Page 11 of A Kiss of Flame
Barith was happy and relieved to see her hale after many months apart. He’d felt more at ease with the mage in these last few moments, listening to her tales of her masked thieves, than he had in months back home.
“I take it you’ve not been delighting in the company of all your wonderful sisters back home?” she asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
He grunted. “They’re like a nest of cuddly vipers, the lot of ‘em,” he said, half in humor and half serious.
Levian smiled over her shoulder at him, understating him perfectly, and his heart lightened. “I’m sure they’re thrilled that you’re off gallivanting instead of handling your duties back home,” she said.
Barith rubbed some hot water through his hair and down his face. “They’re all full of vinegar either way. I’m used to it,” he admitted. He could have sworn he’d caught Levian’s gaze lingering over his chest for a second before she blinked and glided back toward the tub.
“I’m surprised your mother let you leave,” she confessed, leaning against a wood column, one of her long legs peeking through the slit in her robe. Barith fought a natural compulsion to linger his own gaze over her smooth, dark caramel skin.
“I’m a grown man,” he declared, puffing himself up, trying to keep his focus off her leg. “She cannae keep me locked away.”
Levian cocked a brow of amused disbelief. “How long are you allowed to be gone?” she asked.
He bristled, then mumbled, “A few weeks.”
Levian laughed. “And how long have you already been gone?”
“Four days,” he mumbled even lower.
“It took you that long to find me?” she said before tutting with a taunting smile.
Barith didn’t like that her witty little smile made something in his stomach tense or that the words that came out of him next seemed to pop out all their own. “Let me help you,” he blurted. The mage’s smile fell away. “Let me stay and help you find your thieves before I’ve to go back,” he elaborated.
There was no denying that things were changing for both of them. Levian was working with the Council of Mages now, and soon, Barith would be mated and would need to take on more responsibility within the newly expanded horde. Things were going to change between them. It was inevitable, and they were both intelligent enough to recognize it even if they didn’t want to discuss it.
Levian stared at him in disbelief but didn’t immediately tell him off either. It took her a good 30 seconds. “No,” she declared. “You should go home, Barith. Where you belong.”
The words stung. Barith looked at her, his oldest friend, but the words he wanted to say got caught in his throat. For much of his life, he hadn’t felt like he belonged much of anywhere, but he’d always felt like he belonged next to Levian. They were outcasts together, and all he wanted was one last adventure withhis oldest friend—like old times. “I can help you,” she told her. “And ye know it.”
“I have work to do, and you have a duty to your family,” Levian doubled down. “You can’t just run away from your responsibilities.”
His body flushed with fire and anger. “I’m not runnin’ away,” he growled, standing up suddenly, sending a wave of water hurling into the floor. Levian’s gaze darted away from him, and she crossed her arms defiantly over her chest.
Barith grunted at himself for his outburst. “It’s just a lot of pressure, that’s all,” he admitted. “My mum and sisters have been?—”
“Yes, I can imagine,” Levian said, cutting him off.
Barith stepped out of the bath, wrapping a towel around his waist. He doubted shecouldimagine. Levian had her own strange family dynamics, including an infamous father locked up for eternity deep beneath a frozen ocean in a fae prison. Still, the mage didn’t have the same weight of duty and honor baring down upon her head. “Let me help,” he tried again.
Levian let out a deep sigh, dropping her wee shoulders before she began fiddling with one of her many necklaces, clearly mulling it over. Even after soaking in the bath, Barith could still smell the soft scent of her night jasmine perfume. He’d come to the Dragon’s Delight to clear the air between them, but now that the prospect of helping her track her thieves was in his head, Barith was determined. The mage wasn’t the only one who could be stubborn or clever.
“How about a bet then?” he posed instead, hoping she would take the bait.
She perked up at that. Levian had a hard time turning down a bet. Especially one from him. “A bet?” she repeated, intrigued. “What kind of bet?”
Barith smirked. “You let me help you find the thieves, and if I do, you get Beatrice.”
Levian’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t,” she said with disbelief.
“I would,” he confirmed with a tight nod.
She stared at him, torn. Barith knew the mage couldn’t resist the chance to win back that silly egg. It had been gifted to her when she was a girl. It was gaudy, incrusted with gold and gems, but Levian loved it. And then she’d lost it to him in a drunken bet and had never managed to win it back after all these years. He had no clue why she’d named it Beatrice.
“Fine,” she agreed reluctantly, throwing her hands up in the air in dramatic Levian fashion. She stalked over to him and pointed a shimmering painted nail into his chest. “You can help me hunt down the thieves, butonlyuntil your two weeks are up,” she made clear. “I don’t want the whole of your Sun Dragon horde breathing fire down my neck, and I surely don’t want to deal with any of your sisters.”
Barith’s heart swelled, and he smiled at her. Levian scowled. “Don’t look at me like that,” she hissed.