by T. J. Klune
CHAPTER 9
You Mad, Bro?
I WOKE up in the labs. “Ow,” I said. “Motherfucking ow.”
“Yeah, that’s what happens when a building falls down on top of you.”
I opened my eyes. Morgan, Gary, Mom, Dad, Tiggy, Ryan, and the King all stared down at me.
“Were you all staring at me while I was passed out?”
They all nodded slowly.
“You’re so creepy.”
“Your beautiful face,” Gary said, sniffing, big eyes wet with tears. “It’s gone. The burns. All the burns.”
“What?” I yelped, sitting up. “What?” I was not vain by any means but it was my face, and I was so fucking vain because it was my face. “I’ll never be a model—”
“Just kidding,” Gary said, eyes suddenly dry. “Now you know how I felt when Knight Delicious Face pulled your unconscious body from a pile of rubble, you arrogant bastard!”
And then he started wailing and put his head on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes but hugged him anyways because I could. And also because I still had my face.
“Knight Delicious Face?” Ryan asked. “What’s he talking—?”
“How long was I out?” I interrupted. Because now was not the time to discuss nicknames that should never be discussed. Even if they were true.
“A few hours,” Mom said with a frown. “You’ve got a bump on your head and some bruising on your back and face. You were very lucky.”
“Luck is my middle name,” I said.
“Your middle name is—” Dad said.
“Of no real importance,” I said with a glare because it was a family name and it was awful. So many Xs and Qs and it still sounded feminine.
“What’s his middle name?” the King asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Morgan said.
“Bastards,” I muttered. “All of you.”
“Dark wizards and dragons,” Morgan reminded me. “All in the space of two weeks. You are becoming a pain in my ass.”
I rolled my eyes as I stretched. I had aches and pains all over, but nothing felt broken or split. My right hand was red hot from where I’d held up the ice spell, but it hadn’t blistered. It was a good thing Justin—
Ah. Crap.
I looked to the King and felt like shit. “I’m sorry,” I said miserably. “I should have done more to save him.”
He reached out and put his hand on the back of my neck, bringing our foreheads together. “The knights were returning to the sparring fields when the dragon came. Did you know that?”
I shook my head. I’d been too busy running from a giant lizard that wanted to set me on fire.
“They were. They were too far away to do anything about it, but they were running. Do you know what they saw?”
“Two guys screaming hysterically as they ran for their lives? I’ll admit. I was a screamer.”
He sighed. “They saw the dragon pulling itself back to breathe fire. They saw you raise your hand in the air. They saw a blinding flash of blue light as you covered Justin with your body. They saw your magic, Sam. They saw your magic as you protected my son. You did everything in your power to save him. I couldn’t ask for anything more from you, Sam of Wilds. And I am so very happy that you are okay.”
And I hugged him then, because even though his son was a jerk that I was extraordinarily jealous of, the King was my friend, and I didn’t like to see him upset.
“We’ll get him back,” I said.
“How’s that now?” Gary asked. “And what’s this we stuff?”
The King pulled away and stared at me.
“Dragons,” I said. “They’re hoarders. They keep the things they think are pretty. Gold and jewels. In this case, Justin. To each his own, I guess.”
Morgan smacked me upside the head. Because that felt good with all the other grievous injuries I’d sustained. “Speak,” he said. “Now.”
“Before I lost consciousness, I heard the dragon say Justin was something he wanted to hoard.”
“You heard the dragon speak to Justin,” Morgan said slowly.
“Yeah. He also spoke to me, but he was really rude. Told me that he wanted to have sex with me, but since I was a wizard, he couldn’t because wizards were gross or something. I mean, what was that about? Should I be insulted or flattered?”
The staring thing happened again.
Then:
Morgan said, “Of course you can also understand dragons.”
The King said, “Don’t take it personally, Sam. Justin takes after his mother. She was beautiful. I didn’t know you were into dragons.”
Gary said, “What would your babies look like? Little dragon Sam babies? I bet they would be cute. Or really ugly. Yeah. Probably ugly. You shouldn’t have a tail. You can’t pull it off like I can. Truth.”
Tiggy said, “We gonna go smash dragons? I smash dragons.”
Mom said, “He didn’t want to sleep with you so he knocked you through a building? That’s rude. He could have just moved on.”
Dad said, “You can do better than the dragon. You are awesome and you dress nice and I like your hair and your jokes.”
Ryan said, “What the hell? Does everything want to have sex with you?”
Everyone slowly turned to look at him. He refused to meet anyone’s gaze.
Whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean.
So I focused on the first thing. “I thought it was weird too,” I told Morgan. “I didn’t think dragons could talk.”
“They can’t,” he said. “Or at least I’ve never heard of one speaking before.”
“So it’s like a magic thing?” I said, wiggling my fingers, and I swore I heard Ryan make that ungh sound again. I reminded myself to ask him later if he was okay. “But that doesn’t make sense. Justin’s not magic and I’m pretty sure he understood what the dragon was saying.”
