7. Chapter Seven #2
He squirmed, nose scrunching as he bit his lower lip. I watched him physically recoil, drawing away from Caspian, who scooted closer and placed his hand on Kes’ leg.
“He’s right,” Caspian declared. “Don’t you want to know if it can be repaired or not?”
“What if it can’t be?” Kes asked.
“What if it can?” Caspian insisted. “It’s fifty-fifty. Wouldn’t it be better to have a definitive answer than to wonder?”
Kes huffed, eyes narrowed. For a moment I braced myself for a fight, then his shoulders slumped.
“You’re right,” he said. “It would be better to know and if there is something that the high priestess can do to improve my connection with my dragon, then perhaps that will help me lock in on Torin easier. The longer we’re away, the more vulnerable the compound is.
Please go ahead and summon her before I change my mind. ”
“Thank you,” I said as I pulled my phone out.
After a short conversation with Raven that ended when she told me she’d be here shortly, I hung up to see Caspian holding Kes’ hands between his.
Looking at them now, I’d have never known they were so happy just a short time ago.
I hated that for them. For all the dragons who’d tried to live their lives in peace only to be hunted by the Gorynych.
None of us deserved the chaos they’d brought into our lives.
“What were you watching when I came in?” I asked, hoping to steer things back to a more pleasant topic. “That clarinet playing squid seemed particularly grumpy about something.”
“That’s Squidward,” Kes explained, “he’s always grouchy, especially if SpongeBob and Patrick have been harassing him and asking him to play with them.”
“SpongeBob seems easy enough to figure out,” I said, “he’s the yellow guy in the pants, right?”
“I think so,” Caspian replied, “but this was my first time watching it. I made a joke about some of the caverns my people have turned into villages and Kes said it sounded like a real-life version of SpongeBob. I didn’t know what he was talking about, so he showed me.”
“Sometimes, Canyon, Upalo and I would hole up in a hotel and pretend to be human while we took a break from chasing dead ends. We’d sulk about how badly a mission was going while cartoons played in the background.
SpongeBob was a favorite of ours,” Kes explained.
“We were all drawn to the undersea theme.”
“So am I,” I explained. “I’d love to watch it with you sometime, it looked quite entertaining.”
“It is,” Kes said, a hint of a smile peeking out.
“It took less than two minutes before I started laughing,” Caspian explained. “I kept thinking about home and picturing Seadragons I knew as some of the characters. The show got even funnier after that until my sides ached from laughing so hard.”
“I’m glad you’ve chosen to spend the day relaxing together,” I said. “I’ll join you after Raven leaves. Ionus has given us until five tomorrow morning, then we are to embark upon our journey.”
“After she leaves, why don’t we go to the kitchen together and prepare a platter of snacks and some refreshments?” Kes said. “We can put them on the coffee table so they’re within arm’s reach and introduce you to the wonderful world of Bikini Bottom.”
“Brilliant,” Caspian said, “since it’s become clear that I have two mates who like to slip out of bed early in the morning.”
He cocked an eyebrow at me, one hand on his hip as he scowled from the couch.
“It was a meeting with my brothers,” I replied, squirming as I rubbed the back of my neck.
“I’m beginning to understand why Odem was so irritated the other night,” Caspian replied.
Kes cackled and even I couldn’t keep a straight face when I recalled Odem’s frustration that night.
“Fair enough,” I said.
“The worst is when you both do it,” Caspian declared, shooting a look at Kes now too. “I woke up this morning with blankets bunched up on both sides of me and not a trace of my mates to be found.”
His pout was adorable and grew when Kes shrugged.
“In my defense I was going to bring breakfast upstairs with me as soon as I’d finished making everything,” Kes said, narrowing his eyes at Caspian.
“Some dragon got impatient and silently slipped downstairs like a slippery little eel through water and scared the crap out of me. Instead of sunny side up one of my eggs landed on the ceiling. That was not fun to get down, let me tell you. Your ceilings are high.”
“Our ceilings,” I said, “and you will get used to them because this is where you belong. No more asking if anyone wants you to leave. No more blaming yourself for the things you haven’t been able to tell us.
None of it is your fault. The Gorynych preyed on young dragons for a reason.
It’s because you’re still trusting of the elders around you and eager to learn.
We’ve heard stories from other dragons who’ve found their way to the city claiming that the ones who were mentoring them or teaching them some sort of skill were the ones who ultimately betrayed them. ”
Kes hung his head, nodding. “That’s what happened to us.”
Before he could say more, Raven arrived, leaving me with more questions I didn’t have time to ask my mate.
If her visit could provide at least one answer than it would be worth the wait.
He needed to be in tune with his dragon before we left to retrieve Torin or I feared that Quint’s mate wouldn’t be the only one in peril.