Chapter Fifteen #2
"Argyros is my literal cousin, a century or so older than me.
His territory is a small island chain far to the south.
I'm not the only frost dragon who hates the cold.
" He winked. "The two of us are known for not being terribly impressive in our territories.
So any experienced vampire, old enough to know so much about dragons, wouldn't struggle to guess which one of us might be here in the Forbidden Forest."
"I like our forest."
"For as long as this forest exists, I will protect it, no matter who comes for it or how often my family teases me."
Dipak smiled. "We will protect it, dragon. Then we'll protect whatever comes next, for as long as we're able."
"Yes, we will," Euclid said softly, his smile so sweet and sincere that it almost hurt to look at—and Dipak was breathless with the knowledge he would get to see that smile for more years than he could truly comprehend.
They settled into comfortable silence after that, turning their full attention to the meal.
As late night-early morning feasts went, it was divine—and all the better for having Euclid to eat it with.
When they finished, they bathed, relaxed in the hot water, and then finally crawled into their bed where he finally got his mouth on Euclid's cock.
Euclid finished him off with teasing fingers and firm strokes, and Dipak came so hard that he was dead asleep just moments later.
When he woke, he could once again just feel that it was morning. Euclid's influence or simply experience, he couldn't say. Dragging himself out of bed before he gave into temptation and simply stayed there indefinitely, he dressed and went in search of Euclid.
He found him immediately in the main room, where Dipak's little nest had been cleared away and the room tidied. Euclid was on the sofa drinking tea and reading. He looked up with a smile. "Good morning. Sleep well?"
"Like the dead," Dipak said around a yawn as he went to pour himself a cup of tea before sitting next to Euclid. "Surprised you're not out in the forest."
"I checked in with everyone, did a few small trades, lined up others. It's nearly lunchtime. Now there's so much snow falling, it's not really practical to be out."
Dipak took a sip of tea. "I sort of remember you complaining about the cold once. Does that mean you're not immune to it or anything, as a frost dragon?"
"Oh, I'm adapted to it, but that doesn't mean I like it. I miss many things about my homeland, but the perpetual cold isn't one of them."
"Is it really in the sky?"
"Yes, three entire continents, sustained through complicated means even I don't fully understand. So far up that it is always cold, and we look far down on the clouds. Maybe someday I can show you."
"How do you reach it? You said magic…"
"I would fly," Euclid replied. "Much like learning to shift into human, we can give ourselves wings, though it's difficult and requires extensive body modifications.
I did it to come down here, and also to travel here specifically when I left my previous location when it wound up not suiting my needs.
That was some time ago, centuries at least."
Dipak shook his head, amazed and slightly overwhelmed. "Magic really is something else entirely with dragons."
"And yet it's not enough to keep us free of being hunted—don't look like that. You really do have to put it behind us."
"I know," Dipak said. "Still going to wince here and there. It's not a happy memory, and worse for you."
Euclid scoffed. "I remember the mending of the bridge far more than the initial breaking. Oh, speaking of mending bridges, I found these when I was tidying up. Did you want them?"
Dipak's good mood vanished as he took the bundle of letters. Untying the ribbon, he shuffled through them. Nine letters in total, six from friends and three from people he'd worked with regularly—friendly, if not friends.
"I warned them, I begged them to listen.
I spoke to every person that I trusted in the slightest, and by the end, even some I didn't," he said, throat raw against the tears that threatened.
"Nobody listened, so I fixed the problem myself.
The guards beat me as often as I could endure it without dying.
The other prisoners would hurt me too, and often stole my food.
Stole my blanket and pillow the very first night.
The guards would force me to sit too close to the fire when they dragged me out of my cell.
After I was covered in burns, sobbing from the pain, they locked me in cold boxes.
Not once did anyone come to see me. They didn't even write me letters.
If they had, the guards would have taunted me with them before destroying them right in front of me.
Six months I suffered all of that, and then I was thrown into the Forbidden Forest to die. "
Euclid hugged him tightly and kissed away his tears.
"I'm sorry, beloved. Even if you had killed him for far more selfish or stupid reasons, you would not deserve that.
They were your friends. They knew you well enough to know you'd not do something so drastic without reason—reasons you'd already given them. "
Dipak withdrew, stared at the letters again.
Reasons. Was there a good reason to have ignored him for all those months?
Did it really matter? He lived here now, and would for a length of time he couldn't truly comprehend.
He had no desire to live anywhere near the city again.
The forest was where he'd begun, and it was to the forest he'd returned.
That old life he'd worked so hard for, sacrificed so much to obtain, was gone.
Standing up, he opened the door on the woodstove and threw the letters and ribbon inside, then closed the door again and got water going for a fresh pot of tea. When he returned to the sofa, Euclid pulled him down into his lap and kissed him until the water was ready.
Euclid took over from there, and after they both had fresh mugs of tea, said, "Want to come see the map I've drawn up, help me plot out the paths I want to create?
I thought at least for now that heavily warded paths, maybe with lighting triggered by footsteps, would be the safest and easiest way to help the residents travel.
Then after we've done some work, we can go back to bed and stay there as long as we like. "
He offered a hand, and Dipak took it immediately, let Euclid pull him to his feet and into another kiss. "Lead the way, dragon."
End