A/N: For the record, I love animals. Please don't hate me.

Warning: Language.

Disclaimer: A Dance with Rogues belongs to Valine.

Of Magic and Flaming Cats

"So, how did my little sorceress get her start, hmm?"

I stifled a yawn against Vico's chest and snuggled closer to his warmth. The man was a damned furnace, a fact I appreciated since I was almost always cold. There was probably some irony in that considering my fondness for spells that ended in fiery explosions.

"What do you mean?" I murmured lazily as I stared over the plane of his chest into the flickering flames of our campfire.

He lolled his head at an angle to gaze down at my face, his fingers playing idly through a few long strands of my hair. "I mean how did you find out you could cast spells?"

"Oh, uh," I gave an embarrassed little laugh as I traced my fingernails down the trail of black, wiry hairs in the center of his tight stomach. "I-it's not really a very...interesting story…."

"Okay, now I definitely need to hear it," he chuckled, rolling a bit on his side presumably to see me better. "Such a horrible liar."

"Well, I…um…" I sighed and trailed off, but he waited patiently because he knew he'd already won. "I…accidentally…sort of," I rushed the last words together, "set a cat on fire."

A loud, sharp bark of laughter shook his whole body and his eyes widened in amused surprise even as I gave him the dirtiest look I could come up with. "You…what?"

"It was an accident, and I was just a little kid," I explained as I tried not to pout. "My mother had a fondness for animals, so there was always a few wandering around the castle. When I was…I don't know, five or six? I was playing outside and I guess I pulled this little white, fluffy cat's tail."

He snickered and kissed my forehead fondly. "Big bully."

"Hey, I didn't mean to, I was just…I don't know, playing I guess." I didn't want him to know just how embarrassing the whole situation was to me now looking back, but I'd already started the tale and if I didn't finish it he would just bug me until I gave in. "She spun around and scratched my hand. And hissed at me."

Vico was getting far too much entertainment from the story, his whole frame shaking just a little from repressed laughter. "So you just lit her up, huh?"

"Oh, would you shut up," I snapped, though seeing him with a big dopey grin on his face was more endearing than I'd ever let him know. "All I remember was feeling so upset that she'd hurt me. I hadn't meant to pull her tail, it was an accident and I thought the stupid cat should understand that. Then all of a sudden my hands felt…weird, hot, like they were burning. There was pain…and then…."

"Then you torched the wicked little kitty cat straight to hell," Vico finished with a completely serious face. I glowered at him and he broke out laughing again. "Sorry, sorry, go on, princess."

"It was only her tail that caught fire!" I retorted defensively. I could tell Vico was clamping his teeth down on the inside of his cheek to keep laughing aloud again, and I had to admit to myself just how ridiculous I sounded. "Look, I was just a kid. I didn't understand what had happened. I panicked when the cat started running around in the grass, shrieking this horrible, horrible sound. I was afraid someone would hear…afraid I'd be in trouble."

"So you…turned that cat to ash to hide the evidence! Right?" I smacked the dark knight in the arm as hard as I could, but he only laughed harder, his obsidian eyes glittering in the dark.

"This is why I don't tell you anything, jackass."

I tried to roll over but Vico caught me by the shoulders and tried to keep a sober face. He failed. "I'm sorry, really. I'm interested. It's just not every day that someone tells you they ignited a cat." I glared silently at him while he gave me the Vico-equivalent of puppy eyes. "Come on, if you don't finish the story I'll just have to make up my own ending."

I gave a haggard sigh but from his broad grin he knew I would tell him. "The cat was fine – I didn't kill her. I grabbed the blanket I was sitting on and threw it over her. It…took me a few tries, but I caught her and put out the fire."

Vico choked on a laugh as he said, "I bet she scratched the shit out of you."

"Yeah," I admitted grudgingly, my fingers stinging just thinking back about the incident, "she tore me up pretty bad. Of course, she had blisters on her ass for a week thanks to me, so I don't really blame her."

Vico shook his head wonderingly. "So did you get in trouble?"

"Are you kidding?" I snorted. "My hands were covered in scratches and blood, half the grass in the courtyard had been singed black, and there was this sweet, little, white fluff-ball with a charred ass. What do you think?"

He smirked but shook his head. "I think you were a pampered little princess who probably got off easy."

For a moment my thoughts turned grim and I guess my emotions were spread across my face because Vico raised an eyebrow at me. "You'd be surprised," I muttered but I was determined not to think too hard about certain aspects of my childhood. "Regardless, I was in big trouble for a while. But then one of my father's advisors, an old mage who'd been around forever – he'd worked for my father's father – said he thought I had a talent for magic. He took me under his wing, taught me control. For the most part."

"So a dirty old man took you as his 'apprentice,' huh?"

"He wasn't like that," I answered levelly. "He was a good man, a damn good man, and he taught me a lot."

Vico made a noncommittal grunt in reply and I had to smirk at the man's insistence on being jealous of any male having anything to do with me. "Well," he said with painfully obvious mock seriousness, "I guess this explains why you don't have one of those animal familiars. Probably torch the poor thing."

I sighed and rolled my back to the man to get comfortable in our bedroll. "Good night, Vico."

"And here I was thinking about getting you a kitten when all this is over. Good thing you warned me. I hate the smell of burning hair."

"Good night, Vico."

I could practically feel the grin on his face as he settled down behind me, his body molding to my backside and his face nuzzling into the back of my neck. I heard him chuckle to himself before he mumbled, "Hot pussy...."

A laugh escaped his throat as I let out an irritated groan. "You're going to go on about this for a while, aren't you?"

"Yep," he assured me with a gentle squeeze of his arm as it snaked around my waist.

"Damn you," I grumbled even as I snuggled back into his warm embrace. "I should never have told you at all."

He laughed again and kissed the edge of my ear. "Nope."