“Why what?”
“Why were you up there in that awful tower all by yourself?”
Mercury sighed softly. “I think maybe I’m a monster. When they found out that I could slide, there were a lot of rules and yelling. I didn’t do it for a long time because they said that it was an awful thing to do. Then I fell in love. He asked me to show him how I could slide. When I did, they grabbed me and said I’d broken a law, and then I was up in the tower with the necklace. It was kind of a foolish thing to do, to fall in love with someone who was just trying to trick me, and to break the rules when I knew I shouldn’t.”
“Love can be pretty foolish, but he wasn’t your mate.” Talon knew with a deep certainty that pushed out every other doubt that could possibly happen. No one was Mercury’s mate but him. This was his hailee, and he was Mercury’s braaken. And he wasn’t going to mention that yet because he knew they needed to worry about the heartstone thing and about whether somebody would come after this little dragon. But?—
He was going to make sure Mercury knew it sooner or later.
“And I felt so stupid.” Mercury shrugged, but he could tell the memories hurt deeply. “And then they stopped bringing me food. They just brought me giant cans of beans and tuna, and I knew that sooner or later they were going to stop coming altogether.”
“And they smashed your heartstone?”
Mercury nodded, his lips pursed and his eyes welling up. “They smashed it into pieces and then threw it into the ocean. I was so cold when they did that, and it hurt so bad, all the way down to my fingertips and my toes. I thought I was going to die right then and there. I wanted to die right then and there, and I was so sad when I realized that I was going to live until I just…” he paused, taking a deep breath. “Until I starved to death.”
“No one will ever hurt you like that again,” Talon bowed, and a flash of blinding light surrounded him as he said it. He could see it, Talon’s aura so obvious and beautiful.
Mercury’s eyes widened, and a silver flash answered his iridescent one. Mercury reached out, groping for his hand.
Talon grabbed that sweet little hand and clung, and they stared at one another. He had no idea how much time passed, but he knew it had to be quite a bit because suddenly there was a knock on the door and a call from a waiter from down at the kitchens yelling out, “Cinnamon rolls!”
All of the servers knew him, so they knew how much he liked his morning treat. And no one around here was shy.
Mercury jumped, letting go of his hand. And he reached up to stroke Mercury’s hair back off of his face, feeling the little ridges of scales around his eyes. He pressed a kiss to Mercury’s forehead and murmured, “I’ll be right back. Let me just go get that.”
By the time he got back, Mercury was not in the kitchen. He was on the couch in the front room, another glass of milk in his hand. That was quick. He was a clever little monkey, and Talon was proud of him for taking the initiative.
Mercury lifted his face into the air and sniffed. “What is that amazing smell?”
Talon grinned, putting the tray down on the coffee table and lifting the cloche off of the first plate of rolls. “That, my hailee, is cinnamon rolls.”
“Oh.” Mercury reached out and scooped up a bite of the icing and sucked his finger clean, which aroused him altogether more than what Talon would approve of. “It’s so sweet. It tastes like happiness.”
“It does taste of happiness and pecans and cinnamon and butter and other good things. I’m not a cook, but we should have them every day if you want them.” Talon would give his hailee anything.
Mercury’s laugh was soft and amused, but happy, not in the least bit teasing. “Oh, I amsoglad that this is the place I’m going to be before I die. I am so happy you came for me. Thank you.”
Talon shook his head. “You’re not going to die here. Well, you might die here, but it’s not going to be soon, because we’re going to find you a stone, and then you’re going to be amazingly happy and you’re going to have a long, super cool life. You can slide wherever you want.”
“I can?”
The words made him smile, Mercury’s mood obviously lighter. It didn’t surprise him; the food helped with that. Cinnamon rolls were…life-changing.
They shared a cinnamon roll. Mercury wasn’t eating much, but he was enjoying what he did eat, licking his lips and humming softly. It was a glorious noise—satisfied and hungry and sexual all at once.
“Would you like to watch television? Would you like to watch a movie? Did you want to go do something?”
Mercury shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I’m used to sitting, watching time pass.”
“It won’t be long before Kami comes. He knows you’re here. He’s just waiting for the time to be late enough so that he can bring the baby over.”
“There’s a baby?” Mercury’s eyes lit up.
He nodded happily. “Miranda. She’s not a baby-baby anymore, she’s walking. Sort of. She’s amazing, she’s my goddaughter, and I adore her.” He pointed over to where a toy box sat in the corner of his great room along with the wee bed for when his little one came over to nap or visit or when Kami was going to lose his mind, and he needed to give his best friend some baby-free time. “It is a very important job being ki’soff.”
And he took it very seriously.
“It is.” Mercury’s expression went wistful. “I don’t think my babies would have had one, if I had been so lucky. No one liked me.”
