“Do you know how many rocks are in that pond?” I asked. “Go look! Look at how many I tossed out before Jondi wonderedout and spotted it! A couple of minutes my scaley ass! Now you have my mum and my best friend angry at me!”
He held onto my face and traced my cheekbones with his thumbs. I almost pulled away. Almost told him that he didn’t have to ‘baby’ me, but his warmth spreading over me felt nice. He leaned down and my lips parted, thinking he was coming in for a kiss, but he pressed his forehead against mine.
“I was tired last night. I spent so much time getting both the playroom and the house ready for this ceremony. We weren’t even supposed to leave the house until we knew Ferrick Moonscale was gone for good, Beryl. He snuck out to play. Which is terrifying but also such a big milestone for him. He felt safe enough to sneak out. His short life has been complicated, but he’s my baby now. I needed one little favor. Maybe I’m entitled. Maybe I don’t see Vius as scary because I grew up with him. I just needed someone to get the damn rock because despite how it looks from the outside, I cannot be everywhere at once!”
I opened my mouth to tell him I never said he could, but he smelled so stressed out.
“So, yeah, maybe I should’ve told Vius to knock it off, but you’re so much bigger than him. Hell, I can sit on Vius and keep him down and the most draconic parts of me are my wings and fire! So, I figured you had it under control. Maybe I should’ve explained everything, but Jondi was so upset. I don’t know what triggered you like that, but I just needed someone to get the damn rock while I took care of the baby. Maybe I’m an entitled prick and should’ve asked someone else but…” his eyes turned angry again. “Then you go and call panic attacks cowardly!”
“Oh, Frost’s nuts over a volcano! Are we going to spend our lives rehashing everything? You pushed me into the water! I got your point!”
“Did you, though?” Jade asked. “Because here’s the thing. My sire had panic attacks when I was a little kid and the things he did to work through them and the shit that caused them – he’s not a fucking coward!” he growled.
“I didn’t know,” I said, the words tumbled off my lips before I could stop them. It probably wasn’t the right thing to say.
“Yeah, but you still showed your true colors. What did I do to get an asshole for a mate?”
“Not gonna lie. That cut sort of deep,” I said, meeting his gaze. “Can we start over?”
“No, because you said what you said.”
“To be fair, you came out and asked me if I was afraid of lions,” I sighed. “It felt like you were calling me a coward.”
“Being afraid of something doesn’t make you a coward. Hell, if you’re afraid of nothing, you’re dumb, not brave.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry – I don’t even know everything I’m sorry for, but I’m sorry this is a bloody cluster fuck.”
“Just shut up for a minute, please?” Jade growled and I did.
He moved down so that his head could rest right over my heart. He held me tight and for a moment I wondered if he was saying hello and goodbye all at once. I wrapped my arms around him. That bloody rock was so much more than a rock. I didn’t want to go through the rest of my life never knowing what Jade and I could’ve had.
“What can I do to make it better?” I asked.
He didn’t answer and a tear fell onto my shirt.
“Jade?”
He’d gone from mad to sad too fast for my brain to keep up with. His scent morphed and changed as if his emotions were all over the place. He was afraid. Of me?
“No, not of us,”my dragon sighed.“Of those stupid people threatening his playroom. He’s on edge and on guard. Stupid fuckers. I should roast them like marshmallows and suck out the goo and –”
I stopped listening to him to focus on Jade. I squeezed him to me, doing my best to ignore how wet and sandy I was in places that should never be wet and sandy. I stroked his hair as he rubbed his cheek against me, scent marking me. A shadow loomed over us and with all the pond water and Jade’s scent filling my head I thought Eran had come back out until I glanced up. It was the same lions as the night before. I was about to open my mouth and tell them that I wasn’t in the mood for their bullshit when the bigger one flopped down next to me and licked Jade’s arm.
“Hi, Vius,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
The other lion flopped down on my other side and rested his chin on my shoulder so that he could see Jade. My mate reached out and ran his fingers through the lion’s mane until he purred. For a second, I wondered if their presence here meant that Pras had moved on through his final door. I shook the thought away because Pras had lived his life and hopefully in death would be reunited with his true-mate.
“You’re finally getting it,”Pras’s voice played off in my head, probably over the family link.“Sometimes the rock that sends someone over the edge is the rock that toppled their carefully constructed tower that was protecting what little peace they had left inside. Remember that.”
Then he was gone. Somewhere further away on the farm, the crowd cheered. Pras had found his peace. I held my breath. Would Ferrick break free now or was he dragged off somewhere else? Maybe he was just stuck in the book for all eternity.
“Beryl?” Gaia’s voice reached my ears. It would be her that came looking for me. Gaia didn’t hold grudges for long. “Are you buried under all those cats?”
“Somewhere under here,” I chuckled as the shifted lions continued to groom Jade’s arms and hair.
“I brought some cake. Pras took the book with him through the door. All of it. I think the other dragon is gone too or at least he’s someone else’s problem now. Sermon’s gone downtown with Bernard to pick up some stuff. So I thought I’d check on you. If you’re busy, I can come back later.”
“He can have cake,” Jade yawned.
