Chapter Two
MEYER WAS CAREFUL AS he walked down the hallway, but his leg didn’t give him any trouble.
It was as strong as it had been before and carried him toward the dining room.
He was more than ready for breakfast.
He hadn’t eaten dinner yesterday.
He’d fallen asleep with Tyne still in his room, but when he’d woken up in the middle of the night, he’d been alone.
The TV had still been on, the voices soothing and distracting.
He hadn’t wanted to think too hard about Tyne and what happened between them.
He knew it didn’t change anything.
Tyne still hated him, and he still wouldn’t tell him why. He wouldn’t give him the opportunity to fix whatever he’d broken when he’d been Peyton.
Sometimes, Meyer hated his former self.
He understood that he was technically the same man as he’d been back then, but at the same time, he wasn’t.
The only thing that hadn’t changed about him was his body.
Inside, he was completely different, and he wanted to show Tyne that.
He’d never been able to.
Tyne wouldn’t allow him the time or the opportunity to show him that whatever had happened between them, it was in the past.
Hell, Meyer didn’t even remember it.
He wished someone could tell him, but apparently, it was a secret that Tyne had kept close to his chest all these years.
But something had changed yesterday.
Maybe it was only because Meyer had been hurt, but Meyer hoped it was a step in the right direction.
He couldn’t help but wonder if Tyne would change his mind again and put distance between them as soon as he was sure that Meyer was okay.
Meyer supposed there was only one way to find out, and he was about to.
He was still incredibly confused and hurt about the way Tyne had been treating him, but part of him understood.
Whatever he’d done when he’d been Peyton, it had hurt Tyne so badly that he still held it against him after all these years.
Meyer would do pretty much anything to show Tyne it was in the past, but without even knowing what it was, how could he? Still, sometimes he wished he could kick his own ass.
What the hell had happened between them?
He was relieved when he reached the dining room.
He could hear voices coming from inside, and he smiled at the reminder that they’d survived Carlyle again.
He wasn’t gone yet, but eventually, he would be.
Meyer didn’t know what he’d do once Carlyle was gone.
Could he stay at the castle? He suspected that Bennett and Penley would want to stick around even once this mess was over, and Meyer had been living with Bennett for decades now.
Bennet was his best friend, and he couldn’t imagine life without him.
To be fair, Meyer didn’t have any other friends.
He was friendly with the dragons and mages, but outside of this castle, he didn’t have anything or anyone to go back to.
Maybe he’d be allowed to stay.
It was worth asking, anyway.
He stepped into the dining room.
The first person he saw was Jarvis, who smiled at him before turning his attention back to his dragon.
Meyer was glad when no one asked him how he felt.
They gave him space, and he dropped into one of the chairs, more than ready for food.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come out of your room today,”
Bennett said from his seat next to Meyer.
“I’m starving.”
Bennetts nodded and smiled.
Meyer waited for him to ask how he was, but he didn’t, so Meyer grabbed the plate of bacon and pulled it closer.
That was when Tyne came in.
Meyer tensed, unsure what was about to happen.
To everyone’s surprise, Tyne barely hesitated before he walked around the table and sat next to Meyer.
Meyer and Bennett looked at each other.
Bennett’s eyes were wide, and Meyer was pretty sure he looked stunned himself.
Tyne didn’t seem to notice.
He dragged the eggs closer to his plate, but instead of filling it, he spooned eggs into Meyer’s plate.
Tyne stayed silent through all of this.
It was clear to Meyer that they weren’t going to talk about this, but then, the dining room with everyone watching them wasn’t the best place to do that.
Tyne had been clear before that he didn’t want to talk about their shared past, but after what had happened yesterday, maybe he’d changed his mind.
Even if he hadn’t, Meyer wanted one last chance to find out what had happened between them.
He’d ask Tyne again, and he’d see what happened.
Hopefully, he’d finally get answers and would be able to start healing whatever Peyton had broken between them.
Meyer wasn’t giving up.
He didn’t want to give up, not yet.
Luckily, everyone at the table was distracted by Graham fussing over Emory.
Meyer wasn’t sure what had happened between them, but it was clear that Graham had taken it upon himself to take care of Emory after he’d been wounded.
They weren’t shield and mage—Graham was human so he couldn’t have a shield—but after what Emory had been through with Carlyle, Meyer doubted he’d ever want to protect a mage again.
Maybe it was a good thing that Graham was human.
Once Ansley and Parker joined them at the table, everyone was there.
There was tension in the room, but it was easy to ignore.
It was especially easy to ignore when Jarvis mentioned that they needed to talk about Carlyle.
They still had a war to win and a mage to defeat.
Meyer wouldn’t get the opportunity to fix things with Tyne if they didn’t do that.
He wasn’t looking forward to confronting Carlyle again, considering yesterday, but he was more than ready for this mess to be over.
TYNE ALREADY KNEW WHAT Jarvis would tell Emory when the dragon offered to leave to find Carlyle again.
They’d almost lost Emory yesterday.
Jarvis wouldn’t want him to risk his life again, and even though there was nothing Tyne wanted more than to get rid of Carlyle, he didn’t want any of them to die to obtain that.
It was strange.
Just a few decades ago, he would’ve sacrificed his own life to ensure that Carlyle paid for what he’d done.
He’d been angry because of what Carlyle had done to the other mages.
He’d always been conflicted about himself, though.
He’d missed Peyton, but he’d already been losing his dragon before Carlyle. Even if Carlyle hadn’t done anything to them, Peyton wouldn’t have been in Tyne’s life anymore.
Tyne glanced sideways.
Meyer was listening to Graham telling Emory to use modern technology to contact people, nodding slightly as if he agreed.
