Halinka frowns as her daughter quickly steps away from the man she had been devouring like a starving she-wolf in the middle of the road.
"I raised you to know better than that, Rachel!" Halinka's voice is full of disappointment.
"I'm sorry, Mama! I don't know what came over me…" Rachel cries, terrified.
Cotton steps in protectively in front of Rachel.
"It's true, ma'am, she doesn't know. It's a…uh, special attraction that is pulling us together and it's very hard to resist."
"Are you saying you bewitched my daughter!?"
Cotton is a courageous man but he can't explain why his knees are trembling in front of this old woman half his size.
"N-No, Madam…It's…it's just love, you see."
Gods, that sounds lame even to his own ears.
But it seems to halt the old dragon from breathing fire
