A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania #2)(100)

“They were hers,” Ruv said beside me in a quiet voice. “Or so Vadoma says. Her flowers. She loved them, apparently.”

“She loves them still.”

“Does she? That’s… well. I know you don’t trust me. And I know you don’t trust Vadoma. And that’s your right. But before Vadoma was the phuro, she was a mother. And she loved her daughter. Her hands were tied by tradition far older than she could ever be. Older than you or I will ever live. She had to uphold that tradition.”

“She didn’t, though.” I looked at the small house with the faded siding. It wasn’t ostentatious. It looked like a home, nicer than anything we’d had in the slums. And she’d given that up for my father. “She didn’t have to force my mother away.”

“She comes here,” Ruv said. “And tends to the flowers. Every week, she is on her hands and knees caring for them. I asked her once why she had let her own flowers die after her daughter left, but not these. Why she wanted the reminder in front of her face, so brightly colored, of how she banished her own daughter.”

“What did she say?”

“She said it was where she felt closest to her. That even though she was gone, even though she was far away, there was still a piece of her here. And she was going to hold on to that piece with all her might.”

“Is that supposed to make things better?” Gary asked.

Ruv shrugged. “No. I don’t think it is. But regardless of what else she may be, regardless of what secrets she has kept, she is a mother too. That’s not something that will change. And I think, in the end, we all hold on to whatever we can, even if it’s just a memory.”

I watched the sunlight on the flowers for a long time.




WE WERE nearly back at Vadoma’s when I stopped Ruv with a hand on his shoulder. “Gary, can you give us a minute?”

Gary’s nostrils flared. “You gonna suck his balls?”

I sighed. “No, Gary. I’m not going to suck his balls.”

“Are you going to suck his—”

“Oh my gods, Gary, I’m not going to suck his anything.”

“Just making sure. You have one minute. If you’re not done in that minute, I will describe in excruciating detail that one time my hoof got stuck in Kevin’s asshole. You understand me?”

I gagged. “Why do you say such things?”

“Because I love you more than life itself. One minute. Ruv, try anything and I’ll eat your liver. Don’t think that I won’t.”

Gary whirled away in a cloud of glitter and violent rage.

“How does he do that?”

“Look so beautiful and scary all at the same time?”

“Yes.”

“He’s a unicorn. It’s a species trait.”

“You’ve met other unicorns?”

“Um. No? But his parents are swingers and he has a brother named Terry that he doesn’t really talk to, so I just imagine they’re all like that.”

“Terry and Gary.”

“Right? Isn’t it terrible?”

“And his parents are what?”

“Oh, they travel around and have group sex.”

Ruv’s eyes bulged.

“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t ask too many questions because it’s easier that way. Also, can we hurry this up, because Gary will tell me about his foot in Kevin’s asshole, and I’ve already had to listen to them scream my name while they were fucking, and I’m traumatized as it is.”

“Sure,” Ruv said, looking dazed and disgusted all at the same time. Like a champ.

“I know what Vadoma wants,” I said. “And I understand what you’ve been told. But, man. I gotta tell you. You seem nice. You’re hot. You’ve got that whole mysterious thing going for you. And you seem pretty bendy.”

“Thank you,” he said, sounding rather pleased.

“Sure. No problem. But, dude, I love Ryan Foxheart. Like, I can’t even begin to tell you how much. Well, okay. Maybe I can. I used to disguise myself and go to Ryan Foxheart Fan Club meetings with teenage girls. One time, we talked about his biceps for six hours. I’m not even joking.”

Ruv took a step back. “What.”

“Right? Oh, man. It gets so much worse. I’ve inserted things into my anus while thinking about him before we were together.”

“Like sex toys?”

“Not all the time,” I said.

“Wow,” Ruv said faintly.

“It’s something I’ll have to live with for the rest of my days,” I said. “And him, too, if I’m being honest. I know what Vadoma wants. What she thinks. And I don’t know how she knew you’d be… that. For me. Like he is. I know you’ve been waiting. And I know promises were made. But I don’t love you. I won’t love you. I love him, and I always will.”

He watched me closely. “What about when his skin starts to wrinkle? When his hair turns gray? When he ages beyond you while you stay as you are? Can you say you’ll love him then?”

“If it comes to it, yes,” I said. “But I aim to make sure that doesn’t happen. Either he’ll go with me or I’ll go with him, it doesn’t matter. I’m a godsdamned wizard. One of the most powerful there has ever been, if Morgan and Randall are to be believed. I’ll figure it out.”