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It explained why Twig and his mother were so close. Taylor was glad they had that shared history.

“That’s why my mother has always worried about me.”

“All mothers worry about their children,” Taylor pointed out. “But I can see how, for your mother, you’re her whole world.”

“I guess I was, for a long time. She chose me, even though a lot of people would’ve been happy for her to leave me in the nursery. She never wanted that. The one time I asked, she said I was the only good thing that came out of my father, and I was too young to fully understand what she meant. I do now, and I never want to do anything to hurt her. At the same time, maybe it’s time for me to spread my wings a little.”

Taylor swallowed. He wasn’t quite sure what Twig was saying, and given what they were talking about, he wasn’t about to ask.

But he hoped. He knew what he wanted, and what he and Twig had been building toward. If Twig needed more time to deal with his mother, his past, or anything else, Taylor was more than happy to give him that time. He just needed to know he had a chance—and he was pretty sure that he did.

* * * *

TWIG HAD A DECISION to make, and he wasn’t quite sure how to make it. He knew what he wanted. He’d always known what he wanted when it came to Taylor, almost from the beginning. Taylor appealed to him the way no one else ever had, and he knew it was special. He knew that if he gave it up, he probably wouldn’t be able to find something like that again.

He didn’t want to give it up. Maybe he didn’t have to.

But he was confused about all the implications. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what Taylor wanted, though he suspected there was a good chance Taylor wanted the same thing he did, and he didn’t want to risk it. Who could he talk to, though? Taylor himself was out of the question. As for Twig’s mother, well. She’d seemed to mellow toward humans lately, but he was pretty sure she still wasn’t thrilled to know he was considering dating one.

That was the problem with having so few close friends, Twig supposed. As he stared at the ceiling of his nest room, he wondered who was left. He supposed he had plenty of siblings. He barely talked to most of them, which might be a problem. Besides a few of them, he had no idea what most of them thought about humans.

But he did know what Rune and Killian thought of humans.

They were both dating humans. Hell, Killian had made his partner his consort, even though he’d known a lot of people wouldn’t be happy about that. He’d been right. Plenty of dragons had something to say about Hedley, but Killian didn’t seem to care. He was proud of his partner, and he never hesitated to show it. Surely he’d have some advice for Twig.

Besides, if the king could date a human, why couldn’t Twig? He was just a council member, and not an important one. His voice carried weight on the council, but only because Killian wanted it to. Twig knew for sure that all the other council members would ignore him if they could get away with it.

They couldn’t. He was there to stay, and maybe it was time he used that to his advantage. He was a council member. He knew that if he wanted to quit, Killian wouldn’t try to stop him, but he wanted to do this, for his brother and for himself.

If there was anything he could do to help Killian keep the throne, he would. If there was anything he could do to protect his brother and his clan, he wouldn’t hesitate. Unfortunately, that mostly seemed to mean sitting in a room with a bunch of stuffy people and listening to them talk, but he’d been through worse. He didn’t even care that most of the council members didn’t seem to respect him. He knew he was only there because of his brother, and that was fine with him. Killian and Taylor were the only people who mattered.

He pushed himself up onto his paws and stretched out his wings. He’d been curled up in his nest for an hour, trying to nap, but his thoughts had all been on Taylor, making it impossible to sleep. The only thing Twig had been able to think about was how nice it would be to have Taylor with him. Would he be afraid, if he saw Twig right now, in his dragon form?

Probably not. Taylor worked here at the palace, with the dragons. He’d seen plenty of them in their human form, but just as many in their dragon form. Hell, from what Twig had seen, he’d even worked alongside some of them while they were in dragon form.

Dragons didn’t really care what form they were in. They were used to shifting back and forth since childhood, and each form had its advantages. Twig had been spending a lot of time in his human form lately, both because of his many dealings with humans, and because it made it easier to hug his mother and spend time with her. It felt nice to be back in his scales now, but at the same time, he was itching to shift back soon. Killian spent most of his time in human form these days because of Hedley, and there was a good chance Hedley would be with him if Twig went to visit.

Except he wasn’t sure he should go visit. He wanted to talk to one of his siblings, and he supposed Rune would make more sense, but at the same time, if anything was going to happen between him and Taylor, Killian should probably know about it. It might affect him and his position, although Twig wasn’t sure why it should. Still, he wanted Killian to know, so he might as well talk to him first.

He left his rooms and lumbered through the palace in his dragon form for a bit. The hallways were wide enough that it wasn’t a problem, and after so much time in human form, it felt good. No one looked at him twice as they crossed paths with him. The sight of him was normal now, which was good—it meant most people were starting to forget he’d been poisoned and that Pearl had been exiled because of it.

But he couldn’t stay in his dragon form forever, so he shifted back. Once he reached the door of Killian’s office, he knocked, unsure what he wanted. Did he want Killian to be working? Did he want Hedley to be there?

He almost turned around to leave, but the door opened and Killian’s assistant peered out. He frowned when he saw Twig, then looked up and down the hallway. “Please tell me nothing’s happened. I don’t think I can deal with another disaster. We just got rid of Pearl.”

Twig smiled at him. “No disaster—or at least, I don’t think so. I do need to talk to Killian, though.”

“That doesn’t sound reassuring, but come on.”

Twig followed him to the inner door. He knew his half-brother was in there, and he was suddenly more nervous. “Maybe I should come back later,” he offered.

“There’s no need. Killian is free at the moment, although make sure you wait until he tells you to come in before you do. You might see something you’ll regret.”

Twig was afraid to ask what that meant. He could imagine, anyway.

So he did as told, knocked on the door, and waited for Killian to call out for him to come in. Before doing so, he turned around, got an encouraging gesture from the assistant, and sucked in a breath.

He could do this. He was just going to talk to his brother. It wasn’t like he’d never done it before, and Killian liked him.