Willow blushed. Redd was walking ever closer to her, and when he finally stopped, he was less than three feet from her. When he asked her about whether or not she had a male in her life, she shook her head. “Just my brother, and he’s dead. He’s the only boy I’ve ever really known.” She shook off the mention of her brother. “You are really red. I . . . I love your scales,” she blurted out. She flushed. Willow’s conversational skills were seriously lacking. Redd was also . . . distracting. It didn’t help her case of a tied tongue. But, Willow thought, who could blame her, because she’d been secluded a lot of the time in Dawnshire and she was everywhere within her mind. She decided to poke at the soulmate tie; it gave her a strange twanging sensation. “What do we do about . . . about this . . .” Her words trailed off. The options were clear. Most normally, soulmate pairs pursued the first one.

“Yeah I stopped using my head, using my head, let it all go!”