Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Talon sat in his front room in his apartment, waiting for Mercury to wake up. He was a little worried that his hailee wasn’t going to, because it had been almost a day and a half, and he hadn’t even stirred.
He wanted Mercury to wake and drink some water, and have some more food, and have a shower, and experience all the other creature comforts Talon could provide for him.
On the other hand, he knew why Mercury had slept as long as he had.
Talon had been a prisoner once, and then a banished dragon, and then a warrior who rescued other dragons on daring missions.
So he understood the value of having a safe place to lay one’s head and sleep, and he knew just exactly how hard someone could sleep once they found that safe place.
He got up and wandered to the kitchen where he poured himself some juice.
He should probably order some food. His fridge was alarmingly bare.
Talon tended to eat with his friends. His brother Triton, Kami, his long-time companion, and their mates.
He even ate with Cain on occasion because Cain loved weird seafood, and often had it flown in just for him.
A small scuffing sound interrupted him, and he glanced around, finding Mercury standing in the kitchen doorway wearing one of his robes, which swallowed the poor omega almost to death.
“Hello, I’m—Can I have some water please? Your bed is very soft and warm, too.”
“Of course you can. And thanks. I’m lazy at heart.” He loitered in the kitchen and beckoning Mercury to come be with him. “So I wallow in bed a lot.”
“Thank you for letting me borrow it.” Mercury’s gaze danced over everything.
“Come on, hailee. Don’t be shy. It’s going to be all right.” He grabbed a glass and ran water from the icemaker in the fridge. “Would you like tea? Juice? Milk?”
Mercury’s eyes went wide. “There’s milk? There’s really milk?”
“There is.” Gods, he wanted to beat someone. Not Mercury. But the ones who had abused him. Dragon culture could be so fucked up.
His eyes lit up, literally. “I would love a glass of milk, please. I can’t pay for it, though. I don’t have anything.”
“Mercury. This is a safe place, and I brought you here with full permission from the seer. Milk is free. Okay?”
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ve been alone a long time. I’m so glad you came. Now I can be with you and others for, well, until it’s over right? I can stay and visit, talk to you?”
Talon didn’t like this. He didn’t like it at all. This strange innocence, the desperation—it was incredibly unnerving. He wanted to know everything—why Mercury had been in that tower, why they were starving him.
What was going on?
“Of course. You can stay here forever.”
Mercury gave him a tiny laugh, eyes on the milk carton as he poured a glass. That milk clearly tantalized him. “We both know I do not have forever, but thank you.”
“You will. My job is to help the soul singer find more stones.” He knew Kami could help.
“Oh, well, that’s a fine job.” Mercury took the milk, his hand shaking.
“Easy, sweet love.” He held Mercury’s hand and helped him drink, the long throat moving convulsively.
Mercury burped slightly when he was done, looking like a kitten who had almost fallen into the bowl of cream. “So good.”
“You can have more in a few minutes, huh? So you don’t get queasy. Want to come and sit?”
“Please. I feel a bit shaky.”
Yeah, he would bet. How long had it been since Mercury had relaxed, had eaten and slept his fill? Rage filled him, but since it wasn’t at Mercury, he hid it behind a bland look. “Come have a sit. We’ll relax, talk.”
“All right. I’d love to. Do you like it here? Have you been here long?”
“Not too long. I was always on the road or in the air before. But Kami settled here, and he needed my help, so I stayed. He’s got a mate now, and a wonderful baby.” He loved that his friend was happy. “And my brother and his mates are here, and all the babies.”
“Babies? Are there many?” Mercury seemed so curious, so desperate to hear.
“Oh, you have no idea.” Talon chuckled, thinking of all the children, who loved to climb all over him and demand that he and Triton and Reno fly them about.
Spoiled bratlings. He adored them.
“No, but I do love how you smile when you talk about them…” Mercury turned to look at him, face beautiful and so still.
“You’ll meet them all. They’ll drink milk with you and insist on sharing their favorite treats.” They would fatten Mercury up a bit, for sure.
Mercury chuckled at that, the sound light and airy and sweet. “I would love that. I haven’t had anything sweet in a very long time.” The smile fled, and he hunched his shoulders, looking down at his hands.
“Have you ever had cinnamon rolls?” Triton asked, watching Mercury carefully.
“No. What are those?”
“Oh, my gods, hailee. Let me order some from the main kitchen.”
