A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania #2)(63)

And I hesitated. Of course I would. Because I was a wizard, and maybe I was more powerful than anyone else in the world, but I was still human. I was still covetous. Jealous. Prideful. What was mine was mine, and I wanted nothing else to touch it.

Vadoma came to stand before me, reaching up to cup my face. “You will lose him,” she said quietly. “One day. Either by the hands of your enemies or by the passage of time. You will watch him fall when a sword pierces his flesh. Or when magic stops his heart. Or, and maybe the worst of all, you will watch him age while you do not. You will see the end coming and won’t be able to do anything to stop it. The moment you chose to love him was the moment you chose to watch him die.”

“No,” I said hoarsely. “I refuse to believe it. I refuse.”

She dropped her hands. “And that is your right, na?ve though it may be, chava. But I speak only in truth. Morgan and Randall have hidden so many things from you, least of all this. But I can offer you something more. An… alternative. Something that may have your Knight Commander live to see another day.”

“What?” I asked, hating the way hope bloomed in my chest.

“Ruv.”

I stilled. “What about him?”

“He is the Wolf. The magic in him is latent, but it is there. His life, while not as long as yours, will be extended. It is the gypsy way. Your mother forsook it when she chose that… that man over her own people. She is my daughter, and I will love her until the end of my days and beyond, but I cannot follow her path. I can bring you home, Sam. Where you belong. With your family. Continue as you are and everything you love will crumble before you. At least with our people, you have a chance.”

And, okay. You know what?

I’d had enough.

Fuck this bitch.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You thought it’d be that easy, didn’t you?”

She cocked her head. “That easy?”

“You thought I was what… young? Stupid? Na?ve, I think you said.” I took a step toward her. She stood her ground. “I have seen things in this life that defy logic. I have stretched the boundaries of my magic more than you can possibly imagine. I have done things in the name of the people I love and would do so again without regret. And even if the dark man comes for me, even if he tries to take from me, I will have my family at my side fighting with me, for me, every step of the way. And there is nothing you or Ruv or your people can say that would change my mind. Ryan Foxheart is my godsdamned cornerstone. I won’t let anything happen to him. You say you’ve seen the paths I will walk? Fuck you. Because I’m about to blaze my own fucking path, and you won’t even see me coming.”

“Insolence,” she breathed as the throne room began to crack around us. The runes on my skin began to itch and burn, but I didn’t look away from her. “You would risk everything?”

“For them? For him?” I didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes. Because they would do the same for me. We are better together than we ever will be apart. We are bound to each other. And nothing, nothing, will change that. Not you. Not the Dark. Not anything.”

The roof cracked overhead as she said, “It would seem I have underestimated you.”

I snorted. “No shit. Maybe next time, don’t come in here pimping a half-naked guy when I already have someone’s junk to play with. Not cool, Grandma. Not fucking cool.”

She nodded. “I see that now,” she said slowly, and her skin began to sag and wrinkle as she aged right in front of me. The walls were shaking. “I wish there could be another way.”

“There doesn’t need to be,” I said, attempting a rakish grin that I didn’t quite feel. “In case you didn’t know, I’m Sam of Wilds. I can take whatever’s coming our way.”

“I hope you remember that,” she said. “When the time comes.”

The roof caved in and I—





Chapter 10: The We-Hate-Sam-A-Lots


I OPENED my eyes.

Only to find myself lying on the ground, squinting up toward the sky. And since everyone I know couldn’t be normal, I had Mom, Dad, Tiggy, Gary, the King, Justin, Randall, Morgan, Kevin, and Ryan all staring down at me with the same weird look on their faces.

“You’re all a bunch of creepy-ass motherfuckers,” I said. “Sorry, Mom.”

“Your little towel thing fell off,” Gary said. “During your stoned dream quest vision gypsy thing.”

Gods, I felt like shit. Like we’d spent the night drinking apple wine and I didn’t understand the meaning of the word moderation. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” Gary nodded solemnly. “Your bits and bobs were just flopping all over the place.”

“That sounds about right.” I scrubbed my hand over my face. “So of course you all are staring down at me now.”

“I just had to make sure your testicles were all right,” Kevin rumbled. “Because I care.”

I groaned as I pushed myself up, trying to breathe past the shooting pain in my head. The runes on my skin were dead, the magic depleted, but they still itched. I saw someone had had the decency to cover me up. Probably Ryan, as he tended to get uncomfortable if anyone else saw me naked. (“It’s weird, Sam, you don’t just forget to put on pants!” Uh, yeah, smartass, sometimes I did.) Ryan knelt beside me, running a hand up my back, a worried look on his face.