Was that the reason he had casually wandered into someone else's head? It was a worrying thought, but the magician in him was intrigued.
Bas helped his older brother up and slung an arm around him. They were sharing a cabin near the lake, and as they crossed the field, Apollo started crying.
"Oh gods, you really did a number on yourself tonight," Bas sighed.
"I'm going to be a really bad dragon, Bas," Apollo cried.
"What nonsense are you talking about now?"
"Taranis used his king daddy voice on me and said I had a dragon waking up in me. That I could shift," Apollo babbled. "I don't know if I want a dragon in me. At least, not unless they ask nicely. Oh shit." Apollo stumbled and landed face-first on the grass. "Just leave me here. The grass is soft."
Bas took a deep, patient breath. His other two brothers would absolutely leave Apollo's drunk ass where it was. Unfortunately, after their mother died, the nurturing duties had fallen to Bas. He helped Apollo back up, but only after taking a video of him muttering things about Lachlan’s hair to the crushed wildflowers underneath him.
"You're going to shift into a dragon, or you are going to seduce one?" Bas asked him.
"IwishI was seducing one. They are all so handsome. Ishouldbe seducing them all at once," Apollo babbled. "Butnoooo. Stupid face Ironwood would be there to stop me having any fun at all."
"I thought you were meant to make friends with Lachie tonight. Didn't the sword work?" Bas really couldn't keep up with his brother's dramas some days.
"Oh, it worked. Then my sword worked, and I ruined it," Apollo said and started crying again. "I made an ass of myself, and now he's never going to look at me like I'm not a weirdo fuck up little brother."
"I'm sure Lachlan doesn't think of you that way."
"Taran said we are going to turn into dragons now that magic was fixed. What color do you want to be?"
"Blue. How about you?" Bas helped him up the stairs of their cabin and put him into bed in one of the rooms.
"I don't know, but what if I'm ugly? I don't think I could handle being an ugly dragon. Then stupid Ironwood will never think I'm cool."
Bas tried not to roll his eyes. "Look, don't worry about it tonight, okay?"
"I'm sorry if I turn into a dragon in my sleep, Baby Basset Bear," Apollo slurred into the pillow.
"It will be fine if you do," Bas said, and after making sure his brother had some water on his bedside table, he quietly shut the door.
He didn't want to go back to the party, so he sat on the grass in front of the cabin's porch and stared up at the sky. The power in the land curled around Bas's ankles like an affectionate cat, whispering secrets to him that he couldn't understand.
Dragon shifting and pretty hawk girls in your head all in one night. Bas lay back, looked at the stars, and grinned at the thought of a new magical puzzle to unravel.
He had a feeling it was going to be another weird year, and he couldn't wait to see what happened next.