Tyne was pretty sure all of them did.
He didn’t know about the others, but he felt like he’d failed Emory, and he wouldn’t do it a second time.
No one had protected Emory from Carlyle, and Carlyle had taken his magic and his dragon. Now that he had his dragon back, everyone around the table would ensure that he never lost it again.
“I’d feel more comfortable with that,”
Jarvis agreed.
“We know what Carlyle was trying to do when he took Sol now. We were lucky that Sol’s bond to Dallin was already in place, but if Carlyle grabbed you, he could force you to bond to him again. It might not be a full-blown bond, but it would be enough for him to be able to steal your magic. I’m not willing to risk that.”
Tyne was relieved to know that all of them were on the same page. Emory didn’t seem to agree, but while Jarvis wouldn’t force him into anything, Tyne wasn’t beyond that.
He’d tie Emory to a chair if he so much as tried leaving the castle.
“We need to regroup,”
Jarvis continued.
“Emory, you call your allies and whoever you think might have news about Carlyle and where he is.
Me and the other mages have to check the protective spells around the castle to ensure that Carlyle didn’t do unredeemable damage.
We’ll strengthen what needs to be strengthened and maybe add some spells, just in case.
I don’t think Carlyle will attack us anytime soon, though.
He lost our last fight, and he was hurt.
Even if he manages to use healing spells on himself, it will take him some time to get his strength back.”
They had a plan, and Tyne liked that.
He especially liked that it meant that everyone would be busy.
He was sure that Meyer would want to talk to him, but he didn’t know what he could say to the man.
He wasn’t ready to tell him what had happened between them in the past, and he wasn’t sure he ever would be.
It had been decades, but he was still licking his wounds, and having Meyer there, seeing Peyton every time he looked at him, didn’t help.
He hurried through his breakfast since he had things to do this morning.
He wanted to check the protective spells around the castle to ensure that everyone who lived there would be safe from Carlyle, even if the mages had to leave.
He wouldn’t put it past Carlyle to attack when he knew they couldn’t defend their home.
Once that was done, he wanted to train.
He needed to be ready to face Carlyle.
Carlyle had escaped this time, but Tyne wouldn’t allow him to do so again.
It was time for Carlyle to pay for everything he’d done, and Tyne couldn’t wait.
Tyne kept an eye on Meyer and Meyer’s plate as he quickly ate, but Meyer was distracted by Bennett, who was sitting on his other side.
He sometimes glanced at Tyne, but Tyne never reacted.
Instead, he continued putting food on Meyer’s plate until Meyer looked like he couldn’t eat anymore.
With Tyne’s plate empty and Meyer distracted, Tyne decided it was the right time for him to leave.
It caught Meyer’s attention when he got up, but he quickly shook his head, hoping Meyer would understand.
“I’m going to start checking the spells on the castle,”
Tyne told the people around the table.
The mages were all distracted by their dragons, and the few people who didn’t have partners were still eating. None of them would want to start working now, but Tyne didn’t mind.
“You can wait until we’re done eating,”
Jarvis said with a frown.
Tyne shook his head.
“The sooner someone does it, the better. I know we checked them yesterday, but I need to be sure.”
Meyer opened his mouth, but since Tyne was afraid of what he might say, he hurried out of the dining room without giving Meyer a chance to speak.
He couldn’t afford to be distracted.
He especially couldn’t afford to be distracted by Meyer.
It was too easy to think about when they’d been together when Meyer was standing in front of him.
It was even easier to wonder if Meyer would do what Peyton had done.
Would he abandon Tyne? Would he tell him that he couldn’t be his shield anymore? Technically, he was because Peyton had still been Tyne’s shield when he’d vanished, but Tyne was still afraid of the answers Meyer might give to those questions.
He was relieved that he could focus on work and started as soon as he reached the anchors the protective spells were in.
He lost himself in the magic, adding a few spells here and there and fixing the ones that needed fixing.
It wasn’t anything dramatic that would’ve allowed Carlyle in, but it was still a weakness Tyne needed to do something about.
“You ran out of the dining room,”
a voice said, startling Tyne.
He turned to glare at Penley.
“I had work to do. I still have work to do, as you can see.”
Penley wrinkled his nose.
“It doesn’t mean you had to leave while everyone else was still eating.”
“Why shouldn’t I have?”
“You had a good reason to stay. Meyer was still at the table when you left.”
Tyne didn’t want anyone to stick their nose into his business, but the other mages had been doing that since they’d realized that Tyne wasn’t happy to have Meyer back.
They’d all been poking and prodding at him, asking why and if they could help, but he’d pushed them away every time.
It was easier with some, but with Penley, it was almost impossible.
Penley always got that frown when he was worried about one of them.
Tyne knew how much Penley and the other mages cared, but there was nothing any of them could do to help him.
He didn’t want their pity.
He’d never wanted it, which was why he hadn’t told them what Peyton had done.
“I healed him perfectly, you know,”
Penley continued as he leaned his shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.
“There’s no need for you to take care of him.”
“You said he needed rest.”
“He does, but he got it. He’s as good as new.”
Penley hesitated.
“Except for his memories, of course. He’ll never be Peyton again.”
Tyne groaned.
“Can we not do this now?”
“I’ll just say one thing. I want you to remember that Meyer isn’t Peyton. I know I’ve been telling you that every time we talk about him, but I feel like you don’t realize how important that is. He looks like Peyton, but he’s an entirely different man with different experiences. Whatever Peyton did, Meyer isn’t him.”
“I know.”
Tyne did know all of that. He just wasn’t sure there was a way for him to ignore how much his heart hurt every time he looked at Meyer’s face.