When they were fifty yards away, I roared, asking them to come back. To my surprise and delight, they didn’t hesitate to turn around and fly back toward me.
“Couldn’t keep up, could ya, old man?”
I froze so completely that I lost some altitude for a few seconds.
That had been Oakley’s voice in my head.
Only… only viramores who had a strong or growing bond could communicate like that.
“Oak? Can you hear me?”
They didn’t react, so I had to assume they didn’t, but I wasn’t ready to give up.
Since they were close, I flew right up to their face and carefully kept my wings back while I rubbed my cheek against theirs. They rumbled—it sounded like a very loud purr and was a happy and contented sound that made me rumble back.
“Can you hear me?”I practically shouted it in my head, hoping the proximity and loudness would help.
Oakley jerked back, looking surprised.“Woah. No need to shout, Rome.”
My dragon mouth opened up in a smile, and I lazily flapped my wings so I’d stay close to them and could watch their facial expressions—dragons weren’t as expressive as our bipedal forms, but there were subtle changes I could easily pick up on, and body language I understood since I was a dragon too.“You can hear me?”
“Yeah… I… I can.”
“You know this proves it, right? If you had any doubts that we’re viramores, this—”
“I didn’t doubt it.”They flapped their wings and turned in a small circle, likely giving themself a second to think.“My dragon already confirmed it.”
My smile only grew.“Yeah? Mine did as well.”I leaned in when they were facing me again and rubbed my snout against theirs.“Come on. Let me show you a place.”
“Lead the way, slowpoke.”
A rumbling laugh came out of me, and I turned around, making sure to smack their belly with my tail.
“Rude!”
They chased me, nipping at my tail and making me laugh, and then we started zigzagging, curling around each other, and flying belly to belly as we spun through the sky.
It was the most fun I’d had flying in a very long time, and from the look on Oak’s face, they were having a great time too.
When we finally landed outside a cave I’d claimed centuries ago, Oak seemed hesitant to go inside.
“What’s wrong?”I asked through our bond.
They huffed.“I… I’ve never been inside another dragon’s nest. I didn’t think… I didn’t think anyone else was allowed in? That’s what my mom always said, and the other elders agreed with her.”
My heart ached at the thought of their mother keeping them out of her own nest. What kind of parent did that to a child? Every dragon I knew let their entire family into their nest. In fact, sometimes they even made nests in the same space as other dragons they considered family or close friends.
“That’s not how your dad and I do it. We’ve both been in each other’s nests. We haven’t shared each other’s hoards, but our nests are free game.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Will you please come in? I want to show you, and I… well, even if I hadn’t shown anyone else, I’d want to share this with you.”
They stared at me for a few seconds.“Does that mean you’ll show me your hoard too?”
I snorted and rolled my eyes, then tucked my wings tight to my sides so I could walk through the cave’s entrance.“Obviously.”I hoped that one day we’d be able to combine our hoards, if I was being honest.
“You want to combine our hoards?”They practically screeched it in my head, and I flinched.
