Celia looked at Darian.“He thought we would never come back,” he translated.
“I wasn’t gone long,” she told him.
Flame chirped up, quiet compared to her brother.“She’s telling him that you had something important to do,” Darian translated, “because seeing me was so important.”
Celia gave him a withering glare.
“Where’s my baby?”he asked, looking around until he spotted Sod’s basket.As he approached, Sod stood, stretching his wings.“How is the leg?”he asked Sod.
She keeps making me stretch it,the baby said.I’m very grumpy.
“It’s good for you,” he told him.“You know she’s only trying to help.”
I don’t need help, Sod said, pouting.
“Come on, we’re gonna go outside and walk,” Darian said.“Come with me, all of you.”He led the way to the door and watched as all four baby dragons made their way out before following them into the sunshine.
Celia stood in the doorway, leaning against it and watching as he led them in a game of tag.Every time he looked up, the smile on her face had grown slightly bigger, so he threw even more theatrics into the game, tackling Spark, gently tossing Flame into the air while she flapped her wings, and catching her again before she hit the ground.
Celia’s smile was the best thing he’d ever seen.
I think you two are mates,Spark said, looking between him and Celia.
What?
“Oh, no, we’re not mates,” Darian said, aware of Celia’s gaze on him.It was a good thing they were far enough away that she probably couldn’t hear him.He didn’t need her asking what Spark was saying—he had no doubt that she would take offense to it.“Let’s keep playing.”
Spark blew a fireball in Celia’s direction.You have a spark, and she has a spark for you.I can see it.
Darian looked at Celia, wondering if the dragons were right, if they saw something that he couldn’t.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
I know,the dragon said smugly.You two have a spark.
You do,Flame chirped up.
Darian sighed.If the dragons wanted to insist that they had a spark, he wouldn’t try to change their mind.But he certainly wasn’t going to tell Celia that.
She wasn’t ready to hear it, whether it was nonsense or not—even if something inside him agreed with the dragon.There was something between him and Celia that felt different and unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
Time for a subject change.
“You’re it,” he said, tapping Spark on the head and running away as the young dragon gave chase.
There was nothing like being hit in the back by a hatchling that weighed more than a dog, hurtling through the air into you.He stumbled, catching himself with his hands instead of landing face-first in the grass.
You’re slow,the baby dragon trilled smugly.
“You’re not supposed to knock me over.”
You should move faster.
Be careful,Flame told her older brother.Don’t hurt the Emberlin.
Darian looked at Flame, his eyes narrowing.“How do you know my last name?”
The baby dragon shrugged as much as a dragon could.
