by T. J. Klune
Mom and Dad followed, hands clasped.
I grabbed Morgan’s hand again, demanding he tell me all about the castle before we got there so I would know what to expect.
I only looked back once, head already filling with Morgan’s descriptions of the King and the Prince, the throne room and the gardens. Right before we turned the corner, leaving my old life behind, I felt a tug of something at the back of my head, like a whisper only I could hear. I glanced over my shoulder and saw someone I didn’t expect watching me.
Nox.
He stood in the middle of the street, brow furrowed, mouth in a thin line. He was breathing heavily, like he’d just run a great distance. I told myself that maybe he’d heard that something strange was happening at the Haversford home and came to snoop. I regretted leaving my rock collection, sure he was going to steal it. But I didn’t want to go back for it. That life was over.
I could have ignored him.
I could have stuck my tongue out at him.
But I didn’t.
I didn’t, because even though Nox was a bully, even though he was the poster boy of teenage douchebag, he was staying in the slums while I was leaving. And it almost looked like he was upset about something, but I didn’t know what.
So instead of being a jerk, I raised my hand in his direction and waved, just a little.
He surprised me by waving back, a forlorn shake of his hand from side to side.
And then I was around the corner and Nox disappeared from view.
Strangely, there was a little pang in my heart. But I pushed it away. I had exciting things ahead, after all.
“Okay?” Morgan asked me.
I grinned up at him. “Okay.”
And besides, I told myself, it wasn’t like I was ever going to see Nox again.
He was in the past.
I didn’t look back.
Chapter 1: That’s Not What Bestiality Means, Gary
“HEY,” RYAN Foxheart said, lips pressed against my ear. “You gonna get up anytime soon?”
I hummed low in my throat, not wanting to open my eyes yet. The bed was warm and soft, Ryan a hot line of naked muscle at my back, his legs tangled with mine, an arm thrown over my waist. I stretched slowly, letting my back pop as I arched against him. He grunted softly, breath tickling my cheek. I pushed back again, and his hand tightened on my waist. It’d been a long time since he’d fucked me. Knight Commander Foxheart looked good on his back, and looked even better with me above him. But sometimes I just wanted to get fucked, and I thought maybe now was one of those times.
I tried to think if we had anywhere to be, if I had a meeting or a task Morgan had set out for me. For some reason, though, I could barely think through the fog of sleeplust that cloaked my brain. I couldn’t even remember what day it was, but I figured that was okay, given that if anything important needed to happen, I’d remember it.
This was good. This was very, very good.
His hand moved from my waist to my chest, fingers spreading, anchoring me in place as his lips moved to my neck. There was tongue then, and the scrape of teeth. He rolled his hips, cock moving between my legs against the back of my balls.
“So good,” I groaned, unable to find the strength to open my eyes. “Keep doing that.”
He chuckled darkly. “You like that? You like me rubbing off on you?”
“Pretty much the best thing ever,” I mumbled sleepily.
“I can think of one or two things that would be even better.”
“That right, Knight Commander? What do you have in mind?”
“Here,” he said. “Let me show you.”
His hand stroked down my chest slowly, fingers leaving heated trails in their wake. The muscles in my stomach jumped and fluttered as he scraped his nails against them. He rolled his hips again, and I didn’t even try to stop the whimper that crawled out of me. There was a huff of breath on my neck, and I said, “Stop teasing, come on, come on,” and then he circled my cock, squeezing it tightly. I thrust up into his fist, fucking his tight grip. It was dry and my skin burned slightly, but it was worth it. We’d get the oil in a little bit. For now I wanted to feel it as much as I could.
I said, “Gods, I love you, I love you so much,” and I’d never meant anything more in my life.
He said, “I have awoken, O human child. In this forest deep, in the dark of the wild. And I have seen what is in your heart. Take heed of my warning: you are not ready.”
Gooseflesh rose along my arms. “Ryan? What are you—”
I opened my eyes.
