Hopefully, she’s not smart enough to once again avoid a punishment for what she’d done.
“Why don’t I take you home?”Rune suggested.“You look like you could sleep for a week.”
Palmer snorted.“I was expecting compliments, but instead, I get told I look tired.”
“You do look tired, even though you’re beautiful like always.We had to get up early, didn’t we?”
“It could’ve been worse.”
“I’m sure it could have been.Do you have to go to work, or can you afford to take the morning off?”
“I’ll definitely take the morning off.There are plenty of healers in the infirmary if there’s an emergency, even if it’s one of our humans.I just need a few more hours of sleep.”
“Let’s go home, then.”
Palmer easily followed Rune down the hallway.He wasn’t even surprised to realize that Rune was walking them back to his quarters.Palmer had his own rooms, but he’d been spending a lot of time in Rune’s quarters, and he liked it.They felt more like home than his did, probably because Rune had been living in them for so long.
Right now, though, Palmer didn’t care.He just wanted a soft place to lay his head and to sleep for that week Rune had mentioned.
* * * *
RUNE WAS EAGER TO GETPalmer back to his quarters before Palmer fell asleep while walking.He looked like he might, and the softness in his expression made Rune want to take care of him even more than he already did.If he could, he’d give this man the moon.
A nice, soft nest would have to be enough.
He ushered Palmer back into his quarters and straight to the nestroom.Palmer was half-asleep by the time his head hit the nest, and he curled up with a happy sigh.Rune climbed in with him, wrapping his body around Palmer’s.He was tired, too, but not as much as Palmer.They might have woken up at the same time, but Rune only had to sit on a couch and go to the dining hall to grab some food, unlike Palmer, who’d been highly stressed for the past few hours.Rune felt Palmer’s body completely relax against him, and he mentally patted himself on the back for being a person with whom Palmer could do this with.Palmer felt safe with him.
“Have you ever thought about having kids?”Palmer said, surprising Rune.He’d thought his boyfriend would fall asleep almost instantly.
“I have,” Rune told him.“I was convinced that my father would eventually force me to have them.”
“Right.You would have had to obey if he had, but would you have wanted them?”
“I suppose it depends on who I’d be having them with.”
Palmer snorted.“Why do you think I’m asking?”
“Haveyouever thought about having children?”
“I have.My life is very different from what I expected it to be like, even just a few years ago, but I do want children one day.I thought I’d have to adopt, and maybe I still will once I’m more settled, but knowing we could have children together is nice.I would love to have a tiny baby dragon who looks just like you.”
Rune was surprised that Palmer didn’t seem hesitant to admit that, but maybe he shouldn’t be.Palmer had followed Curran during his pregnancy, so he knew how it worked.
Was that something Rune wanted?
“I think I would love to have children with you eventually,” he said cautiously.“Not for a while, though.”
Palmer nodded.“I agree.We just started dating.”
“And I would love to see this thing with Pearl resolved before we think about it.I don’t want to bring children into a palace that would be dangerous for them.”
“You’re already such a good father,” Palmer mumbled.
It was obvious he was falling asleep, which made Rune smile.Why were they still talking?
He pressed a kiss against the back of Palmer’s neck.“We can talk about having children later.Go to sleep.”
“Yeah, okay.”
