A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania #2)(51)

“There are always things to worry about,” he said quietly.

“Maybe. But not this.”

“This?”

He hissed when I pinched his nipple. “Knock it off. You know what I’m talking about.”

“I’m not worried,” he said, pulling me just a little bit tighter against him.

He was lying, and we both knew it. “Sure,” I said. “Because you normally have middle-of-the-day shirtless pull-up contests that draw large crowds and end up in hardcore gay sex.”

I didn’t even need to look up to know he had a smug smile on his face. “Didn’t seem like you had much to complain about there.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re stupid sometimes.”

“Probably,” he agreed. “But I beat him, didn’t I?”

“Did you?” I asked innocently. “From where I stood, you stopped right in the middle of it.”

“Only because you were— Speaking of that.”

Well, fuck. That was something I had been hoping to avoid. Maybe if I pretended I wasn’t there, he wouldn’t push it. “Gosh, I’m sore. Are you sore? I am a sex god, after all—”

“You’re deflecting. Again.”

Bastard. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He shook me a little, jostling me at his side. “Sam. I know something was wrong. We don’t keep things from each other. Ever.”

“Lies. I have secrets. I’m a wizard. I’m supposed to be secretive.”

“Sam, the one time you tried to keep a wizarding secret from me, you told me that you had a secret and couldn’t tell me, and then told me anyway two minutes later.”

“Secrets are hard. You don’t even know.”

“Sam.”

I sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to let this go. “Vadoma,” I admitted. “She’s getting in my head.”

He tensed. “What? What did she say? Was it about Ruv again? God, I hate that guy. You just have to ignore her, Sam, I mean she’s gotta be—”

“No, I mean she is literally getting in my head. Like, we were standing there, and then everyone was frozen except for me and her. I don’t know what was real and what wasn’t, if this was a mind game or if she actually froze everyone in that room.”

“Oh,” Ryan said.

“Yeah. Oh.”

“How can she do that? I thought her magic wasn’t supposed to be that great.”

Good question. “I have no idea. It felt… I don’t know. Fake, somehow. Like it wasn’t real.”

He pushed me off him gently, laying my head on my pillow so he could turn on his side and face me. Our foreheads were almost touching, and I could feel his breath on my face. He reached up and traced his thumb across my bottom lip. “You know I’d never let anything happen to you, right? You’re a sex god, after all.”

And I tried. I really did. I tried to hold in my laughter because I was scared. I was worried. But when faced with the earnestness of Ryan Foxheart trying to get a smile on my face, I was helpless. I burst out laughing and didn’t miss the way he looked pleased with himself.

“So dumb,” I said. “It’s true, but you’re dumb.”

“Probably,” he agreed. “But you wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Nah,” I said. “I wouldn’t.”

“We’ll figure it out, okay?” he said. “I promise. We’ll figure out what this is, this destiny or whatever. And I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“I really hate that word.”

“I know. But if you think about it, who else is going to have one beside you? Isn’t that the sort of thing that happens to us? I’d say it’s something we should have expected.”

Us. Not happens to you. Us. Like there was no question that we were a team. “Why?” I asked, suddenly curious.

“Why what?”

“Why are you with me? After all this bullshit, after everything we’ve been through, why are you still here?”

He rolled his eyes. “Are you serious? Are you that stupid?”

“There’s the romance I needed. My gods, the heart boner I’ve got is throbbing like you don’t even know. Put your mouth hole on me and let me feel your insides.”

He flicked the tip of my nose. I squawked and batted his hand away because I hated when people did that.

“You know why.”

“I do?”

“Remember? Atop the tower?”

“The dragon’s keep.”

“Yeah. You and me.”

“All those stars.”

“I only saw you.”

“Sap,” I said, even though it made me feel warm. “Probably because you were breaking my heart.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Mine too. But do you remember what I said?”

But you have to believe me that it’s always been you. I promise. I promise. I promise, because when I look upon these stars, there is nothing I wish for more than you.

“I remember,” I said. As if I could ever forget. As if those words weren’t etched upon my very soul. “That was… smooth. In retrospect. At the time, I thought you were an asshole, but now? Way to go.”