Morgan frowned. “I honestly have no idea, then. We’ll have to move quickly. The dragon was seen headed north. Dragons are fiercely territorial, but I don’t have any record of this one having been spotted before. It’s possible he was looking for a new territory to inhabit after having come a great distance.”
“So call out the knights and have them start tracking,” I said. “They can storm wherever he’s being kept and rescue him.” I just wanted to sleep and forget about this ridiculous day.
The King said, “Tactically, that’s not a good plan. The dragon could easily wipe out a large portion of the knights in a single blast of fire. It’s better to go covert. Only a handful of people. And I know just the handful.” He smiled. I didn’t like that smile.
And Morgan must have gotten the same thing from it, because he said, “Your Majesty, I don’t think—”
“Ah,” the King said. “But I do.”
“No,” I said. “No.”
“Yes,” the King said.
I glared at him.
“What’s going on?” Mom asked.
“To be honest, I haven’t understood a single thing being said here,” Dad told her. “But that’s nothing unusual.”
“I just keep you around for your looks,” Mom said. “Not your brains.”
“Romance,” Dad sighed.
“It’s almost romantic,” the King said wistfully. “Like the stories I heard as a child. The princess being rescued from the dragon’s keep by her one true love. The hero rides in and slays the beast and everyone lives happily ever after.”
Ryan’s eyes went wide.
“Or, in the real-world version, they get set on fire and eaten,” I said.
“Semantics,” the King said with a wave of his hand. “Besides, you’ll be there to protect him, won’t you?”
“Everyone out,” I said as I grit my teeth together. “I need to have a word with the King. Morgan, you stay too.”
For once, everyone listened to me, though Ryan looked as if it was the last thing he wanted to do. His eyes were on me as he backed through the doorway, pulling the door closed.
I took a breath, trying to calm down. It almost didn’t work.
The King said, “Why were you out in the fields?”
“Because Justin took me there.”
“For what purpose?”
“To spar.”
The King frowned. “But you’re not sword trained.”
“That’s what I said.”
“And yet….”
Gods, this sucked. “He thought. He thinks.”
The King waited.
“Ryan and I are friends,” I said.
“As you should be.”
“Justin thinks it’s more than that.”
“Ah,” the King said. “And is it?”
“No.”
“But?”
“But nothing. It’s not.”
“Sam,” Morgan said. “Everything.”
Godsdamn him. “I’m leaving,” I told the King. “For a while.”
“So Morgan said. But he never said for how long or why.”
I looked at the King because he deserved my respect. He wasn’t angry. But he was tired. And confused. I reminded myself that his only son had been taken from him. “Do you know what a cornerstone is? To a wizard?”
The King’s gaze darted to Morgan before turning back to me. “Yes, Sam. I never had the pleasure of meeting Morgan’s. She was long gone from this world before he and I ever met. I don’t see what this has to do with—”
“I think Ryan is mine,” I blurted out, trying to get this over with as quickly as possible.
And the King said, “Oh. Sam. If I’d known…. Gods, I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. “It’s nothing you did. I didn’t even realize it until that night at the restaurant when we were attacked. And I need to get out of here. But it’s not just that, okay? Please don’t think it is. There’s something… different. About me. My magic. I’m not like other wizards.”
“He’s powerful, Anthony,” Morgan said quietly. “More than me. Probably more than anyone else. And he needs to learn control before he can’t any longer.”
“Ryan allows you this control?” the King asked.
I shrugged. Like an asshole. “I think so. But it’s never been tested.”
“So you’re running,” the King said.
And there was the flare of anger. “I’m removing myself from the equation,” I said. “Because your son seems to think I’m trying to steal Ryan away from him. Your son took me out to the sparring fields to try and in his words, ‘Teach me a lesson.’ I’m leaving because Morgan thinks it’s right, and I never question him.”
“You question me all the time,” Morgan said lightly.
“That’s because some of the things you say are questionable,” I said.
“Just so we’re clear,” Morgan said.
“This is your home, Sam,” the King said, sounding upset. “You should never feel like you’ve been forced from your home. Not to mention that what Justin did was wrong on so many levels. Castle Lockes belongs to you as much as him. You shouldn’t have to feel the need to leave because of him.”
“And I don’t,” I told him. “Not really. This is more me.” And it was. Mostly. Enough that it didn’t feel like a complete lie when I said it. But I knew that look in his eye. I’d known him for years. I knew what he was going to say even before he said it.
“I’m going to ask you this favor,” he said. “Because regardless of what happened or what will happen, the fact remains that my son was taken by a dragon. He will be your King, and you must help him.”
I sighed. “Crap. You would use the puppy eyes. You jerk.”
“I’ll go,” Morgan said. “Sam doesn’t need to do this. He’ll head north, and I’ll go with Ryan. We’ll get Justin back.”
“Sam?” the King asked.
Motherfucker. The King knew exactly how to play this. “It can’t be you, Morgan,” I replied. “You know that as well as I do. Because we need to show that we can work together if we’re going to be in charge of Verania one day. You shouldn’t have to worry about my magic. Ryan will be there until we find Justin and that will be enough. After that, I’ll go to Randall.”
