Chapter 53

Roxanne

Friends.

I want to kill him as badly as I wanted to that first day. It's the day after we became such great friends and I'm running the tower stairs to get such thoughts from my mind. A friend is a good thing. It is! I've run six-hundred and twenty-seven stairs and I've yet to convince myself.

He told me before that he wished us to be friends. I didn't know how badly the word would hurt.

Damn dragon.

"Bride of Uncle Laryn, what are you doing?"

I'm so startled I miss a step and bang my shin. "Damn, ouch, darn..." I cut off the rest of my tirade because it's more frustration with Ashrac's uncle than actual pain. "What are you doing here, Ashrac?" I try to temper my question. From the look in his eyes I failed.

"I wished to visit you." His lips tremble and I instantly regret my less-than-pleasant tone. I sit on the stair that jumped up and bit me and rub my shin. "Please shift to your human form and sit down to tell me what you're up to today."

He doesn't shift or sit, which surp