Prim opened her eyes and immediately scanned the floor for Con. He hadn’t come to the room last night--not while she was awake, anyway. The wooden floor was empty.

She sat up, twisting around to check the other bed to make sure Adrina was still here.

And there he was. Prim’s heart sank at the sight.

He was shirtless. And, judging by the hairy leg that peeked out of the covers, he was pantsless, too. At least Adrina had the decency to put clothes back on; her arm across his chest was covered in the lightweight shirt she wore under her leathers.

Con’s eyes flicked open, meeting Prim’s as if he was acutely aware of the moment she woke up. She supposed he might very well be, assassin and all.

He ripped the blanket off him to reveal the lower half of his torso as well as thick, muscled thighs. What lie between was covered by a pair of undershorts.

Still, Prim averted her eyes as he rose out of bed and pulled on his linen pants.

“Good morning,” Con said, averting his eyes. Good. He should be ashamed.

Prim narrowed her eyes and jutted her jaw out in a face of contempt. “I was right here.”

Con looked at her at that, raising his brows innocently. “And yet you slept right through it. What’s the problem?”

That twisted, hurt feeling in her chest turned into something far angrier. She was hoping she was mistaken. She was hoping they had just slept. Not because they did it right next to her, but because they did it at all. That he’d touched Adrina in the way Prim had so desperately wanted him to touch her yesterday. “You’re a bit too pleased with yourself for being such an inept lover that your partner remained silent throughout. I wouldn’t go bragging about that if I were you.”

Adrina snorted from where she still lay in the other bed, Prim’s loud words no doubt rousing her early despite the night of passion she’d had. Even if they’d remained quiet, Prim highly doubted Con had left her unsatisfied. She didn’t mean a word she’d just said.

“Calm down. Your husband remains pure.” Adrina laughed then added, “Or at least no more sullied than he was yesterday.”

Con shot the dragon whisperer a dirty look for giving away his ruse.

Prim shot him a dirty look. “Why would you make me think that?”

Con clenched his teeth, slowly dragging his eyes from Adrina to Prim, then bent to pick up his shirt from the floor. He held it in front of him, hiding that beautiful body of his, but didn’t put it on. “All I said was you slept right through it. You’re the one making assumptions about what I meant by it.”

Prim scoffed. Why was he being such an ass? Even that first day or two, he had been curt but not cruel. She just stared at him, letting him see the hurt and confusion on her face until he explained.

But he didn’t.

“Get dressed,” Con said as he pulled on his shirt and shouldered their bag. He collected his leathers from where she’d carefully folded them and left a swath of fabric in their place before slipping out the door.

Prim turned to Adrina, who was now sitting up, stretching her long, toned arms over her head. She was quite decidedly back to not caring for the dragon whisperer, despite the comradery they’d shared yesterday.

Adrina noticed her gaze and offered her a sympathetic smile. “He just wanted to sleep in a bed. Don’t worry. He only has eyes for you.”

Prim didn’t believe that for a second. If the dragon whisperer had tried and failed to seduce him, it would have been because of his woman in Pregg, not because of her.

Prim glared at Adrina before rising and dressing back in her traveling pants and shirt, tucking her dress under her arm. Con had taken his leathers back. She supposed his cruelty was going to extend to letting her freeze in the air.

Prim waited for Adrina to layer her leathers over the shirt and undergarments she wore. She’d slept in just undergarments on the bottom, as Con had. Prim ran her tongue over her teeth in annoyance when she noticed that. Then the two descended the stairs into the tavern that made up the first floor of the inn. Con wasn’t there, but Adrina bought them both breakfast using the money Con had paid her, and they ate leisurely. He still didn’t turn up.

It was only when they exited the inn that she saw him. He was leaning against the building still in his linen traveling clothes. His face was clean shaven, revealing a nondescript jawline that matched the rest of his plain features. He pushed himself off and tugged Prim’s dress out of her arms to pack it in their bag. The trio silently walked back to where they’d landed last night.

When they approached the dragon, Con extracted an empty glass container from his bag. That hadn’t been an item they’d bought in Sartu; he must have collected it this morning. He tossed it into the air toward Gordy, but it stopped midair and Prim knew he'd caught it with his phantom hands. Con approached the beast but Adrina stayed back, so Prim did, too.

Con spoke to the dragon, but she couldn’t understand his soft words. Then Gordy opened his mouth and a loud, punctuated cough-like sound issued from his throat before thick flames erupted, aiming right at that glass container floating in the sky. Prim could feel the heat from the blast even from across the grassy clearing.

When the flames licked away, Prim could once again see the glass container. Softened by the heat, it was now flattened, being molded before her eyes by invisible—and apparently heatproof—hands.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It remained in the air after Con had finished doing whatever he was doing to it, cooling. It was no longer a container, but a curved, rectangular pane of glass. Then it floated to him and he pulled some ribbon from the bag, threading it through holes he’d made on either side with his phantom fingers while the glass had still been malleable.

“Smart,” Adrina muttered, striding toward her dragon to mount him, pulling her helmet over her head.

Con approached Prim and handed her his leathers and the glass object. He didn’t look at her as she accepted and thanked him. He didn’t wait to help her roll up his pants legs. He just turned back to Gordy and ascended the beast’s leg, Prim watching his back as he retreated.

She only turned her attention to what she held in her hands when Con was seated and strapped in. It wasn’t just a curved, rectangular pane of glass. She raised it to her face. The smooth edges fit perfectly over every contour, even the bridge of her nose. Con not only had the talent to create such a perfect fit, but he also knew her face well enough to replicate it. Lowering the glass, she turned her gaze again at Con, but he was still not looking at her.

Prim dressed and secured the glass over her eyes before Con’s magic deposited her into the saddle, somehow knowing she was finished without his eyes leaving the spot on the horizon he had chosen to focus on.

