The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 18

"Nice family."

Iris' teasing comment took Char by surprise. He'd been glaring at the door after Rath's parting jab, but he turned back to the kitchen, and Iris was smiling. Clearing the table and smiling. With a mischievous sparkle in her brown eyes.

His heart skipped a beat.

But he just gave her a casual shrug and joined her. "Most of the time."

She headed toward the sink with a stack of dishes, and his eyes couldn't help following her. The oversized nightgown and robe hid most of her shape, but not the motion of her hips. He found himself imagining dancing with her, resting his hands on those hips as she swayed, and he had to shake himself back to reality. She'd just regained consciousness.

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thank you. It's just... tiring to use magic." She looked over her shoulder at him as she started the water. "Is Srot okay?"

Char carried the rest of the dishes over to her. "Other than a hangover, yes. He had a bit too much to drink at the party last night."

"What about you?"

The knowing smile on her lips scrambled his thoughts. Was she flirting with him?

So what if she was?

Beautiful women in tight-fitting dresses had been flirting with him the whole time he was at the party, and he'd never felt awkward or unsure with them for an instant. He needed to get it together.

"I didn't drink that much."

She turned her attention to the dishes and the soapy water, and suddenly, he could breathe again. He hadn't realized he'd been having any trouble until the air rushed out of him all at once.

"Would you mind drying? I don't know where everything goes."

He took a wet plate from her and grabbed a dish towel. It was surreal, working side-by-side with her at this simple domestic task when he'd just rescued her from a dungeon the night before.

A nice surreal.

Was this their first real, normal conversation?

"Was this done with magic?" she asked him, her eyes drifting across the stone cabinetry. "The way everything seems to be carved right out of the stone?"

"Yeah. Not all dragons are mages, but there are a few things we can all do. Transforming, telepathy when we're in dragon form, carving stone, little things like that."

Every time her eyes met his, he felt an odd fluttering in his stomach.

"Little things? Well, I guess they seem that way when you grow up with them." She sighed. "It's different when it just... happens all in one day."

Char frowned. The lighthearted atmosphere was gone, as was her smile. He hesitated, considering whether to change the subject, but he had a lot of questions that needed answering, and now was as good a time as ever.

"How do you know how to use the amulet?"

She bit her lip. "It... tells me." She sent him a nervous glance and dropped her gaze back to the sink. "I know it sounds silly. Or maybe it doesn't. I still don't really know how all this magic stuff works. But... I didn't even know I was holding the amulet that day on the battlefield. It just... I saw the flames heading for Kayla, and then a shield was there. And that's how it was until we flew here. I never knew I did anything, but then there were these voices, whispers, telling me I needed to wake up, and..." She shrugged. "They never really left. Sometimes they're louder, sometimes I can barely hear them, but they're always there, and they tell me what to do."