And the terrifying part wasn’t the vulnerability. It was the hope. The desperate, aching hope that Sam would look at a century’s worth of devotion and think,yes, I want this. I want to build this with them.Because if Sam said no - if he looked at dragon tradition and found it strange or suffocating or too much - Urien wasn’t sure how they’d survive it.
“These things represent us,” Urien said. “What we’ve built together as a triad.”
“Like this flower.” Sam still didn’t touch it. Their mate understood the value wasn’t monetary.
“I brought you here so you could see where we could put your things.” Urien kept his voice low as if doing that would stop Sam from being overwhelmed.
Sam’s head jerked up, cheeks flushing. “I don’t really have anything valuable.”
“You have a gold bar and the mug we gave you.”
“Right.” Sam’s laugh was definitely nervous. “The bar could be locked away, that would be fine. But you’re not keeping the mug in here when I only see it once a week to dust it. I use that mug every day. But these things,” he gestured at the display, “these are things you value. The things I value most in this relationship of ours are...” He turned to face Urien fully, meeting his eyes. “Your patience, Rux’s enthusiasm, and Mabon’s dogged determination. I would never want to lock those things away.”
Urien’s dragon rumbled with satisfaction. When he stepped closer, Sam didn’t retreat.
They stood breathing in sync, close enough that Urien could count the freckles across Sam’s nose, see the flecks of amber in his brown eyes, and feel the warmth radiating from their Treasure’s compact frame.
“You know,” Urien said quietly, “when you move in with us, we could alwaysmake a room like this for Basil. To keep him safe.”
Sam’s lips twitched. “I don’t think it’s Basil’s safety you’re worried about.”
“That cat is still a menace.”
“That cat knows exactly what you are and still tolerates you in my living room.” Sam’s smile became fond. “I’d call that progress.”
Urien laughed, helpless against the way Sam looked at him – amused, exasperated, and tender all at once.
“When I move in,” Sam said softly, as if testing the words, “we’ll talk about it.”
“When?” Urien’s heart was ready to thump out of his chest, and he warned himself not to get too presumptuous.I could’ve misheard him.
“I know it will happen…soon.” Sam glanced up at him, seeming shy. “I know we’ll all have to sit down and talk about it…again, soon. But yes, it’s when, not if.”
Not if. When. Urien was hugging Sam close to his chest before he recognized what he was doing – not that Sam seemed to mind. Their fourth was hugging him back.
Epilogue
Sam
“The clue said, ‘Queen B,’” Mabon insisted, tapping the trivia sheet with his pen. “That’s clearly Beyoncé.”
“But bees have queens,” Rux countered. “The entire hive structure depends on…”
Three weeks after Urien showed Sam the vault, Sam found himself wedged into a booth at Pat’s Pub between Mabon and Rux, watching his three brilliant mates argue about whether Beyoncé and “the bees” were the same thing.
“It’s a pop culture round.” Urien leaned across the table. “When has this pub ever asked about actual bee taxonomy?”
“Last week they asked about migratory patterns of…”
“That was birds, love.”
Sam pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. Three dragons who’d lived for centuries, who could recite historical events they’d personallywitnessed, who spoke a dozen languages between them – were completely stumped by a trivia question about a Grammy-winning artist.
His phone buzzed against his thigh. He pulled it out discreetly.
Maya:Still can’t believe you’re dating three men at the same time
Sam’s thumb hovered over the keyboard, then typed:Neither can I