As she secured her straps, that solid body behind her pressed into every curve of her backside. Yesterday, the feel of Con had been comforting, exhilarating, intoxicating. Today, it felt crushing, imprisoning, suffocating.

This was unacceptable.

As Gordy launched into the air, Prim simultaneously reached her arms back to find Con’s and leaned her head back in a request to speak.

Con allowed her to grip his wrists. He allowed her to bring his arms around her like they had been yesterday morning. But he didn’t lower his ear to her lips. He wasn’t going to listen.

So she pinched him.

He attempted to pull his arm back, but she held firm and twisted her head back again. This time, he obliged.

“Why are you acting like this today?”

They switched positions so his mouth was at her ear. He didn’t let his lip brush it as he answered. “You had all your needs taken care of before we left. I gave you my leathers and eye protection to keep you comfortable on our flight and helped you onto the dragon. What else do you want from me, Princess?”

He was right. Even acting the way he had this morning, he was still far kinder than a captor had any right to be. She was lucky that he was the one tasked with escorting her to her next destination--her next step in discovering the mastermind behind the kidnapping. So she released his arms and said nothing more. Today, they withdrew instantaneously.

With the glass, Prim could comfortably enjoy the view from above. She watched fae and birds fly under them and the mountains rise in front of them. She’d never seen her country like this. Wassalia was so beautiful it clenched her heart and she pressed a hand to her chest at the breathtaking scene. Con’s body twitched behind her, and she knew if he didn’t have that stick up his ass today, he’d be checking on her. But nothing was wrong. She was drowning in pride to serve such a beautiful land, not panic at being tens of thousands of feet above it.

Gordy swerved through the peaks and as Prim gazed at the winding paths through the mountains far below, she decided she did care for Adrina, after all. Prim had never been to the North. She’d never crossed the Bartoq Mountains. After seeing them, she had no desire to ever cross them by foot. Thank Solin for the dragon whisperer and her mount. And thank Solin for Con’s relationship with her and that bag of coin, even if thinking about Adrina’s arm across his bare chest this morning still sent her stomach into a knotted mess.

Gordy didn’t land as soon as the mountains flattened into plains. They continued north for another hour or so before Con reached around Prim to grip Adrina’s arm in an unspoken request. They were on the ground within minutes, as soon as a suitable resting area came into view.

Gordy took off to find his own lunch while the trio ate. Adrina sat with Prim, though neither woman spoke much. Con had disappeared into the woods, which were far less densely populated with trees than the southern forest had been. He’d been gone long enough that Prim would have assumed he was having stomach troubles had he not taken two apples and some jerky with him. He just didn’t want to be near her.

Once Adrina finished eating, she began running in place. Now she was laying on the ground, pushing herself up and down to work those toned arms. Prim supposed someone who spent most of their time in a saddle would need to set aside time to do such exercises. She looked down at her stomach and thighs and thought perhaps she, too, should set aside such time. Then promptly decided against it.

Back at the castle, she had daily training that was enough to work her muscles and make her sweat. It just wasn’t enough to give her the kind of lean body Adrina had when coupled with the sweets and downtime the rest of her hours afforded. Prim didn’t mind. Even if Con preferred flat stomachs and brown hair, she liked her curves and her blond hair. She also liked those hours of leisure with her friends who she was missing terribly.

“Do you know why he’s mad at me?” Prim asked the dragon whisperer long after she’d finished her lunch. She’d decided she must have done something to elicit Con’s change in attitude. Neither he nor Gordy had returned.

Adrina finished what she was doing, then pushed herself up one last time to standing before answering a bit breathlessly. “He’s not mad at you. He just doesn’t want to get too attached knowing your time together is borrowed.”

Prim vaguely wondered how attached was too attached. Con didn’t seem very attached at all, though Prim was already wondering how she would get on without him making sure she had everything she needed once she made it to the next destination.

“And he just decided this?” Prim asked. It had been right after that moment they’d shared at their midday break when he started distancing himself again, she realized. Maybe he was afraid of what they’d shared. Or felt guilty about it, though she thought sleeping with Adrina’s arm around him would have been a greater betrayal to his woman than looking into her eyes a bit too long.

Adrina squinted toward the treeline, as if trying to make sure Con wasn’t visible, though he wouldn’t have been able to hear them even if he was. “I think he realized he’d already gotten too attached and didn’t like it. He’s been through a lot. He’s learned how to protect himself. Maybe a little too well.”

“What about his woman?” He obviously allowed himself to get attached to some people.

Adrina shook her head, smiling. “He doesn’t have a woman. And that’s all I’m going to say about it so you don’t have to come out with your pants around your knees again!” She directed the last line toward the woods as if he could hear despite being nowhere in sight.

Prim’s stomach dropped. Adrina had no reason to lie. He didn’t have a woman. Whoever Zulas had claimed wasn’t his. That hurt even worse. Her Con just didn’t want her.

No, he wasn’t her Con.

He was an abductor, and nothing more.

He was a threat to the future of Wassalia, and nothing more.

Prim laughed to herself. No, that was a ridiculous thought. He was no single thing. She barely knew him, and she was already keenly aware that Con was a fabric woven with a hundred thousand different threads, and she’d only unraveled a dozen of them, each one more interesting than the last. She wouldn’t be satisfied until she had analyzed each and every one.

Maybe he was just afraid of their impending farewell. Maybe she should tell him that she had no intention of being anyone’s captive, that she could escape at any time. Maybe she could arrange a proper position for him back in Hogard and they could find a way to get to know one another in a respectable manner.

But no, she couldn’t do that, either.

These weeks would be the only time she’d ever get to spend with him.

She suddenly regretted the dragon ride cutting it short.