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“But it was enough. I’m healing. I’m going to be out of here soon. What more do you want from him? He did exactly what he said he was going to do. He took care of me, found the solution, and is healing me. What more do you want?”
“I don’t disagree with that. I just want to be sure you’re careful with who you trust. You got lucky this time. Palmer did manage to find a solution. You might not next time.”
“Well, hopefully there won’t be a next time. How many times do you think I want to be poisoned?”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
Twig sucked in a breath. He knew. His mother was worried, and he couldn’t blame her for that. He just didn’t like that she was accusing Palmer of not doing enough, when he’d been doing everything in his power.
Twig let his head fall back against his pillow. He wanted to argue, but he was too tired, and nothing he could say would change his mother’s mind, anyway. She was convinced Palmer was a bad doctor, and that was that. Nothing Twig could say or do would change her mind about it. He might as well keep his mouth shut.
But he wished his mother would listen to him. He wished she’d understand that the person responsible for putting him in the infirmary was a dragon, so what sense did it make not to trust humans? Hell, the person who’d put him here was his own sister. Twig was sure of that, and he knew he wasn’t the only one who thought that way. Palmer had nothing to do with any of this, except that he’d helped Twig as much as he could—and the same went for Taylor. Their conversation had been nice, and Twig hoped they could talk like that again. He wasn’t quite ready to leave the infirmary, so maybe they’d have the chance.
But he couldn’t tell his mother any of that. She wouldn’t understand. She didn’t want to understand.
And Twig wasn’t sure he could ever get her to change her mind.
* * * *
THE FIRST THING TAYLOR saw when Rune opened the door was his brother sitting at the table, a bunch of documents in front of him. From the way Palmer’s hair stood up, it was clear he’d been raking his hands through it. That could mean anything, and Taylor and Rune exchanged a glance. Rune shook his head, then tilted his chin toward Palmer. Clearly, he’d already tried and failed, and now it was Taylor’s turn.
He went to sit next to his brother, who didn’t even notice him. Taylor gave him a few seconds, then tapped his fingertips on the table, finally getting Palmer’s attention.
Palmer looked up and blinked, then leaned back in his chair. “When did you get here?”
“Just now. You were so busy you didn’t even hear Rune open the door. What are you up to?”
“Just going over what we found about the poison. It’s Thorne blood.”
Taylor nodded. “And you’ve already started giving Twig and the others the antidote. I know he’s the only one left in the infirmary.”
Palmer rubbed his face with both hands. “He is because of how bad he was. The other two came in quickly after the first symptoms, and they were poisoned later. He’ll go home eventually, though.”
“That’s good. Yet you look like someone kicked your puppy.”
“I should’ve known sooner. I should’ve done more to find out what was going on.”
“Excuse me, but you’re the one who found this poison, right? So you did exactly what you were supposed to do.”
“I should have done it faster. Maybe if Twig had had a real healer instead of me, they would’ve known what to do.”
“Maybe they wouldn’t have,” Rune said, leaning against the counter. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Palmer. It wasn’t intimidating, but it made Taylor look away. The way Rune looked at his brother made him feel slightly awkward. It was obvious they loved each other very much, and it wasn’t something Taylor was used to seeing. Palmer had always been solitary, although he’d had relationships before. None of them had mattered like Rune did, though.
Taylor was happy for his brother, especially when Rune pushed away from the counter to come to Palmer. He leaned closer, wrapping his arms around Palmer’s neck, pressing their heads together as he murmured something in his ear.
Taylor didn’t have to try to convince Palmer that he’d done everything he could and that, in the end, Twig would be okay. Rune would take care of that. He’d make sure Palmer stopped feeling guilty, or at least got on the road to feeling that way. It might take a little time, given how Palmer was, but eventually he’d get over it. He was here to learn to work with dragons, and that was exactly what he’d done when it came to Twig.
Taylor glanced toward Rune and Palmer. They were still talking softly, as if he wasn’t even in the room. They were in their own world, and seeing them like that made him realize he wanted the same.
Well, not with Rune. The dragon was Palmer’s, and that was perfectly fine with Taylor. As much as he liked Rune, he just wasn’t his type.
But Twig was.
Taylor wasn’t an idiot. He knew he was overprotective, and that was part of the reason he was drawn to Twig. He wanted to protect the dragon, both from whoever had poisoned him and from anyone else in his life he might need protection from, including, sometimes, his mother. It appealed to Taylor, even though he was human while Twig was a dragon. He was pretty sure Twig wouldn’t mind, but Twig’s mother? She would probably hunt Taylor’s ass down and eat him if he even dared look at her son.
Besides, Twig was Killian’s brother. He might never be king, but he was related to the king, which made him important, even though many people would deny that. He’d been raised by a maid, but he still had royal blood in his veins. That meant something to a lot of dragons in this clan.
Taylor didn’t care about any of that. He also didn’t care what Twig’s mother would think of it. She wasn’t the one who’d need to agree to date Taylor. No, that would be Twig, and Taylor wasn’t even sure what his answer would be if he asked. Could he even dare ask?
