One thing you’re never gonna lack for here at Cain’s keep is food.
Who’s Cain?He tried not to think about the fact that Talon was carrying him, not putting him down for any reason at all, but he couldn’t help it. Talon was warm and he smelled like wind and rain and somehow something earthy.
He’s the seer here. It’s his keep. He started it years ago, or maybe it was decades ago. I don’t know the history really well. He’s a good guy. You’ll like him.
He sighed, hiding his face against Talon’s neck.I probably won’t be here for very long.
Why not? You don’t have any reason to go anywhere. I promise you there’ll be a place for you here, a home.
Talon carried him right into what looked like a giant dining hall with lots of people bustling around and long trestle tables set up throughout the entire place. Some of them had benches and some of them had chairs, but there were also little round tables and along a few of the walls there were comfy settee-type things with tables in front of them.
That would be very nice, but I don’t have a heartstone. Sooner or later, it’s going to make my energy drain away. I’ll lose all my magic, and then I’ll die.Mercury tried to be practical about that fact. He didn’t want to get emotional about it and cry. That had worked itself out of him many moons ago.
Hailee, I promise we’re going to get you a heartstone, a new one, something you can bond with and thrive.Talon gave him a little squeeze and then chose one of the settee-like areas to plop him down on, moving the table a little closer to him because he was so small that it was hard to reach it.
Heartstones are in short supply. Only dragons who deserve them get to have them.How many times had he been told that?So many. It was like water over stone now. It had worn him down until he believed it.
That’s not true. Most dragons deserve heartstones. There are a few that are evil enough that I would say they could just live without them. But I don’t think that qualifies as you. Talon flicked his nose with one finger. “I’ll be right back,” he said aloud. “You just stay there.”
Once Talon had left him, Mercury looked around curiously to see what other types of dragons there might be here. There were all different shapes and sizes, and then there were creatures he didn’t think were dragons. Maybe they were shifters. He saw several of them, from one who looked like a cat, to a couple who looked like he wasn’t sure, maybe beavers?
One way or the other, they were fascinating, and the smells in the room made his mouth water. He could hardly bear how good it smelled. He was so tired of canned beans that if he never saw another bean in his life, it would be too soon.
He traced a pattern on the table with his finger, trying not to feel self-conscious. Nobody was staring at him, but he did see a few side-long glances as if people were trying to figure out who he was.
Talon came back carrying a tray that held some steaming mugs of something to drink. It smelled a bit like cider and a giant loaf of crusty bread with a pot of butter. “I ordered the soup, and they gave me this as a starter.”
Mercury stared at the bread, his fingers itching to grab it and just rip into it, but he didn’t. “It looks very nice. Thank you.”
“Hey, you’re welcome to have something. Do you want me to cut you a piece or would you just like me to tear some off?” Talon’s gentle smile was completely at odds with the fierceness of his face and the scars that crisscrossed it.
“Whatever you’re going to do for yourself.” That was fair, right?
“Then I’ll just tear it.” Talon took the loaf and then tore it in half, and then tore it in half again, before handing him a huge chunk as well as the pot of butter.
“I couldn’t possibly eat that much.” He laughed out loud at the very idea. He had been subsisting on half a can of beans a day, along with some white bread they brought him in loaves with some logo on the outside.
That and tuna. He’d eaten a lot of canned tuna. He loathed the very smell of canned tuna now, even though his people ate a lot of fish.
His former people.
He liked that idea better.
He didn’t love to think about those dragons as being his. Talon had been nicer to him in the last few hours than anyone had been in his memory.
He didn’t feel like honoring them by allowing them to be his people.
So there.
Mercury took the bread and buttered it liberally, and then took a big bite. When the flavor of yeast and sugar and butter hit his tongue, he burst into tears, a mixture of relief and horror and exhaustion pouring into him like a wave.
“Hey,” Talon smiled at him, winked. “This doesn’t have to be a big deal; you can just breathe.”
“I can?” He licked the butter off his lips. “You have more faith in me than I do. I’m not sure I can.”
Talon snorted. “You’re doing fine, hailee. I know it has to feel so overwhelming. I remember when I lost my stone, and everything seemed so dark. Like the end of days.”
“Who took your stone?” He found himself growling softly, and that was strange.
