A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania 2)

I didn’t have time for that now. The symbols she’d drawn on my skin were starting to buzz unpleasantly, not because of the paste itself, but deeper, underneath my skin. It felt like it was crawling inside of me, and I was practically vibrating because of it. It wasn’t like any magic I’d ever felt before. Everything I’d known came from the earth. All those golds and greens were inherent in the air around me, in the ground beneath my feet.

This felt different. Cerebral. Like it was in my head, a thought that I couldn’t shake. I wanted it off me as soon as possible.

I hadn’t let her do this on a whim. She’d talked with Morgan and Randall first, explaining the runes she was to draw. I knew both of them had kept an eye on her while they whispered to each other, making sure she did exactly what she’d said. But I didn’t know how much they knew of gypsy magic, though I had to trust their knowledge was far more extensive than my own.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked.

I hadn’t even realized I’d closed my eyes. I opened them, only to find Ryan standing in front of me, sword sheathed, a worried look on his face. I blinked at him, trying to clear my vision of the brighter colors that had begun to swirl around him.

“Whoa,” I said. “That’s fucking weird. You’re so colorful.”

His brow wrinkled. “Huh? Sam, your pupils are really blown out.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Sometimes I want to blow you out.”

There was a choking sound right next to me. I turned and looked and saw what was possibly the most amazing creature in all of existence.

“Oh my gods,” Gary said. “He’s tripping balls.”

“I’m not tripping balls,” I said, wondering when my voice had gotten so deep. “You’re tripping balls. I love you. You have no idea how much.”

A gigantic head came into my vision, a nose almost pressed against mine. “Sam really high?” the gigantic head asked.

“Tiggy,” I breathed. “Your very name is like a balm on my beleaguered soul. We should do a choreographed dance every time we enter a room so everyone will know how wonderful we are.”

“I will remember this forever,” Gary said. “I have been given no greater gift than this. Make him do funny shit so we can make fun of him forever! Sam, what do you think of Ryan?”

“His face,” I said. “I like that shit.” I bopped him on the nose.

“Yassss,” Gary hissed.

“Enough,” another voice said. I didn’t like that voice at all. “We do not have much time. It has already started.”

“Someone needs to take a chill pill,” I said. “We’re all just hanging out, man. You know? Just hanging out and chilling. My balls are cold, but it ain’t no thing. Ryan likes them a lot. He puts them in his—”

Ryan slapped a hand over my mouth, and my eyes widened at the contrails it left behind, like his fingers were leaking every color possible. “That’s probably enough of that.”

“I love you so hard,” I said, but it came out mghmghshhgh.

“I know,” he said, eyes crinkling because he could understand me like no one else did.

“Step back,” the voice I didn’t like said. “We must hurry.”

Ryan’s hand tensed on my face before it dropped away. “You said this wouldn’t hurt him.”

“And it won’t. Physically. But the longer we wait, the less of a chance I have to show him what he needs to see. Now step away.”

“Ryan,” another voice said. That voice I knew, even if I was a little mad at it right now. “I know you don’t trust her. But you can trust me. I wouldn’t let this happen if I thought it was going to harm him in any way.”

Ryan didn’t look very appeased at that. “And I’m supposed to believe you, Morgan? You’ve kept things from him all his life. What else haven’t you told us? Told him? Do you know what it means to grow up in the slums? What it does to a person? You could have saved him. You could have helped him.”

“It’s not as easy as you think.”

“It’s easier than you—”

“Knight Commander.”

“My King.”