Aspen (The Dragon Kings #2)(21)

“Did that man just call Sid, Obsidian?”

Aspen shrugged. “What would make you think that?”

“He did. I know he said Obsidian.”

Skye spoke sweetly. “Rowan, hon, we have no idea what you are talking about.”

Rowan shook his head. “I swear I heard…”

Aspen hoped he wouldn’t dwell on this. A few minutes later Sid came into the room, followed by a very tall and muscular dark skinned man with curly black hair that was cut close to his head. Covering his face was a bushy black beard. He was the type of guy that looked like he could break your hand with a simple handshake.

Skye wiped her hands and flew to him.

“Apollo,” she squealed and flung herself at him. He chuckled and returned her hug, engulfing her.

She pulled away. “I’ve missed you. How are you?”

“Not good,” he grumbled with a look at Sid.

Skye looked back and forth between them both and turned to Rowan.

“Do you want to go out to dinner, just the two of us?”

Rowan jumped off the stool so fast that he nearly fell over. Apollo caught him. Rowan adjusted his glasses, jerked his arm out of Apollo’s grasp, and straightened his shirt.

“Sure,” he said with a shrug and headed toward the front door. Aspen gave Skye a grin, but Skye grimaced. She was just doing this to get Rowan out of the house.

They left the room with Rowan talking animatedly to Skye. The rest of them didn’t move until the front door slammed. Then Apollo turned to Aspen.

“Are you Aspen?” he asked with a growl.

She got off the stool and approached him. He didn’t scare her. She held out her hand, hoping he wouldn’t actually break her fingers.

“It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

He looked at her hand for a half second before he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

He let her go and held her at arm’s lengths. “She’s pretty, son, for a human.”

Aspen wasn’t sure what to think of him. She couldn’t tell if he liked her or not.

Sid moved closer to her and slid his arm around her waist. “Yes, she is. I love her very much.”

Apollo rubbed his hand over his head. “I figured as much. Let’s sit. You need to tell me all about this mess you’re in.”

They sat at the breakfast table. Sid kept Aspen close, and Apollo sat across from them.

“Who told you?” Sid asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Of course it does.”

“Why?”

“Because I need to know how much you know.”

“Damien came to visit me right after you left him. Good thing your mother wasn’t home.”

“Why?”

“Well, for one thing, you know how much she hates him. For another, she’d kill Aspen for what she did to you. Can I see your mark?”

Sid moved around by his father and pulled his sock down so his dad could see the mark on his ankle. Apollo chuckled. “I was talking about the other one, but that’s a nice one too.” He looked at Aspen. “I bet you were shocked when a mark showed up on your ankle.”

“Yeah, especially since I didn’t actually know Sid at the time.”

Apollo creased his eyebrows at her. “What do you mean?”

“My mark showed up when I met Sid on the mountainside as a dragon.”

Apollo shook his head. “I don’t know much about sealings, but from what I understand, it’s rare for humans to seal themselves to dragons unless the dragon seals first. Humans fall in love so quickly and easily that there would be a hell of a lot of people running around with marks from unrequited love from a dragon during his human years. Aspen’s the first human I’ve heard of who’s sealed herself to a dragon. Well, except for Olivia, but that was expected. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure her sealing came later.”

“Who’s Olivia?” Aspen asked.

“A story for another night.” Sid whipped off his shirt. Aspen sucked in a breath. She still had not gotten used to seeing him like that.

Apollo stared at his son’s chest, but for an entirely different reason than Aspen. He studied both the bright blue mark from Skye and the deep red one from Damien.

“Good, you only have two.”

Sid scowled. “Why is that good?”

“Because I wanted to make sure Theo or your sister hadn’t gotten to you first. Your mother and I believe in you, and I want to be the one to swear my allegiance to you.”

“You’ll have to go into hiding. I can’t ask that of you. Theo’s a better choice. I just haven’t had a chance to ask him yet.”

“Nonsense. I’m your father, and I want it to be me. I’m retired anyway. Hiding won’t be a problem.”

“What about Mom?”

“What about her?” Apollo raised his eyebrows at Sid.

“Won’t she be upset?”

“She’d be angrier if she found out about it later, and I wasn’t the one from the royal dragons.”

“You do know what you are risking?”

“Of course I do. Why are you trying to talk me out of this?”

“Because I don’t want you to die.”

“You’re assuming you won’t make it. I daresay that young lady over there thinks differently. Now let’s get this over with, and then I want to get to know Aspen a little bit better before I go home.”