“And what is this?” I gesture around us with a disbelieving smile. “Your way of convincing me to stay?”
The idea makes me giddy. No one has gone through the effort to make me stay. Nemo trying to keep me working with him doesn’t count. He wants me for my skills, not for me. I’m usually the one holding on tight, but here’s my dragon offering a hell of an olive branch whether he knows the right words to say or not.
He smiles back in chagrin. “Not only that. This is for you. Because you deserve a place to create. You deserve the room to explore what you want.” His golden gaze traps mine. “And maybe if you can let your destructive feelings go, I can do the same for mine.”
This is a new beginning for the both of us.
He clears his throat. “Healing my ability to bond may take more time than you’re willing to wait—”
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll stay.”
He gave me a studio and asks me for patience with his gaze and his words. This is him putting it all out there.
“And you don’t have to beg me to make art. I’ve gotten a lot better at letting the guilt go and believing I deserve good things.” Or if not deserve, to fight for what I want. To fight for this.
Kalos is my good thing. We deserve to be happy. I’ve paid my penance. Now it’s time to live.
Kalos is speechless for a moment, but he reaches out and pulls me into his arms. The embrace has my heart fluttering like a butterfly in the calm certainty of this moment.
“You honor me. I strive to be worthy of you.” Kalos cradles my cheek, the talons warm against my skin.
“You already are,” I say.
But Kalos shakes his head. “Not yet, but someday…”
The moment is a careful one that I soak up eagerly. Eventually, Kalos releases me but takes my hand.
“I also picked this room because it has a secret.” He strides toward the mantle of a fireplace and pulls a decorative flourish downward.
My eyes widen when the bookcase next to us swings open.
“I have a secret passageway in my studio? There are secret passageways in this house? Those are not on the blueprints!”
Kalos chuckles. “Of course they wouldn’t be. This is one of a few, and if you behave, I’ll show you the rest.”
I peer in the dark and make out a spiral staircase heading downward. “Where does it go?”
“My office first, and then it continues to the caverns beneath the house.”
Excitement zings over my skin. “Can you show me them now?”
Kalos winces, rubbing his chest again. “That wouldn’t be wise. That’s where we open a portal for my dragon to stretch his wings.”
“Is he causing problems?”
Kalos sighs. “With how hectic work has been, he’s practically climbing the walls. Sleeping beside you helps, but it’s starting to become less effective. I don’t want to give him ideas by going down to the caverns. It’s not the right time to let him take over.”
That sounds like the opposite of becoming more aligned with his beast, but I’ve never lived with a fire-breathing being trying to dictate my actions.
“I’d prefer for you to wait for me to give you a tour down there,” Kalos says, thoughtful. “The lighting is ancient, and it’s not really meant for human exploration. I may need to push some rubble around. I don’t want you tripping down there.”
I roll my eyes. “I can handle caves.”
Kalos glances at my rounded belly with doubt. “Please, Rina.”
“Fine! I’m sure I’ll be plenty busy with painting anyway. When is your meeting?”
Kalos frowns at his watch. “Any minute.”
I bite my cheek to keep in my disappointment. This is the most I’ve spoken with him in days.
“Alright. I guess it would make the most sense for you to take the passage then. I’ll try to keep myself from crashing into your office and being a distraction,” I tease.
Kalos pulls me into his arms. “You are the best distraction. If you need me, I will drop everything.”
Now I smile for real. “Just remember you said that.”
He kisses me, nipping my bottom lip in a tease, before leaving for his office, pulling the bookshelf closed behind him.
I turn in a circle, taking in the room with only my cat as an audience now. My very own studio. And it has a secret passageway! How cool is that?
“Can you believe this, Griffin?”
Griffin gives a croaking meow as a response, and I pet him. Already my fingers itch to run over one of the many blank canvases. I turn to the organizational drawers and find some soft vine charcoal for sketching, but I ignore it for now. Choosing to dilute some burnt sienna to start the basic shapes of an underpainting instead.
What I have in mind is more organic in shape than a sketch would provide.
There’s been a recurring dream that demands to come to life under my hands, and in the presence of so many blank canvases, there’s no stopping me now.
32
KALOS
“COUNCILOR MOON WILL SEE YOU NOW.” The assistant’s voice is soft and deferential, even as her eyes are bright with curiosity. No one would expect me to need the Council for anything.
I stand from the plush chair in the receiving area and straighten my tie. I’m unused to having to wait for meetings, but even with all the power I have, I bow to the laws… now that we have them.
Ben stays seated and nods toward me. He’s aware of what I’ve come here to discuss, but his presence wouldn’t help. I already have the cards stacked against me when it comes to asking for allowances that the Council would rather not give. It does me no favors to remind anyone that I have a demon with the invaluable skill of portal magic on my staff.
I itch at how far I am from Katarina, but Moon only accepts audiences in his home. A luxury of having the dubious honor of a seat on the Council.
But this can’t be avoided. The threat of the Leonids cannot be allowed to remain with my intention to make Rina my mate.
I’ve started the process of remedying the dragon with Rose, and it’s made everything more difficult than I imagined.
My dragon is much more present. Things that I could keep a cool head about before have me snapping in irritation. Emotions that I’ve silenced over the centuries are live wires in my body. I’ve kept my contact with Katarina to a minimum, hoping everything will eventually settle so I don’t upset or hurt her by accident. I don’t believe the dragon part of myself would hurt her on purpose… but I’ve locked him behind a wall in my mind for a long time.
The assistant leads me down the hall of the manor. The thick rugs under our feet muffle the sounds of our steps so that they don’t reverberate through the line of suits of armor.
It’s an unusual décor choice for an immortal of our history. Perhaps they are trophies of knights Moon dealt with when his kind were hunted. I applaud his morbid decision if it gives him an ounce of pleasure. Moon’s kind were rare even before others wanted to use their parts for spells.
Now they are nearly extinct.
The room the assistant leads me to is cluttered and warm in a way that modern décor doesn’t allow for. It looks to be a mashed-together personal library and study. Bookshelves take up every wall, with books and other memorabilia bursting from the shelves. My host stands with his hands clasped behind him before a grand fireplace that crackles.