He rests his chin lightly on the top of my head. “I won’t pretend to know your experiences, but I would imagine that something like that doesn’t simply disappear because we’d like it to.”
I glare at the tiled wall of the bathroom. “I want it to go away. He had power over me for far too long. I won’t let him have more now that he’s gone. Not anymore.”
Silence except for our low breathing and the steady beat of Sol’s heart thrumming through his chest where I rest my head. Finally, he says, “Would you like to see the library tomorrow? The translation spell only works for speaking, but I believe there’s another that will allow you to read.”
I sit up so fast, he has to jerk back to avoid me slamming into his jaw. “We could do that?” I’d wondered if it was possible, but with everything else that’s happened since, I’d all but forgotten.
“I’ll reach out to Azazel tomorrow with the request.”
I turn in his arms, and he allows it. Maybe one day it will stop feeling so strange that I feel safer with a dragon with teeth and claws that could rip me to shreds than I’ve ever felt with a human. “I know the translation spell is very useful, but if I’m going to be here for seven years, I would like to learn your language properly.”
He stares at me for a long time. “You know that’s not necessary.”
I start to tense, but he’s being very careful with me in a way that isn’t familiar. I sit up, perched on his thighs, and push my hair back. “I know it’s not necessary, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it.” I don’t know if our mouths being shaped so differently will make it an impossible task, but he’s being so kind to me, and I want to know more about him. This isn’t for a week or even a month. This is seven years. I can’t spend all that time hiding away in a room. I want to know more about Sol and his people and their history. Our history, really, because there was overlap at some point in the distant past.
I cock my head to the side. “We have stories about dragons in my realm. But they don’t look like you. They were as big as houses. Had a thing for virgins.”
“Slander.” Amusement filters into his tone. “If we took virgins, it was only because that’s what your people offered. It wasn’t preference.”
It seems to defy possibility that dragons really did exist, but then again it defies possibly that I made a bargain with a demon and ended up in a different realm. “Are there still dragons that size?”
“Yes.” He sifts his claws through my hair. “Some of our ancestors chose not to interbreed with humans, so there are still dragons as big as houses.” Again, I get the faint strain of amusement, though he’s definitely not laughing at me.
I think about. Then I think about it some more. “How did they…”
Sol gives that glorious hissing laugh of his. “Records are unclear, but after watching the bargainer demons and the incubi and succubi manage to breed, the less humanoid races made attempts as well.”
Curiosity has me in a chokehold, but exhaustion rises in a tide I can’t fight. “I’m going to have a thousand questions tomorrow.”
“I look forward to it.” For his part, he actually sounds like he means it. “I’d like to sleep with you tonight, Briar.”
I should probably tell him no. Sex is one thing but… But what? I’m not someone who knows how to separate sex and emotion. I simply don’t. I’ve been with exactly two other people in my history, and both were long-term boyfriends. I shudder. Neither were particularly good men, though.
But Sol isn’t a regular man, is he? He’s a dragon.
My emotions are already compromised. I won’t allow that to change my mind about having a child with him and subsequently leaving them behind at the end of this bargain, but I’ve already suffered through so much. Heartbreak in seven years is a faint threat.
Heartbreak.
I almost laugh. Trust me to dive forward into the worst-case scenario. I like Sol, yes. I trust him in a fledgling kind of way. That hardly means I love him. “Yes, we can sleep together.”
I very intentionally don’t think about the fact it feels like I’ve just signed away far more than seven years.
Chapter 15
Sol
My bride suffers from nightmares.
I already resigned myself to a sleepless night. The cost is more than worth the reward of resting beside Briar. I’m a ruthless bastard, because I will take every inch she gives me and then push for more. I like my little redheaded bride. She’s the strangest mix of brittle and strong, of afraid and more courageous than a beast four times her size. And when pleasure makes her forget to think so hard?