Soul of the Dragon by Natalie J. Damschroder Page B

understand the way he chose to invoke that balance,” she went on. “He told me his goal had always been me. The reversal of the curse is my incentive to marry him, become his.”  
    “Which you will not do.” He glared. She glared back.  
    “I could trick him, Cyrgyn. I can go along with the marriage plan and get him to bring you back.”  
    “You cannot.” Why would she not understand? “You tried before. He will not be fooled. Even should you manage to ‘trick’ him, you would be forced to keep your word. You would still be his.”  
    Alexa lurched to her feet. It was her turn to pace. “Why? Why would I have to go through with it, if we got what we were there for?”  
    “Deceit is Tarsuinn’s tool. It would make you his, as much as if you allowed him to take you.” He strove to level his voice, to use reason rather than emotion. His entreaties never seemed to faze her. What would? “It would make you as evil as he.”  
    She flung up her hands. “Maybe I am. Maybe after dying three times in failure, I’ve bent. Maybe my evil outweighs my good. Maybe I belong with him.”  
    Cyrgyn’s eyes burned and he felt a thickness in his throat that he could barely remember, so long ago had he last felt it. His humanness was asserting itself.  
    “You are not, Alexa. You are human, therefore you have the capacity for both. But you do not belong with Tarsuinn.”  
    They stared at each other for a long time. Alexa finally broke the tenuous connection and stomped up the stairs. “I need a shower.”  
    As Cyrgyn watched her, he knew. She was going to try anyway.  
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Alexa kept to herself the rest of the day. She hadn’t decided what she was going to do next—she’d let Tars make his move. But she knew Cyrgyn thought she was going to give in, give Tarsuinn what he wanted, and she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t. It would be worth Cyrgyn’s soul.  
    The dragon had a different perspective, however.  
    She worked on the computer, researching curses to the limits of the Internet. She could hear the dragon moving around behind her, but he never came close.  
    One of her phones rang and she sensed Cyrgyn’s sudden stillness.  
    “It’s the wrong phone,” she called back, then grabbed the secure unit and brought it upstairs and into her bedroom.  
    “Ranger.”  
    “Hello, Alexa.”  
    “Rock.” She held the phone to her ear with her shoulder and started picking up discarded clothes. Maybe after this quest she’d stop being such a slob. She might be living with someone…now that was a strange thought. She’d just go from not knowing this guy at all to living with him? She didn’t know how that would work. Not comfortably, she was afraid.  
    “Alexa.” Her boss’s deep voice sounded as clear as if he was standing next to her. But she knew better. “Are you over your foolishness yet?” he asked.  
    “Why? Do you need me?” She clipped her suit pants onto a hanger.  
    “We always need you.”  
    She didn’t respond.  
    “Alexa, what’s going on? And don’t tell me you’re burned out. You love this work more than I do.”  
    “Yeah, right. Where are you, Beirut?”  
    Rock chuckled. “Close. But we’re talking about you.”  
    She hung the suit in the closet and bent for last night’s sleep shirt. “No, you’re talking about me. I don’t want to talk about me.”  
    “Well, I do.” His tone firmed. From friend to supervisor in three easy words, she thought, amused.  
    “I want to know when this leave of absence will be over.”  
    “Ha!” Alexa tossed the sleep shirt toward her pillow. “I resigned, Rock. That doesn’t get reversed.”  
    “I didn’t accept your resignation.”  
    Alexa sighed. “Rock, I appreciate that you value me. But I don’t know how long this is going to take—”  
    “How long what is going to take? Why won’t you let anyone help you?”  
    Alexa pictured Rock’s face if he ever saw Cyrgyn. He was