“I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“It’s a thing,” I insisted. “You’re also a power bottom, but that has nothing to do with you being an otter. That’s just because you’re a rock star.”
He flushed furiously. “Sam, maybe not talk about that in front of others.”
“Why?” I asked with a frown. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” I glanced back at Caleb. “Do you think that’s something to be ashamed of?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. You need to shut up and listen—”
“Rude. First you kidnap me and then you tell me to shut up? Caleb, I don’t think we’re going to be friends.”
“Is it kidnapping if we willingly walked with him?” Ryan asked.
“Eh. I like the way that sounds better than us being gullible idiots.”
“Right,” Ryan said before glaring at Caleb. “You kidnapped us. I’m going to kick your mothercracking behind.”
“Ooh,” I breathed. “You done it now.”
“You killed my mother!” Caleb shouted.
And everything.
Just.
Stopped.
“Excuse me?” I asked, gooseflesh rippling along my arms. “I didn’t kill anyone’s mother.”
Caleb began to pace in front of us, teeth gnashing. “I was gone to Meridian City when it happened. For supplies. We never crossed paths, but I’d heard whispers of the apprentice to the King’s Wizard traveling the countryside, scouring the land for a stolen prince. I thought I knew where the Prince had been taken, but we hadn’t confirmed. It didn’t matter. If the Prince had been kidnapped, it was because a god had decreed it so.”
“A god,” I said faintly, little pieces beginning to fall in place.
“A god,” Caleb agreed. “The god. Because my mother had decreed it so. He came to Verania for our salvation, and we were going to ascend with him. She told us that if we worshipped him, he would love us just as much as we loved him. We would be honored because we were his disciples.”
“I didn’t—”
“No,” Caleb snarled. “You will listen. You will listen to how I came back to Tarker Mills to find the village in ruins, its people scattered to the wind. You will listen to the story that was told to me by those who remained, of the fucking wizard who corrupted a god with his magic, who forced the dragon against his will to take from me. The wizard who used a god as his weapon to close his jaws over my mother, leaving nothing left but her feet in front of a keep in a valley near the mountains.”
“Eloise,” I whispered. “The truth corn cult leader.”
His face turned red with rage. “It wasn’t a cult. But yes. Eloise Marlowe. My mother. She invited you into our home, fed you the truth, and you repaid her by using Dark magic to debase a god into doing your bidding. You did this. You murdered her.”
“Hate to break it to you,” I said coldly, “but your mother was planning on sacrificing us to the one you call a god. You can sure as shit bet I was going to do everything I could to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“Maybe not try and aggravate the crazy twink,” Ryan muttered under his breath.
Caleb ignored him, only having eyes for me. “And I swore on my mother’s stumps that I would do everything I could to bring you to your end, Sam of Wilds.”
I grimaced. “That’s… gruesome. You swore on your mother’s stumps? Dude, what’s wrong with you?”
“And then out of all the darkness, I once again saw the bright light of redemption,” Caleb said. “And it was glorious. I knew I could honor my mother and have my revenge at the same time. Especially when it became evident that you were trying to corrupt the other gods who walk this earth.”
“The dragons aren’t gods. Kevin’s ego is already big enough, and I would appreciate if you wouldn’t add to it.”
“And so I came here. I found my new home. And I trained. I worked day and night, preparing myself to infiltrate the castle, to become the shy l-l-little p-p-page that managed to fool the great Sam of Wilds!”
“No offense,” Ryan said, “but it’s really not that hard to fool him.”