Page 4 of Sapphire Seas

Kes

“How long has it been since you slept indoors regularly?”

Mattias’ question came after a long silence had settled over us, in which we mostly stared at the man lying on the bed, wondering if he was going to open his eyes and talk to us today. Raven, their High Priestess, said he needed rest to recover completely, but she’d given us no timetable for how long he’d be out, and it had left me twitchy and ill at ease.

Since I didn’t have a proper answer for him, I shrugged. I hadn’t slept indoors even when we still lived in the village. My room, if one could call it that, had been the double wide garage next to an old car that always smelled of leaky fluids and exhaust fumes. Needless to say, I didn’t bother with the rickety old cot much and found a soft, leaf scented spot to bed down in outdoors, far away from that house and the people I despised.

“If there is something you dislike about the room…” He began and I cut him off, so he’d stop thinking the issue had anything to do with him.

“No, its fine, it’s all me.”

Me and the habits I’d developed since I was old enough to realize that there was nothing good about staying in that village, not even the food, considering all they fed us was the scraps from their table and only enough so we were capable of doing whatever tasks they assigned us.

Like Upalo and Canyon, I’d balked when they’d tried to force us to work in those dark mines, my dragon screaming rebellion and spitting ice at anyone who dared to put their hands on us. Upalo had attacked them with flames and rock while Canyon had used the winds to wreak havoc upon the whole operation, even after the first of our leeches had been forcibly attached.

I tried not to think about what I’d lost that day, but my hand had a mind of its own, it seemed, and reached for the eyepatch, stroking along the edge of it, as if to make certain it fully covered the atrocities that had been inflicted upon me. Upalo and Canyon carried their own scars from that night, though mercifully, those were easily hidden beneath their clothes. I’d endured taunting about being a pretty boy while they expressed their joy at getting to ruin that.

“I see.”

He didn’t, but I hoped he’d just leave it alone.

“I will not be upset if there is something you desire,” he said.

Of course he wouldn’t let it drop. For the first time in my recent memories, someone actually cared about my comfort, and I was having a really damned difficult time accepting that when we might be on the verge of losing everything, including our lives.

It hardly seemed fair and yet was entirely predictable and fit with the path my life had taken for as long as I could remember.

“You caught me sneaking out,” I said, if only to get the truth out in the open, because I sensed that was where this line of questions had stemmed from.

“Every night.”

“I kind of figured that when there was suddenly a blanket and a pillow on your deck chair.”

“It’s your deck chair now,” he replied. “In time I hope you’ll grow comfortable enough to sleep with me through the night.”

“It seriously isn’t you,” I explained. “I’ve just grown used to falling asleep beneath the stars. No matter how low the temperature dips, I never feel it, but the blankets are way more comfortable than the wood. Thank you. Snuggling up in them is like being tucked into a fluffy sleeping bag. I always wished we were camping out for fun, instead of because we had nowhere else to go.”

“You belong here with me now,” he replied. “Both of you do. This is your home, you never have to look for another place to go.”

“Just like that?”

“What more does there need to be?”

Shrugging, I squirmed, trying to get comfortable in a chair I’d been sitting in for too long. “Nothing, I guess, but there are moments when this feels surreal and I expect to wake up in a cave with Upalo burning breakfast and Canyon snoring loud enough to rain dust on our heads, which, in hindsight, might have helped breakfast not catch on fire, completely. He never sleeps in human form, no matter how tight the accommodations are. I have literally slept squished between his scales and a cave wall, and let me tell you, it gets very hard to breathe when he decides to roll over.”

He chuckled and the ghost of a smile curved his lips upward. Damn. He was beautiful, and not just in appearance, but the whole way he’d embraced the sudden arrival of messed up mates who probably weren’t what he’d expected, left me both puzzled and relieved. He didn’t look away when he looked at me either, I did, because having him watch me made me all kinds of self-conscious and I suddenly found myself thinking up a reason to flee the room again.

Drinks.

I could grab us iced tea or something.

It was on the tip of my tongue to suggest I go down and get some, when words came tumbling out that I didn’t remember approving yet.

“How’d you know what deck chair we were sleeping in?”

Oh. It was my dragon’s question, and he clearly wasn’t willing to wait for me to collect myself in the kitchen before he asked it.

“I watched you from the window until you fell back to sleep,” Mattias admitted. “Sometimes I lingered to be certain you weren’t going to get up and wander farther, and because I enjoyed the sight of you laying in the moonlight and at times wonder what you’re dreaming about. Forgive me if that seems creepy or as humans would put it, stalkerish, it was not my intention for it to be taken that way.”