going to make me dinner?” I was flabbergasted.
He leaned on the fridge, sighing mightily. “For the last time, I’m not your jailor, Maddie. You were entrusted to my care by the sovereign. I take that seriously.”
If he said anything more after that, I didn’t hear it. Everything was spinning out of control after hearing him call me by the common nickname. The way it just spilled from his tongue, so confident and easy, was a complete surprise.
Beyond that was the realization Ilikedhearing him say my name. It hit hard, the shivers racing down my spine as I replayed it in my head.
Get a grip. You’re just trying to make the best of the situation. But you can’t give in. No giving up.
“So, food?” Callum prompted.
“I don’t know,” I said, managing not to stammer as I worked to recover my senses. “There’s a few things I don’t like. Some fish, maybe? Gots to be a lot of that on the island.”
“We can do fish.”
We. Together.
“So, what did your mom say?” I asked, changing the subject back in a desperate attempt to put him off guard.
Callum was quiet.
“Well?”
If jaws could creak from being clenched, the apartment would be full of sound.
“She purposefully didn’t tell you, didn’t she?”
“No,” he said. “She didn’t.”
“See? Dysfunctional.”
He snorted. “She didn’t tell me because she was trying to help me. Because shecaredand thought she could save me some pain. She was trying to do the right thing.”
“So were my parents,” I pointed out. “But itwasn’tthe right thing.”
“And when I confronted my mom about that fact, she apologized and said she was sorry. That she knew better now. That she should have told me from the start.” He shrugged. “That’s what families do. Theytalk. Again, not dysfunctional.”
I fell silent.
“What, no retort? Nothing angry to say for once?”
I laughed, a sharp, biting thing that contained no humor. “Sorry, I’m running a bit dry on that, I guess. After beingkidnapped, ‘chosen’ to be your whatever, then getting all tangled up in the case of your ex, one who you have a ton of emotional baggage about, I might add, I think I’m allowed a moment or two.”
Callum’s face scrunched up. “I do not have ‘emotional baggage’,” he snarled.
Staring directly at him, I blinked slowly, hoping he would understand he’d just proven my point.
