“Wraith-out?” Rath lifted his brows.
“You know, go all shadowy.” I waved a hand at him.
“Yes, I know what you meant. We call it our wraithform. But when we travel, it's called fading.”
“Fading?” I grimaced. “That doesn't make me feel better.”
Nex finally stopped chortling to say, “There's nothing to it, kid. Especially as a passenger. You just hold on.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “Just stop calling me a kid. I'm twenty-eight years old.”
“Oh, he's twenty-eight, Rath,” Nex said as he slapped Rath's shoulder. “All grown up.”
Rath shook his head.
“Why is that funny?” I put my hands on my hips.
Rath chuckled.
“I'm not a child!” I stomped my foot, and both men laughed so hard, tears rolled down their cheeks. I realized what I'd done and stuck my tongue out at them. Because at that point, there was nothing to do but go with it. “All right, well how old are you two?”
“Rath here isn't that much older than you,” Nex said. “He's only eighty-six.”
“Eighty-six!” I exclaimed and looked him over. “You look good for your age.”
Rath grinned and inclined his head. “Thank you.”
“I'm one hundred forty-nine,” Nex declared. “How do I look?”
“Like an idiot,” Rath drawled.
Nex made a face. “I walked right into that, didn't I?”
“Yup.”
“A hundred forty-nine,” I murmured. “I mean, I know you guys are immortal, but . . . wow.”
“You don't interact with a lot of the other races, do you?” Nex asked.
I shrugged. “A few of them come through Fress. Merchants mostly. But I've never met a Varraen or a Tytra before.”
“Then you don't know that I'm an exceptional example of my race?” Nex asked with a smirk.
“Are you though?” I asked.
Nex chuckled. “Nice one. But I know you noticed these biceps.” He brought his arms down and forward to flex. “You wanna touch them?”
Rath shook his head. “Don't tease him.”
“I'm not.” Nex straightened. “Oh, I see. You don't want me impressing your boy too much.”
“Stop it, Nex.”
“Sure, sure.” Nex waved a hand. “Do your thing, Lord Ratharin.”
“Can you really become a dragon?” I asked Nex. Then I blinked and looked at Rath. “Lord Ratharin?”
“Yes,” both men said at once.
