“Massie!” Rosie stumbles from the bed. I stare in horror and pure joy as she releases herself from her cruising and takes three steps toward Mass, teetering the whole way.
She stumbles. Of course she does. These are her first steps. Pride, excitement, and terror swell, and I can’t make myself move as she pitches forward.
Mass catches her. He reaches out and snatches her before she can hit the floor. He’s laughing as he hoists her into the air, tossing her up once and catching her. Rosie snuggles against him, grinning like a maniac and laughing too, and then I’m on my feet, smiling despite everything. I reach out, and Mass hands Rosie over.
“Good job, little girl,” I say, hugging her tightly. “Oooooh, I’m so proud of you!” She squirms, giggling, clearly not aware of what’s going on until I finally put her down.
She goes back to cruising.
The tension leaks from the room. Mass comes over and sits on the edge of the bed. Slowly, I get up and join him. Our knees are touching, and his shoulders are hunched. I can tell this is weighing on him heavily.
“Elias told me what you two spoke about.”
“Is that where you were?”
He nods tightly. “I had to be sure.”
“Sure about what?”
A painful emotion flashes across his face. He doesn’t respond directly to my question. “Elias has been in my life for a very long time. We met when I was on the verge of becoming what I am now. He didn’t help me back then, but he also didn’t stand in my way when I killed the previous Dragon and took his power for my own. We formed something like a partnership after that, but he was in the middle of his own struggle against Medved. When that went south, I stepped in and saved Elias, but he’d been…” He trails off, frowning deeply, shoulders hunched.
“I saw him. He lost his legs.” I tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry your friend got hurt.”
He looks up sharply. For a second, I think he’s mad. But then he only nods wearily. “You’re right. My friend.” He lets out a breath. “Elias has been running his operation from here ever since that happened. If anyone found out, he’d become a target. A weak Dragon is a vulnerable Dragon. Elias is still clever and sharp, but he struggles physically most days. It isn’t only his legs he lost. So much of his vitality was sapped away. He sleeps for hours, sometimes days. It’s a miracle he’s still with us. He’s simply too frail to go anywhere else.”
I pull my hand away from him. Mass lapses into silence again. The tension and weight are still there, and I’m still angry with him for locking me in here and keeping Rosie away, but at least I’m starting to understand.
Elias is important to him. And Elias is extremely fragile.
Mass is going to extreme lengths to keep his friend safe and alive.
That’s why he reacted the way he did with me.
I don’t love it, but at least it was for a good reason.
“You know I’d never hurt him.” I surprise myself by meaning it. I don’t know Elias at all, but I can see that he means something to Mass. I’d protect him, if only to keep Mass from suffering. “His secret is safe with me.”
“I want to believe that.” He looks at me hard, his face filled with longing. “Elias wants to talk to you again. I’m afraid that’s not a good idea.”
“What could go wrong?”
“A lot of things. There are other aspects of our relationship I haven’t told you about.”
My heart flutters. “Like what?”
“He made me promise to let him tell you.” Mass sighs and slowly gets to his feet. “Do you want to hear it, Allie? The whole truth? The full story? You’re not going to like it.”
My mouth goes dry. I glance at Rosie and scoop her up into my arms. I can’t leave her behind this time, but I also can’t run from this. It’s clearly too important.
“I’ll talk to him.”
Mass nods, looking grim and hard. “Just know I did it for good reasons. I never planned for this.” I wait for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t.
Instead, Lucy shows up, and she nods for me to follow her.
ALLIE
Elias sits with his back propped up by pillows. He’s in a heavy button-down flannel shirt, his hair combed back, a pair of glasses perched on his nose. He looks almost like a grandfather who got into a terrible car accident.
