I move to run to him, to pull him into my arms, but under his shaggy mop of hair, that lop-side smile breaks free.And I know he’s okay.
Ronyn bounds to his feet, stark fucking naked, and not an ounce of shame.
“Well, go on then,” he says, throwing his arm out expectantly. We look at each other, confused. “Bow. I’m a fucking Melder and Aevryn’s first god metal archer,” he teases with that insufferable cavalier charm he possesses.
Seren shields her eyes from his bare frame, but he doesn’t baulk. Doesn’t shrink.
“A god among men,” Daelen jokes, though I notice the glassy sheen of his eyes.
“Grab some clothes, lad,” Merrik groans, turning away.
But Ronyn throws his hands to his hips with unabashed confidence. “Why? The human form is a marvelous thing, wouldn’t you say, Jaxxy?” He wags his eyebrows up and down, biting his tongue between his teeth playfully.
She closes her eyes, but her cheeks blaze red. She opens and closes her mouth as if she’s trying to say something, but nothing comes out.
“Maybe you could punish me for being a very bad boy,” he taunts Jax with reckless cheek. “Chains, whips, whatever you want. I know how you like to be dominant.”
“Oh my fuckin’ Stars, make it stop,” Merrik grouses, throwing his hands up in surrender.
Kael laughs a deep, real laugh, and despite the absolute chaos that’s ensued, we all join in.
“I’ve never seen anyone steal the bite from Jax’s bark before, brother,” he says through a wide smile. “Relieved you’re still with us.”
Ronyn’s unwavering optimism falters. Almost imperceptibly, but I notice. I notice the way he tries to understand it all. “So, let me get this straight,” he begins, body still shamelessly bare, “I now share thoughts, breath, and body with a grumpy old dragon, but I’m also still me, and also kind of him, too?”
I suck in a breath. Because honestly? I think he’s right. His entire sense of self, his agency, his body is no longer just his.
I look at him with sympathetic eyes, and I feel the others do the same. “I… don’t exactly know how it all works, but it does look that way. I’m sorry, Ronie,” I say solemnly.
But his eyes spring to mine, buoyant and alive. “Sorry? El, are you kidding? I’m a fucking dragon! I’ve wanted to join your eclectic little team of magical wizards since Virellin. Basically top of the hierarchy now. Who wants to take me on now, huh?” He puffs his chest out in playful challenge, as if he’s ready to take us on right here.
“The tankard is always half full with you, isn’t it?” Therion smiles, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Full to the fucking brim, brother,” Ronyn counters. “So, what now? The Underbelly?” He says it so flippantly—like he hasn’t just Melded and Unmelded, gone to the Final Gate and returned, been made and unmade.
Seren eyes him warily, as if she’s waiting for him to crack, but he just struts around the campfire with pride, naked as the day he was born. “We need to get him to Lady Sylvaine and the scholars of Nymeris. We need to know more about Melders, how to control the dragon. We need to understand this,” she says, throat working with emotion.
Ronyn holds up his hand, as if he’s listening to something we can’t hear. “Tarrakai would like you all to know that he is the one who’s in control here—he initiates Melding and Unmelding, and he doesn’t answer to mortals, least of all me,” Ronyn relays begrudgingly. Tarrakai, no doubt, having spoken straight into his mind.
“You’re at the whim of him, Ronyn. We need to understand the mechanism of the bond you two share,” Seren pleads, desperately trying to get him to take this seriously.
“We’ll be best buds in no time, Seren. I’m impossible not to like,” Ronyn counters, waving a dismissive hand. But he pauses again, listening intently.
“What did he say?” Seren presses.
“Ahh, it’s not important. He’s just not a very good sharer, yet,” Ronyn shuts her down quickly, then he looks between Kael and me. “Is this what your little Starbound thing is like? Chats into each other's minds? Feeling stuff that isn’t yours?”
“Pretty much,” Kael confirms simply, but he can’t hide the ghost of a smirk that tugs at his lips.
“Do you ever throw a dirty joke down the tether? Just for a laugh?” Ronyn asks.
Seriously?
Kael chuckles richly, and I’m reminded again that no one is safe from Ronyn’s charms. It worked in that alley in Virellin with a bag of apples, and it’s happening in Thornewood with dirty jokes and a dragon.
Kael claps him on the back in good nature. “A tankard before we leave for The Underbelly,” he says.
“Thank the fucking Stars someone is finally speaking sense!” Rubi jests, pulling out a flask from the pockets in her skirts. She holds it out for me, offering a pull.
