“They’re scared,” she said. “The City of Lockes is far away. It’s only a few people at a time and spread out over great distances. Take your pick, Sam. Any reason will do.”
“Is it just from the villages?”
Mama chuckled darkly. “People disappear every day, especially from Meridian City. Who knows how many others there might have been. There’s no census here. Too many people coming and going. I had a customer come in the other day I hadn’t heard from in nearly two decades. I thought him dead long ago. Turns out he was just married.”
“And he’s not anymore?” Ryan asked.
Mama grinned. “I didn’t say that. And lose that judgmental face, darling. You are obviously in no position to criticize the choices of others, if your words have any weight to them. And besides, you’re much too pretty to scowl like that. I changed my mind. You’re rehired. You can start right now. Take off your pants so that I may see your cock and know just what a knight commander carries with him as his weapon.”
And that bugged the shit out of me. I was used to Mama’s innuendos and sexual advancements and had always brushed them off with a laugh in the past. It didn’t matter who it was directed at (though, once, I might have considered throwing a punch when she’d met my father and decided to call him “dinner”), I would look past it.
But this.
This was different.
I stepped in between the two of them, like I could block Mama from even seeing him. There was a bit of green and gold that fluttered off to the side, and a little voice said, Why not? Why not pull it in and turn it into something more?
Because I could.
“No,” I growled at her and she just smiled.
“Now, isn’t that curious,” she said.
I felt Ryan’s hand come up to the middle of my back. He pressed his palm flat against me and said, “Sam,” and there was no green. There was no gold. There wasn’t the need to think iov and twe and freeze Mama’s lungs in her chest. There was only calm and peace and I was settled in a way I hadn’t felt in a very long time. It was warm and sweet and I never wanted to feel any other way ever again.
It was absolutely awful. Because it wasn’t mine.
But didn’t I press back into his hand, for just a moment?
Well. If I did, that would be my little secret.
“We don’t have time for this,” I said to Mama, voice rough. I stepped away from Ryan. His hand dropped back down to his side.
“And yet, here you are,” she said. “A prince is held by a dragon in a keep far away from here, but you still bless us with your presence. How delightful, Sam. We’ve missed you, of course.”
“I came because we needed answers. We thought it was the dragon.”
“Now you know it wasn’t,” she said. “It’s something else.”
“We’re done here,” I told Ryan. “Mama, thank you. You’re most… informative. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
She bowed her head. “Of course.”
I turned and pushed Ryan toward the door. I needed to get the both of us out of here before someone did something stupid. Most likely me.
“Sam,” Mama said. “A minute of your time. Alone.”
“Fuck,” I muttered. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
Ryan looked over his shoulder at me, worry marring his handsome face. I shook my head once at him. “It’s fine. I’ll follow you downstairs. Won’t be but a moment.” I smiled at him, but it was forced and I think he knew it.
He closed the door behind him and I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“So,” Mama said.
“So.” I turned back around and met her gaze, no matter how hard it was to do so.
“Really, Sam? That’s what you’re going with.”