“Oh, you don’t have to…”
But Talon was already grabbing the house phone and calling down to the kitchens to order delivery. They always had cinnamon rolls in the mornings.
He ordered a couple dozen, because he had a distinct feeling they would have company soon.
Kami could be impatient.
“Tell me about yourself. Tell me. I want to know why.” Talon had this burning curiosity about Mercury’s life and about what had happened to him.
“Why what?”
“Why were you up there in that awful tower all by yourself?”
Mercury sighed softly. “I think maybe I’m a monster.
When they found out that I could slide, there were a lot of rules and yelling.
I didn’t do it for a long time because they said that it was an awful thing to do.
Then I fell in love. He asked me to show him how I could slide.
When I did, they grabbed me and said I’d broken a law, and then I was up in the tower with the necklace.
It was kind of a foolish thing to do, to fall in love with someone who was just trying to trick me, and to break the rules when I knew I shouldn’t. ”
“Love can be pretty foolish, but he wasn’t your mate.
” Talon knew with a deep certainty that pushed out every other doubt that could possibly happen.
No one was Mercury’s mate but him. This was his hailee, and he was Mercury’s braaken.
And he wasn’t going to mention that yet because he knew they needed to worry about the heartstone thing and about whether somebody would come after this little dragon. But—
He was going to make sure Mercury knew it sooner or later.
“And I felt so stupid.” Mercury shrugged, but he could tell the memories hurt deeply. “And then they stopped bringing me food. They just brought me giant cans of beans and tuna, and I knew that sooner or later they were going to stop coming altogether.”
“And they smashed your heartstone?”
Mercury nodded, his lips pursed and his eyes welling up.
“They smashed it into pieces and then threw it into the ocean. I was so cold when they did that, and it hurt so bad, all the way down to my fingertips and my toes. I thought I was going to die right then and there. I wanted to die right then and there, and I was so sad when I realized that I was going to live until I just…” he paused, taking a deep breath. “Until I starved to death.”
“No one will ever hurt you like that again,” Talon bowed, and a flash of blinding light surrounded him as he said it. He could see it, Talon’s aura so obvious and beautiful.
Mercury’s eyes widened, and a silver flash answered his iridescent one. Mercury reached out, groping for his hand.
Talon grabbed that sweet little hand and clung, and they stared at one another. He had no idea how much time passed, but he knew it had to be quite a bit because suddenly there was a knock on the door and a call from a waiter from down at the kitchens yelling out, “Cinnamon rolls!”
All of the servers knew him, so they knew how much he liked his morning treat. And no one around here was shy.
Mercury jumped, letting go of his hand. And he reached up to stroke Mercury’s hair back off of his face, feeling the little ridges of scales around his eyes. He pressed a kiss to Mercury’s forehead and murmured, “I’ll be right back. Let me just go get that.”
By the time he got back, Mercury was not in the kitchen. He was on the couch in the front room, another glass of milk in his hand. That was quick. He was a clever little monkey, and Talon was proud of him for taking the initiative.
Mercury lifted his face into the air and sniffed. “What is that amazing smell?”
Talon grinned, putting the tray down on the coffee table and lifting the cloche off of the first plate of rolls. “That, my hailee, is cinnamon rolls.”
“Oh.” Mercury reached out and scooped up a bite of the icing and sucked his finger clean, which aroused him altogether more than what Talon would approve of. “It’s so sweet. It tastes like happiness.”
“It does taste of happiness and pecans and cinnamon and butter and other good things. I’m not a cook, but we should have them every day if you want them.” Talon would give his hailee anything.
Mercury’s laugh was soft and amused, but happy, not in the least bit teasing. “Oh, I am so glad that this is the place I’m going to be before I die. I am so happy you came for me. Thank you.”
Talon shook his head. “You’re not going to die here. Well, you might die here, but it’s not going to be soon, because we’re going to find you a stone, and then you’re going to be amazingly happy and you’re going to have a long, super cool life. You can slide wherever you want.”
“I can?”
The words made him smile, Mercury’s mood obviously lighter. It didn’t surprise him; the food helped with that. Cinnamon rolls were…life-changing.
They shared a cinnamon roll. Mercury wasn’t eating much, but he was enjoying what he did eat, licking his lips and humming softly. It was a glorious noise—satisfied and hungry and sexual all at once.
“Would you like to watch television? Would you like to watch a movie? Did you want to go do something?”