I stood before the Great Doors to the throne room in Castle Lockes.
I took a step back, jerking my head around.
I was alone.
“What is this?” I muttered. “How did I get—”
A low murmur of voices came from the other side of the Great Doors.
A feeling of dread trickled down my spine.
I thought about turning and walking away, trying to find Ryan. Or Gary. Or Kevin or Tiggy or my parents or Morgan or Randall or someone, anyone who could tell me what was going on, why I was standing in Castle Lockes in my best robes, a heavy weight gripping my heart, squeezing until I could barely breathe.
There was something else there, tickling the back of my mind, and I couldn’t quite grasp it to pull it forward into the light.
I pressed my hands against the Great Doors.
The wood vibrated under my fingers.
I didn’t want to go inside.
It felt like pain and grief.
I didn’t want that.
I didn’t want any part of it.
I pushed the doors open.
They groaned as they parted, a loud creak that echoed throughout the throne room.
Which, surprisingly, was full.
It was dim inside, the sunlight through the stained-glass windows pale and muted. There had to be a thousand people standing before me, their backs to me. They all seemed to be dressed similarly, in grays and blacks. The men held their hats in front of them. The women’s black-netted veils covered their faces. Their heads were bowed.
I was late, obviously, but for what? I hoped maybe I could get to the front without being noticed. Morgan would probably chew me out, but I could apologize and tell him I just didn’t—
Oh, Sam. You truly are beyond what I had hoped for. But I must remind you again: I have never lied to you. Can you name someone else in your life that can say the same?
I took a stumbling step forward.
I knew that voice, but I couldn’t put a face or a name to it. It felt important—all of this did—but the lust fog had turned into something darker, something deeper, and it coated my skin, tugging me down, slowing everything about me.
My footsteps echoed against the stone floor.
No one turned to look at me.
I knew what this was. Given the way everyone was dressed, it could only be one thing.
“This is a funeral,” I whispered.
I tried to turn and leave. I didn’t want to be here anymore.
Instead, I walked forward.
The steps I took were deliberate, measured. But my body felt stiff and tired. I ached all over, and I was having a hard time catching my breath.
It wasn’t long before my eyes burned and my face was wet.
And I didn’t know why.
I was a quarter of the way to the front of the throne room. I didn’t know if it was the tears, the fog, or something wrong with my vision, but I couldn’t make out what waited for me. It was blurred and lost in a haze. I didn’t think it could be anything good.
I passed another row of mourners only to be stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I looked over to see a dragon made of stars watching me. No one seemed concerned that such a creature existed amongst them. His starlight pulsed low, creating shadows that crawled along their faces. He twinkled and he sparkled, and I felt sick to my stomach at the sight of him.
He said, “Hey, hi. Hello, Sam of Wilds. Did you know that
when an apprentice becomes a full-fledged wizard, their name changes? It’s a title, an honorific. It’s meant to show the progression of a wizard’s magic. You are Sam of Wilds. You must become Sam of Dragons. And I’m sorry to say that all of you will not survive until the end. There will be loss, Sam. And it will burn like nothing has ever burned before. You must remember to keep in the light, even when the dark begins to curl around your feet.”
Then he turned and bowed his head.
I moved on.
A choir began to sing. Their song was an aching one, burning bittersweet in my heart. I couldn’t make out the words, but it didn’t matter. I knew the tone of what it was.
The front of the throne room came into sharper focus.
The thrones had been removed. By whom, I didn’t know. It was a rarity when it happened. Usually only for funerals. And there were only funerals in the throne room when someone important had died.
I saw my parents first. They stood side by side, heads bowed. My mother’s shoulders shook. My father reached up and wiped his eyes.
“Mom? Dad?”
They didn’t look up.
A hornless unicorn stood next to them and a half-giant next to him. The half-giant held the unicorn’s head to his chest, running his hand through the mane.
“Gary,” I said. “Tiggy.”
