The Dragon and The Virgin

7

When they got back to the cave, the sun was starting to set and Declan was getting ready to set out. He told Anna that she could do whatever it was she wanted, pressed a hot kiss to her temple, and then swept out of the cave.

She stood there contemplating for a couple minutes. She was exhausted, ready to crash for a couple hours, but something he had said a couple days ago nagged at her. Nothing happens in these caves without my knowing he'd said. She scoffed. Yea right.

She waited a bit to make sure he wouldn't come back and catch her, doing some of the dishes and reading a couple chapters of one of the books he had brought her. When she was sure he was gone for good, she grabbed a piece of charcoal and ventured into his room.

Declan's space was rather sparse, nothing on the walls except for a few lighted torches. His feather mattress lay in the middle of the room, pressed up against the far wall, covered in pillows and her favorite blanket of his.

She walked up to one of the torches on the wall and examined it. It was welded to the wall with a piece of metal, looping around the torch. She smiled and drew a little heart on the metal, about the size of an ant, and, after stealing his blanket to use for herself, she left the room. There was no way he'd ever find that, not unless he was looking hard enough. And in order to be looking hard enough, he'd have to be very weirdly vigilant.

She wrapped the down blanket around her shoulders like a cape and danced down to her room, softly singing one of the love songs her mother sang to her when she was a babe about stars and flowers and love as true as the sky itself. Except her love was the worst type of love there is; unrequited. She wasn't silly enough to think that Declan could love her. He was a dragon, she doubted he even knew what love was. Not that she could blame him, his father was an awful man.

She collapsed on her mattress and heaved a sigh. Well, so long as he kept her around, she was content. Besides, she'd rather have him in her life as his servant, than not at all.

...

He liked the way she looked wrapped in his blanket. When he came home, he'd found her heart on his torch right away. Her aura was all over his room, especially near the wall. He smirked when he found it. She probably thought she was clever, putting something so small somewhere so out of the way. He'd never told her of his ability to see energy traces. But he left it there, he wouldn't want to disappoint her by ending her little game so soon, and left to go find the whereabouts of his blanket.

That's where he was now, at the entrance to her chambers watching her sleep. He would've let her to continue sleeping with it if it wasn't the only one he had. Quietly, he perched on the edge of her mattress and swept her messy copper hair behind her ear.

"Anna" he muttered. Her eyelid fluttered and she sighed. "Anna" He said again, "Sweet, I need my blanket. I'm sorry, but I don't have another."

"No" she whined, pulling it closer around her "I want it."

He tried not to laugh but he couldn't help the grin that broke out "Love, I don't have another and I'm very tired. If you don't give it to me, then we're going to have to share."

She nodded.

"You'll give it to me?" He stroked her long hair.

She shook her head no.

"You want to share?"

She nodded again.

"Are you sure?"

"God! Yes! Just shut up, will you?" She huffed and rolled over, leaving just enough room for him to lay down.

His heart pounded in his chest as he slipped off his coat and boots. Gently, he pulled back the covers and lay down beside her. He lay very still on his back, being careful not to touch her, so as not to wake her again and spark her fiery attitude. It was too late to deal with such a feisty persona.

She rolled over and rested her head against his shoulder, laying her hand on his chest and sighed "Good night, Declan."

Tentatively, he covered her hand in his, smiling at the size difference and her cool temperature. He wasn't sure what his heart was doing, but he liked it. A lot.

"Good night, Anna."