A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania 2)

“This isn’t my home,” I said. “But we appreciate the greeting nonetheless. Mashallaha is very beautiful. I can see why you would be proud of your city. But it is not my own.” I could be diplomatic when the situation called for it. Morgan had made sure of that. But I was already on edge in being here, unsure of what else could be waiting for us.

“The people have been less than welcoming,” Ryan said. “Insinuations about Sam’s parentage, the lack of a proper honor guard. Is this how Mashallaha greets the King’s Wizard?”

“Apprentice,” Gary coughed. “Still an apprentice.”

The smile on Ruv’s face didn’t shrink. If anything, it widened, just a little. “Forgive us, Knight Commander,” he said, bowing the barest amount. “Vadoma doesn’t stand on ceremony as they do in Lockes. And as far as the people are concerned, I assure you, they are merely curious about Mashallaha’s long-lost son.”

“The guards said he was diluted,” Ryan spat. “That the gypsies thought him weak because he was lighter in color than they were.”

Ruv’s eyes narrowed. He turned and barked out something in his native tongue, the words clipped and harsh. Left and Right snapped to attention, nodding furiously before brushing past us back the way we’d come. Kevin snapped his jaws after them, and they squeaked as they ran faster. The dragon winked at me before sitting back up and glaring at Ruv.

“My apologies,” Ruv said, voice kind. “No one should ever be judged by the color of their skin.”

“I never have been before,” I said. “Until today. It was… eye-opening.”

“Some are stuck in old ways.” Ruv stepped forward until he was right in front of me. We were the same height, and his eyes were dark and deep. He reached up, rested a hand on my bicep, and squeezed it gently. “But not all of us think that way. And I assure you, your grandmother does not.”

I chuckled bitterly. “Right, because she showed kindness to my father.”

“Tradition.” Ruv shrugged. “Our culture is steeped in it, even if we don’t understand much of it anymore. Such is the way of things. Come, you must be weary. Vadoma will meet with you now.” He glanced over my shoulder, the quickest of things, before looking back at me. “Alone, if it pleases you. She would have time with her grandson, one on one. The others will be fed and shown to their rooms.”

“Not gonna happen,” Ryan said, taking a step forward, knocking Ruv’s hand off my arm. “We don’t know you, we don’t know this place. You’re not separating us at any point.”

And that… well. I got what he was saying. I knew what he was trying to do. And I also knew that Ryan Foxheart’s protective streak was a mile wide. I appreciated it, because I loved him. I knew what he’d lost in his life, and that he thought he didn’t have much to call his own. But sometimes it almost pushed too far, like he thought I wasn’t capable of handling myself. Like I knew Randall thought. And Morgan sometimes did, even though he’d deny it. And lumping Ryan in with those two was probably not my best choice at the moment, given that Randall and Morgan were on my shit list.

“Give us a moment?” I asked Ruv sweetly. “Gotta have a quick word with my babe.”

Ruv bowed his head in response.

I gripped Ryan by the arm and started dragging him away from the others.

“Uh-oh,” Gary said. “He’s gone and done it now.”

“Sam don’t need no mens?” Tiggy asked as he started to unload the packs from Gary’s back.

“He is a strong and independent twink who don’t need no mens,” Gary agreed.

“I am not a twink,” I growled over my shoulder.

“Little bit,” Kevin said. “Okay, a lot.”

Ryan looked like he had geared himself up for a fight by the time we were out of earshot. So I said, “I love you,” and he melted a little, like I knew he would. “But I also don’t need you protecting me all the time.”

“It’s not all the time,” he said, sounding chagrined. “It’s just a lot of the times.”

It would have been irritating if it wasn’t so godsdamned adorable. “You won’t always be there, Ryan.”

That was probably the wrong thing to say. The expression on his face hardened. “I told you that I would, Sam. Nothing’s going to break us apart.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t mean like—look. There are going to be times when you aren’t around that I’ll need to take care of myself. And if you hadn’t noticed, there were twenty years before you where I did just that. I don’t need you coming to my rescue all the time. I need you to trust me enough to know that I can handle things on my own.”

“I do trust you. You know that.”

Gods, I was such a sucker for earnestness. And no one could do earnest like the Knight Commander. “I know you do.”

“But we’re also a team,” he said. “And sometimes I think you forget that. You’re not alone. It’s not just the Sam, Gary, and Tiggy show anymore. There are more of us here now, things mean more, and yet you still choose to be reckless.”

Ouch. That… hurt. Probably more than it should have. “I’m not reckless,” I said stiffly.