Two wizards. Morgan and Randall.
A King. A Prince.
Anthony and Justin.
A fierce black dragon, his head through an open doorway that led to a garden.
“Kevin,” I said. “Guys, what’s going—”
“Stone crumbles,” another voice said, and I turned to see a snake dragon monster thing curled in the corner, tongue flicking out as it watched me. “You have to remember that, Sam. Stone crumbles.”
“Do not listen to him,” a voice whispered in my ear. “He is but a child. He knows not of what he speaks. I have seen it, Sam of Wilds, for I have the sight. You must come home. I will show you what you’re supposed to do. You have been chosen. It calls for you.”
“Vadoma,” I said as she walked past me. She was followed by a large wolf. My magic curled at the sight of him, pulling me toward him, but I resisted as they stood off to the side, like they were waiting to see what I would do.
I looked away from them. I didn’t trust them. Her more than the wolf.
And then—
He lay atop a stone dais, his armor shining brightly in the flickering candlelight. His skin was waxy and pale, his lips almost colorless. I could see the hint of teeth underneath them. His hair fell in waves across his head, dull and lifeless. A sword lay on his chest, his hands clasped around the hilt.
He was beautiful.
He was dead.
I said, “Ryan? You gotta get up. You gotta get up, okay? Please. Please get up.”
The candles went out all at once. Little wisps of smoke rose from each of them.
The weak light through the stained-glass windows began to fade, as if the sun was covered by an approaching storm.
And then I felt it. A sickness. Disease. A sense of wrongness.
I turned to look back the way I’d come.
A man stood at the Great Doors. He was obscured by shadows.
“I won’t let you do this,” I told him, though I didn’t know why. “I won’t let you have him. Or anyone.”
He laughed.
“The dragons will never be yours.”
“Here’s a hint, Sam,” he said, voice garbled like the shadows were spilling from his throat. “It’s never been about the dragons. I don’t want the dragons. Those are all yours, kiddo. Gather them. Don’t. I don’t give a fuck what you do with them. In the end, it won’t matter. For them. For you.”
“I will end you,” I said.
“Will you?”
“Yes.”
“I relish the thought. I told you once that I would rip the lighting-struck heart from your chest. Trust me when I say I’ll do just that.”
“You want to see just how lightning-struck my heart is?” I snarled at him. “You’ve got it.”
And I gathered my magic around me, the strength of it unfocused and wild because my cornerstone was dead, he was lying on a stone slab behind me, dead, and I would tear this world apart to make sure those responsible suffered as much as I had.
The dark man in shadows laughed, and I—
“HOLY SHIT,” I gasped, jerking awake.
“Oh, well fuck me up and call me a bitch, look who finally decided to wake up. Did you have a good nap up there, Sam? All comfortable and warm? Because let me tell you who is not comfortable and warm. That would be me.”
I groaned and rubbed my hand over my eyes, trying to chase away the last remnants of a dream that I struggled to remember.
I opened my eyes again, realized where I was, and promptly almost died.
“What the balls!” I shrieked as clouds flew lazily by me, the sky brightening around us as a new day dawned.
It was then I remembered I was on the back of a dragon, a knight’s arms around my waist, a half-giant’s arms around both of us, and an apparently grumpy unicorn clutched in the dragon’s claws, held tightly against his chest.
“Sam,” Gary said, “I am talking to you. The least you can do is acknowledge me when I’m bitching about something. You know I don’t like being ignored, and when I don’t like something, I tend to make sure everyone knows about it.”
“You don’t say,” Kevin growled. “Because you haven’t been going on and on like this since you woke up an hour ago.”
“Excuse you?” Gary said, outraged. “I’ll have you know that there are many people who would just die to be able to hear me speak about anything. Everyone knows that words from a unicorn are like being touched by the gods.”
“Bad-touched, maybe.”
