A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania #2)(126)

So the fact that he even mentioned a time before, much less unprovoked, was a big deal. I took in a great breath, trying to smell what my friend did, hoping for some understanding. It was different for me. All I smelled was the normal scent of a forest. Maybe it was tinged with the crisp burn of magic, but beyond that? It didn’t seem different than anything else I’d scented before. “It smells good,” I decided.

He nodded. “I like our home better. Smells like us. Like HaveHeart and Gary and Tiggy.”

“Me too, dude. I like home better too.”

“We gonna go home some day?”

“Yeah. Someday.”

“After the dragons.”

“Yeah. Soon. Won’t be forever. Gotta get those dragons first, you know?”

He frowned. “Dragons are scary.” He bared his teeth and snapped his jaw. “They bite. Kevin’s not scary.” He took in another deep breath. “This dragon doesn’t feel scary.”

I didn’t know what to do with that, but I thought he was right. I could remember what it’d felt like, the first time Kevin had crested that hill, chasing after the sheep. I’d been scared shitless, but then a flying lizard the size of a house had been rushing toward us. But even though this dragon was supposed to be some kind of large snake (which, ugh), it didn’t feel like we were in danger.

But I knew of poisons disguised in beauty. We couldn’t lower our guard.

Added to the fact that there was still a low hum in my head and that I was pretty sure my eyes were at the very least flickering red, we couldn’t risk anything.

“Yeah,” I said. “But you smash if you need to.”

“I always smash.”

“You fell from the sky, dude. All badass and everything. Saved my life, you know?”

His chest puffed out as he preened. “I am badass. Tiggy so badass.”

“Darn right, mothercracker,” Ryan said, holding out his fist, which Tiggy bumped with pleasure. I liked that these were my people.

We moved farther into the dome. I glanced back and could see Kevin and Gary peering at us from the entrance. I waved back at them, and they acknowledged me before Gary leaned over to say something to Kevin I couldn’t make out. I didn’t see Ruv anywhere, but I knew Gary wouldn’t let him get up to anything.

Without ever having been here before, I knew where I was going. Oh, I didn’t know the layout of the forest in the desert. I didn’t know the trees or the brush at my feet. But I knew where I was heading, where it was waiting for us. For how long we’d traveled, for how much was at stake, I felt woefully underprepared. All anyone knew of Jekhipe was apparently stories and drawings passed down. I didn’t know how to claim it as one of mine.

The forest became denser, and I was reminded fleetingly of Vadoma’s bad-touch, when she’d sent me… somehow into the Dark Woods and an audience with the Great White. There were beams of sunlight here, fat and warm, piercing through the thick canopy of the trees.

I needed a plan.

I could do this. I’d already done it once.

Sort of.

But hey, fuck it. It counted.

So I’d already done it once.

I could do it again.

“Why do you have that look on your face?” Ryan asked me suddenly.

“What look?” I asked.

“That scrunched-up, constipated look you get when you’re planning something that I usually end up not liking because it’s dangerous and or requires you—” He glanced at Tiggy before continuing in a low voice. “—sticking weird things in me because you think it’ll be kinky.”

Tiggy snorted, because of course he’d heard. He heard everything. But like a good giant, he let it go. Gary was such a bad influence.

“Well if I wasn’t thinking of sticking something in you, I am now,” I said. “Thanks for that. You couldn’t keep your sexy words until we were out of here? We’re on a quest, babe. We don’t have time right now to get down.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Tiggy?”

“That’s what he said.”

Ryan glared at him. “We just fist-bumped. I thought we were cool!”

Tiggy squinted at him. “Just one time. Settle down, Knight Delicious Face.”

“He got you there, dude,” I said solemnly.

“I don’t know why I put up with any of you. It’s not like—” He broke off as he gave me a weird look.

“What?” I asked, looking down at myself. “Do I got something on me? Is it a fucking bug? I swear to the fucking gods, if it’s a gigantic bug, I am going to burn this whole place to the ground—”

“Not a bug,” Ryan said. “It’s, ah. Your eyes. They’re getting… brighter.”

“Like all red and shit?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh. Keep your hands to yourself. I know I’m irresistible to you right now, but now’s not the time, Ryan.”

“Bright, Sam,” Tiggy said quietly. “Feel it?” He reached over and tapped my forehead. “Here?”

I nodded. “It’s—I can’t understand it. It’s… like I’m underwater. I can hear something, but it’s muted, you know?”

“Is it hurting you?” Ryan asked, jaw tensing.