“It’s not your magic I’m worried about,” Morgan said. “It’s your heart.”
Gods, that hurt. I laughed weakly. “It’s stronger than you think. Consider it a penance. I should have done more to protect Justin. I should have never let the dragon take him. If it’d been you and the King out there, you would have never let that happen. I have to get him back because I allowed him to be taken in the first place.”
“No one blames you,” the King said, touching my hand.
“Maybe not,” I said, looking away. “But I do.”
THEY LEFT me, then. Per my request. I needed time to clear my head.
So of course, only a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
I knew who it was. I didn’t know how, but I did.
“Yeah,” I said.
Ryan came in, face stony. The King had promised to keep the cornerstone thing to himself, so at the very least, he couldn’t be pissed off at me for that.
So that left the fact that I had somehow managed to let Justin get taken by the dragon. His fiancé was somewhere in Verania with a sexually aggressive dragon (which I was still offended about, by the way), and Ryan was stuck here with a malfunctioning wizard apprentice who secretly pined after him.
My life was a tragic farce of epic proportions.
He closed the door behind him and leaned against it.
I thought of at least a billion things to say, each one more ridiculous than the last (You mad, bro? You look mad), so I decided on keeping it simple. “Sorry.”
He arched a pissed-off eyebrow at me. Before that moment, I didn’t think eyebrows could be pissed off. I now knew otherwise. “For what?” he asked, voice hard. “Going out unescorted with the Prince? Facing off with a dragon? Almost getting yourself killed yet again? Which one, Sam? Hurry up and pick. I can’t wait to hear how you explain it away.”
Huh. That… wasn’t what I expected. “You mad, bro?” I asked and immediately winced.
“Am I mad,” he said flatly. “Am I mad? No, Sam. I’m not mad. I only came around the corner of the castle in time to see a fucking dragon rearing back to blow fire at you and Justin. I could only stand there when you turned the air around you to ice and the fire descended on you. I could only scream your name when he struck you and knocked you thirty feet into the side of a building. I could only run much too late when the dragon grabbed Justin and took off. Do you know what happened then? Do you, Sam? The pressure from its wings coming down collapsed the building on top of you. I sat there, watching it fly away as a building fell on top of you. So no. I’m not mad. I’m fucking furious.”
I didn’t do well with anger, especially when it was directed toward me. Especially when directed by Ryan. His lips were curved in a snarl and his eyes were flashing, and all I could think was Back off back off back off.
Flippant, I was. “It wasn’t a building,” I said. “Just a shed.”
He laughed bitterly. “Sure. Just a shed. Exactly what I told myself when I pulled your unconscious body out from underneath the rubble. I thought you were—we thought you had—” He rubbed a hand over his flushed face, the words seemingly stuck in his throat.
So I said, “I’m sorry,” in a small voice.
“Sorry,” he said. “You’re sorry.” Because apparently he thought repeating my sorry-ass words back to me was making this conversation easier.
“What do you want me to say? I didn’t ask to be attacked by a fucking dragon!”
“You shouldn’t have been out there in the first place!” he shouted at me. “What the hell were you thinking, taking Justin out to the sparring fields? Without an escort? How could you ever think that was a good idea?”
“You think I took him out there?” I snapped. “That’s what you think.”
“Why else would he be out there? Just because you have no regard for your own life, doesn’t mean y
ou get to endanger others.”
“Right,” I said. “Exactly. That’s exactly what happened. Glad you have all of the facts and made a logical conclusion. And you’re right! I love danger. It’s what I do.” I shook my head. “You know, for a moment, it sounded like you were worried about me. Fuck knows why I thought that. After all, I haven’t seen you in what… twelve days? Avoidance much?”
He reeled back as if I’d slapped him. “Sam,” he said hoarsely. “You… I….”
“Don’t bother,” I said, pushing past him. “The King has ordered me to help you find Justin. I’ll do it, because I owe him everything. Not you. Not Justin. The King. Once I do and everything is back to normal in your perfect little life, I’ll be gone.”
I stormed out of the labs, slamming the door behind me.
“OH MY gods, you diva,” Gary said the next morning. “You didn’t.”
I scowled at him and rolled my eyes, shoving another spare tunic into the bundle spread out on my bed.
“You went full-on bitchy and made a dramatic exit?” He sounded way too gleeful over my histrionics. “I have taught you well, my young apprentice.”
“He was being an asshole,” I said. “He deserved it. What a dick knocker. Fucking candy-ass bitch whore.”
“The angrier you are, the less your insults make sense,” Gary observed. “It’s adorable.”
I glared at him. “Go eat a moderately small child and choke on his bones.”
“See? That didn’t even make sense. Why would I eat a child? They’re sticky.”
“I will murder everything you love,” I growled at him.
“That would be suicide,” he said solemnly. “Because I love you.”
I gaped at him.
He laughed at me.
“Cheating,” I muttered.
“Eh, what can you do?”
“I smash him,” Tiggy said from his spot on the floor.
“Tig,” Gary said. “We discussed this. You can’t smash everything.”
“Yes you can,” I said. “You can smash all you want. Smash Gary, then Ryan.”