“Do you want me to throw up all over you again? Because I can. I’ll make you look like a motherfucking rainbow by the time we land, you overgrown sex lizard.”
“This has been going on for quite a while,” Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart—the dreamiest dream that had ever been dreamed—whispered in my ear. “I never thought I’d say this, but I really wish they get over this and go back to having disgustingly inappropriate sex.”
“We’re doomed either way,” I muttered as Ryan kissed my cheek.
“So doomed,” Tiggy agreed from behind us. “Good sleep?”
I laid my head back on Ryan’s shoulder so I could look up at my friend. He grinned down at me. He had bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept a wink since we’d left the gypsy city of Mashallaha the day before. Knowing Tiggy, he probably stayed awake all night just to make sure Ryan and I didn’t fall off Kevin’s back in our sleep. We seemed secure, but I knew Tiggy probably wouldn’t have trusted even that, given that we’d never done something like this before. “It was okay,” I said, and Tiggy leaned down to press a wet and messy kiss against my forehead.
Leathery black wings rose up and then fell back down before they stretched wide, coasting on air. The wind whipped around us, but I’d grown used to the sound of it, so much so that I’d been able to at least get a few hours of sleep. I was stiff and sore, but I thought it had more to do with the fact that a dickbag named Myrin had kicked my ass until I’d essentially exploded the both of us by filling an entire lake with lightning. I could feel the scars from the lightning across my chest. The scars themselves didn’t hurt—not like most of the rest of me—but I was aware of them, the way they pulled against my skin every time I shifted my weight. The scars felt warm, almost like they were heated just underneath my chest. But even I could admit they made me look super badass, so I wasn’t too worried about them.
“How much longer?” I asked no one in particular.
“I’m hungry,” Gary said, his scarf flapping around his head to keep his mane from suffering the effects of wind-rape.
“I offered to fly over a lake and hold you near the water so you could scoop up fish in your mouth,” Kevin said. “But you to
ld me that was the stupidest idea you’d ever heard.”
“Well, yeah. You expected me to hold my head underwater with my mouth open and hope that something just came right inside.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.”
“Ha,” Tiggy said. “Yuck.”
“We’re still over the Dark Woods,” Ryan said. “We probably won’t reach Meridian City until sometime this afternoon.”
“I’m fast as shit,” Kevin said proudly.
“You okay to keep going?” I asked him. “You’ve been going all night.”
He turned his head back toward us, a wide, lecherous grin on his face. “Obviously you know nothing about the virility of dragons. You don’t need to worry about me, pretty. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve gone all night. And it won’t be the last.”
“I set myself up for that one,” I admitted. “I have no one to blame but myself. Sorry. Sorry, everyone. I made Kevin gross again. My bad.”
“It’s not like it’s that hard,” Gary said. “He’s gross all the time.”
“You literally have no room to talk,” I said. “Do I need to remind you that you incorporated my name into your sexual perversions? Not to mention that none of us will ever be able to eat muffins again, much less ever step inside a bakery. Do you understand what you’ve done? You’ve ruined pastries. And my name.”
“Whatever,” Gary said. “I am a free and single independent unicorn who don’t need no mens. I’ve sown my oats, settled down in a semimonogamous relationship, got my heart shattered into a billion pieces, put said heart back together, and now will unsow the aforementioned oats so that I may find new ways to sow them all over again.”
“And that’s what I’m paying you alimony and child support for?” Kevin said, sounding horribly affronted. “So you can sow some young new thing? For shame, Gary. For. Shame. And let’s not even begin to discuss how it was you that broke my heart. And the heart of our son.”
“Nope,” I said. “Still not even involved. Also, you don’t pay alimony or child support because I am not your child.”
“It’s okay, champ,” Kevin said, glancing back at me distractedly. “I promise I’ll try and make it to your sportsball game next weekend, assuming I don’t get called into the office. We’re working on a big project, though, so I might have to take a rain check. Your stepdaddy is a very important dragon with many responsibilities.”