“Come on, P.J., I don’t see what the big deal is!” She vaulted after me and pushed down the aerosol button on the top of the can and let loose a stream of spray in my direction.
“The big deal is that my hair is already white, if you spray it until it could withstand a tsunami then I’m going to look like a little old lady!” I crouched as Jenna shot another stream of hairspray at me.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re almost nineteen not ninety, and without make-up you still look like you’re twelve, so just let me make you look pretty for this stupid announcement thing!”
“No means no Jenna!” I screeched as I whirled around and grabbed the can from her, but still managed to get shot in the face. “Oh come on!” I coughed.
A prickling of power across my skin signaling Khol’s emanate arrival made me stop and straighten up. I still hadn’t figured out what was going on with me being able to sense Khol’s arrival before he actually appeared, or how I could tell it was him, but I had a feeling it had something to do with my still new to me powers. I hadn’t had the opportunity to test out if I could sense it with anybody but him yet, but I was sure I wouldn’t have to wait long.
“Khol,” I breathed as he appeared a few feet in front of me. The smile he gave me made me weak in the knees, and I knew the answering one I wore probably made me look like I was a little drunk. And maybe in some ways I was. “I’m not ready yet,” I murmured trying to ignore the little flip-flop that my stomach did as memories of what we’d done together, of how he had let me explore him with my mouth with leisure, and of just how he tasted, rose unbidden to my mind.
“My little Queen,” he practically purred, and I had to fight the urge to fan myself.
“Jenna, hey . . . um . . . can you give us a couple minutes?” I said without breaking eye contact with Khol. I wanted a few minutes alone with him after what happened between us. We hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk; in fact, right after I’d finished . . . my job . . . Drake had called him away on some sort of dragon business. At the time I was kind of relieved because I was pretty sure I was about five seconds away from doing something stupid with him, but now I was regretting the lost intimacy that being with him afterwards would have surely offered me.
“Yeah, I guess,” Jenna pouted. “But don’t do anything to mess up your hair.” She left the room grumbling under her breath about not being appreciated enough.
“I brought you something,” Khol said with a twinkle in his eyes. He then produced a small rectangular shaped box from behind him.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You’ll just have to open it to find out.”
“Yeah, okay.” I made my way over to him and hesitantly took the box from his outstretched hand. I wasn’t used to getting gifts from men, especially men who’d seen me naked. Except for Bryn, my mind protested, but I quickly pushed the thought aside, and ignored the weird pressure in my earlobes from the small sapphire studs that Bryn had given me for my birthday almost a year ago. The black velvet box creaked its protest as I opened it, and I inhaled sharply at what was inside. Nestled on more black velvet was an enormous red stone surrounded by a dragon with outstretched wings. The dragon itself was intricately made, every small detail etched into the shiny silver metal with care. It was a pendant that I’d never seen the like of, and I was pretty sure I never would again. Fire and Water, I thought numbly, ruby and sapphire. Khol was a Fire dragon, and Bryn a Water dragon. The symbolism was too obvious to be ignored, but I decided to do just that. “That isn’t real, is it?”
Khol snorted. “As if I would gift you with a fake ruby. And that’s not silver, but white gold.” I didn’t miss the pride in Khol’s voice as he informed me of the very expensive gift I was clutching in my hands. “I thought the Queen of us all should have some suitable jewelry to adorn herself with. You will wear it, won’t you?”
“Of course I will.” I usually wasn’t much of a jewelry girl, but for some reason the necklace just seemed to call to me, and the thought of not wearing such a beautiful thing suddenly seemed ridiculous.
“Then let me put it on you.” Khol took the necklace from my hands and stood behind me. I lifted my hair so he could have better access, and he placed the cool metal against my skin and fastened it. He then kissed the back of my neck before I dropped my hair back into place. I shivered belatedly from the combination.
I reached up to caress the pendant that was already heating from the contact with my skin. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“My father gave it to me.” I sucked in a breath as his words tickled my bare shoulder. “He told me to give it one day to the one I love . . . my Anam Cara.”
“Oh. Khol, no—”
“I know you’re not my Anam Cara . . . but no matter what happens, you will always be the one that I love.” His voice had grown ragged and he pulled me back into him, wrapping his arms around me. “Wear it for me . . . please.”
What could I say to that, really? “Okay.”
His hand skimmed up the side of my body and came to rest over the pendant, which was resting conveniently close to my cleavage. “I have more gifts for you, my little Queen.” His voice dipped to a low intimate growl. I merely nodded as my eyes slid shut and his enticing scent spiraled around me. It wasn’t as familiar and comforting as Bryn’s had become to me, but it was on the fast track to being its rival. “Drake,” Khol called, and a feeling of power, definitely with a different feel than Khol’s, ran over my skin. Drake appeared a moment later in front of us holding a large clothing box and a smaller shoebox.
Khol took the boxes from Drake, who shot me a smug smile before dipping down in a low bow before me. “My Queen. It warms the cockles of my heart to see you have decided to cast the baby dragon aside to be with my lord. A wise decision indeed.”
I opened my mouth to protest but Khol beat me to the punchline. “That’s enough Drake. No one asked for your commentary. Leave us.”
Drake dipped lower, his voice almost a whisper, “My apologies, my lord, it won’t happen again.” And with that he took his leave.
Khol met my eyes and held them with his intense gaze. “Don’t read too much into what Drake says, he of course sees things the way he wants them to be.”
I bit my lip and swallowed down the angry words I was about to say. “Yeah, I know. Just as long as all of us are on the same page.” But I wasn’t really sure any of us were on the same page.
“Now open your gifts,” Khol said as he set them on the bed.
I obligingly took the lid off the clothing box first and gasped my surprise. “It’s beautiful.” I giggled with delight. Inside was the most amazing crimson silk dress I’d ever seen. It matched the ruby in my new necklace perfectly. I didn’t bother asking Khol if he’d planned it that way because I knew he did. I pulled the dress out and ran my hands over the luxurious material. “I guess this is for tonight too?”
“Yes. I wanted you to look your new role, and you deserve to be dressed in nothing less than the best silks and jewelry in the world, whether you were a queen or not. Try it on, I want to make sure it fits.”
“Okay,” I said with excitement. I knew it was kind of shallow, especially with everything else that was going on, but I’d never owned such a beautiful dress. Maybe I could blame it on the dragon acquisitiveness that had to be part of my nature since I was in fact one hundred percent dragon. “You’re really putting the hardcore press on me, aren’t you?” I asked with a touch of humor.
But Khol’s eyes were completely serious when he answered, “Yes. I’ve made no secret about the fact that I want you for my own. Now that I know you’re fully dragon, I also know what buttons to push to help grow your affections toward me. My tactics were different when I thought you to be half human.”