Page 32 of Here Be Dragons

“You know,” I said, changing the subject, “Desmon mistook him for my familiar at first.”

“Maybe he’s right. I never did regain the use of my magic, but I still have a lot of it. I feel good around Q-Tip. Maybe he helps you with your magic, you just don’t realize it.”

“I don’t really have much magic.”

“But you have some. I feel it.”

“Hmm. Sometimes things give me visions or feelings. But it’s not consistent, and so far not very useful.”

“Maybe you can try using your magic with him around next time and see if it’s any better.”

“Sure. Why not?” I doubted anything would change, but figured I would humor her anyway.

My stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.

“You didn’t eat dinner, child. Want to head down to the kitchen for a snack? I tried my hand at tacos al pastor, and there are some leftovers.”

That sounded delicious. “Yes, I do!”

Chapter 17

Desmon

I paced the rooftoppatio of my home, my dragon at the surface and feeling antsy. The last time I’d felt like this, I’d torched a mountain. Granted, it required periodic fires to stay healthy, and it was due for one anyway. But still.

We should be in our lair with our mate!

I ignored him.

Of all the times for my dragon to get distracted, why did it have to be now when victory—or defeat, depending on how it played out—was so close? I needed to focus on that and not the fact that Carly claimed she needed “some time alone” to process everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

There is nothing to process. She’s mine, and I am hers.

I ignored my dragon and started another lap around the patio.

I’d never thought I’d be mated at all, but if it had happened, I’d imagined it would have been with another dragon or some other powerful, long-lived monster. I’d spent some time with Gillisandra when I was younger, before this competition started, but then realized I couldn’t stand her. She’d bounced quickly to my brother after that, though that had been short-lived as well, probably because, same as I had, he’d kept all information about his treasure hoard from her.

I wasn’t worried that Carly would leave this world long before me. As my mate, I could share the remainder of my natural life span with her. The problem was that it would reduce the number of years I had in this world, something I hadn’t been ready for.

There was magic that could extend the lifespan of lesser species but it was strictly forbidden by the EA. Blood magic, along with stealing the life force from one creature to another, or anything involving human sacrifices, had long been illegal. That didn’t mean it didn’t happen, however. It just meant that practitioners got better at hiding it.

As a dragon, I’d never followed the EA’s rules, anyway. I didn’t much care how things got done as long as they got done. Thiswas why Seth could dabble in any form of dark arts he wanted; he had my backing, and the EA wouldn’t dare touch him.

But it wasn’t just that I would have to share my longevity with her that had me worried. She was a human with little magic, and therefore a sitting duck for my enemies. As my mate, she would always have a target on her back. I would need to protect her for the rest of our lives.

What if I failed like before?

I shoved back the bad memories that threatened to surface and continued to pace the rooftop. I wasn’t invincible; dragons could be and had been slain. But there were more dangerous dragons than me out there, and if the EA was smart, they’d know that picking a fight with me would be opening themselves up for attack elsewhere. They wouldn’t dare, especially not with the WEC ready to swoop in and regain the power they’d lost in recent years.

The WEC had every important clergyman, imam, and rabbi in history in their back pocket. No religion, or any institution with power for that matter, was safe from their influence. Modernization and the separation of church and state had weakened their hold, but they’d infiltrated corporations and politicians instead, though they were still taking the religious route in places like the Middle East.

When The Wall had fallen, their ominous dealings had been fully exposed and they had to backtrack to cover up, claiming they were doing everything for the good of the people of Earth. I couldn’t believe how many people actually believed them.

Humans are stupid, my dragon grumbled.

I reminded my dragon that our trusted wizard was human, and apparently, so was our mate.

Yes, most humanswerestupid. But as a society, they’d come a long way and achieved much more than I’d ever dreamed possible, especially in recent years. Look at their recent mastery of technology, which had once been considered a branch of magic. The way I saw it, any smart dragon should start keeping their eyes on them as a species. Times were changing.

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