Chapter Seven

I woke into the greyness of dawn as Aien eased out of my arms, leaving a cold patch across my skin as he slid out of the bedclothes. He tucked the blankets back around me considerately seeking to shelter me from the changing temperature caused by his body withdrawing from mine.

He dressed in the shirt that he had cast off and crept across the room to the door, slipping out and closing it behind him.

For a moment I lay in the hollow left in his departure, trying to deny its meaning, and then it caught me in the ribs, and I curled onto my side, the heels of my hands pressed to my mouth as I pressed it back, but the feeling undeniable.

Aien had left my bed before dawn. He had left before discovery was a possibility. He was hiding that he had been there at all.

Very well, I told myself shaking my head and trying to cast away the burn of shame and pain. That was understandable. We were in a difficult situation. I was the second daughter of a dragon, after all, and the fifth in line for the