“I wish you could talk to me.” He rubbed the smooth scales on her face and dropped his hand into his lap. “Or show me around the den. Clover tried to describe it to me once, but words don’t do it justice, do they?”
Sasha shook her head. All their conversations went this way—him talking, her huffing, stomping when she was annoyed, or moving her head. Even without words, she eased a little of the loneliness that plagued him.
His friends in the Hydra traveled to the capital periodically, and Clover’s letters were consistent, but for the most part, Amos had no one in the capital except Alice, and he didn’t like to burden her with his problems. She’d done enough for him throughout his life.
He leaned his head against the wall and crossed his ankles. “I can’t wait for you to meet Amelia. Has Roland told you about her?” Amos paused. “Canfamiliarstalk to each other?”
Sasha nodded again. “Is that yes to Roland telling you about Amelia, or yes tofamiliarsbeing able to talk to each other?” The dragon stared at him, and he chuckled. “Nod twice if both answers are yes.” She didn’t move, and his smile faltered. “Nod once if you two can talk to each other but he hasn’t told you about my sister yet.” Her giant head bobbed once.
“You should ask him about her. I only get to see snippets of her, but he’s around her all the time.” Amos exhaled. “Clover too.”
Amos leaned forward and bent his legs, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’m tired, Sasha.” He stared into Sasha’s reptilian eyes. “I can’t see my mate, my sister doesn’t know I exist, I’m separated from myfamiliar, and my best friend is a dragon.”
She bristled, stomping her foot with an indignant huff. He chuckled. “You being my best friend isn’t the bad part, it’s that I can’t hear you. I wonder what you’d say if you could tell me whatever you wanted.”
The dragon moved closer and laid her head beside his feet. A deep rumble, like a low, draconic purr, vibrated through the air, and he knew it was her way of comforting him. Amos placed his hand on her nose again. “I love you.”
She nudged his leg, then backed away and pushed to her feet. Turning, she walked to the cliff’s edge and dove into the den, leaving him alone again. Not exactly the reaction he’d hoped for.
A few minutes later, after a thoroughly pathetic, self-indulgent pity part, the sound of flapping wings interrupted his thoughts. Sasha appeared at the cliff’s edge and landed gracefully.
Amos shot to his feet, not trusting his own eyes. They had betrayed him before. Clover jumped off Sasha’s back, tossed a bag on the ground, and walked toward him.
He didn’t want to move in case the vision vanished, needing to hold on to the image of her for as long as he could.
Then the most beautiful voice he’d ever heard said, “Hello, husband.”
Amos met her halfway and scooped her into his arms, crushing her to his chest. He buried his face in her hair, inhaling the scent that was uniquely hers. “How?” It was all he could manage as he set her down and drank her in.
“It took some planning and a long trip through the den, but I wanted to surprise you.” She threw her hands up. “Surprise!”
Amos peppered kisses all over her face, earning himself a laugh. It’d been too long since he’d heard the sound. “How long can you stay?”
“Only tonight,” she replied ruefully. “It took a few days to get here, even on the back of a dragon.”
Amos swallowed the pang of disappointment. He had her for an entire night, and he wouldn’t waste it wallowing in the fact that she’d leave tomorrow. “We can stay in one of the safe houses,” he said. “No one is using them right now.”
She grinned slyly. “Ruth made sure the one closest to the den was empty.”
Amos crossed his arms. “Ruth? Who else knew you were coming and didn’t tell me?”
Clover rolled her eyes. “It’s not a surprise if they tell you. We’ve been planning this for a couple of months.”
“I thought I was hallucinating again,” he admitted, remembering the times he could have sworn he’d seen her in Dragon Village.
“Youareunstable,” she joked. “It was a good assumption.”
“You brat,” he said, darting forward to throw her over his shoulder.
Clover screamed, swatting at his butt and kicking her feet. “Amos Stratton, you put me down right now.”
He slapped her ass. “I don’t think I will.”
Sasha, who’d been quiet through the exchange, picked up Clover’s bag with her teeth and walked it over. Amos gratefully accepted it and slung it over his other shoulder. “Thank you, Sasha. For everything.”
She blew a puff of smoke from her nose then turned her big body around, padded to the cliff’s edge, and took flight.
Clover lay beside Amos in bed with a leg slung over his and her head on his bare chest, breathing hard after their vigorous reunion. Her finger traced thefamiliarmark on his chest as he told her about his suspicions that Paul was building an army.
