Me?
But I had only known I was a dragon for a few months, so that...
No, it did make sense. Because unlike Sexton, I had actually turned into a dragon. Twice. Okay, yeah, three times. I’d done it again, partially to show my mother, and partially just to prove to myself I could do it. Then I’d basically turned into Twist and eaten an entire roast salmon in addition to my dinner.
“Did it get worse after . . . the island?”
“Ooooh,” sandwich guy said, sounding like a school kid who was about to start singing the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song. “The island. Sounds kinky.”
Davin ignored him and continued to focus on me. He paused and considered, cocking his head one way, then the other, before answering. “Yes and no. It’s been getting stronger since we met, but it didn’t get especially stronger that day.” Then he looked at sandwich guy and rolled his eyes. “And no, Josh, it’s nothing like you’re thinking, you little pervert. I’m saying that turning into an actual dragon didn’t make him smell any more like dragon. It’s just been getting stronger all along. Also, it’s fecking strange you think Sexton is attractive. I didn’t think even the tide would take his arse out.”
“Aha!” I said, then realized that I shouldn’t have said that out loud. I didn’t have something important to share, I was just pleased that sandwich guy had a name. But everyone was looking at me.
Davin, the asshole, was smirking.
Heknew.
Fuck, I loved him.
I blinked at that, and did not accidentally share that particular revelation out loud. So I reached into my brain, rooted around, and offered up the first thing I laid a brain cell on in there. “I, um, the only thing I’ve been doing since the day we met was making more friends.”
“You think making friends makes you more of a dragon?” Josh asked.
The weird thing about that was that he didn’t sound dubious, or even suspicious that I was trying to dodge anything.
I turned and looked at him, wary because why wasn’t he mocking me? He looked entirely in earnest, though.
“They did this study that said water mages who live near big bodies of water are stronger, even if they’re directly related. You know, like, full siblings who live apart. They usually have the same power level even if they have different specialties, but not in this case. The people next to big bodies of water are stronger, and the ones who don’t are kind of...more agile? Like, they can catch raindrops, because it’s what they had access to. It sort of implies that magic is a muscle you can flex and make stronger. Maybe being a dragon is like that, sort of.”
“But the thing that changes power level is friends?” Grady asked. “What was that TV show way back in the day? Something something, sharing is caring. Seems a little after school special, doesn’t it?”
Josh shook his head vehemently. “No. I mean, maybe, but isn’t that just a really old lesson most societies have always taught kids? We suck at it, sure, but it’s a thing. Support your neighbor. Care about other people. Give a damn about grandpa, even if he’s kind of a stodgy jerk. Bring cookies to the widow next door and check if she’s lonely. It’s how you form a healthy society. People relying on each other. Making everyone stronger.”
“Community,” Amelia concluded as she held the picture back out to me. “Your father was a very handsome man, regardless of how old he was, or how dragony he was. I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”
I just ducked my head at her as I took the picture and pulled out my wallet, carefully putting it across from the onlyother picture already in there, one I had of my mother. Seemed appropriate for them to be together, even if it was just in my wallet.
“I don’t know if being around people makes me a stronger dragon,” I told the assembled people at the table as I tucked the wallet into my pocket. “But I know it makes me a happier person, and frankly, that’s more important to me.”
I thought it was just as likely that meeting Davin had been the thing to change me, but my father had fallen in love with my mother, and he still hadn’t turned into a strong enough dragon to fight off the bad guy when they came for him. Besides, that was just as much like a kid’s cartoon as the power of friendship, wasn’t it? True love conquers all?
Or what they called it online, magical healing cock.
Now that, I would not complain about. I glanced over at Davin, who once again seemed to read my mind, and rolled his eyes at me. But he was smiling.
He always seemed to be smiling when he was looking at me.
It was kind of nice.
CHAPTER 8
Davin and I left the tea shop after dinner holding hands, Twist back in the pocket that was hers, and it was a perfect moment.
I didn’t know about being a better dragon because of dinners with my friends at the shop, but it sure made me feel better. I always left dinner feeling energized, ready for anything at all. So when I walked out to find the sun just starting to set, leaving the world painted in shades of pink and orange, including Davin’s gorgeous face?
I couldn’t help it.
I smiled at him, then turned and leaned forward on my toes, planting a soft kiss on his lips. “I love you, you know.”
