Page 30 of Storm In The Sky

Seeing him like that made Winter want to kiss him. Instead, he speared a piece of bacon with his fork and put it into his mouth. Keylon was forgetting to eat, he was so excited to talk about magic, so Winter elbowed him lightly and tilted his chin toward his food. Keylon blinked. His cheeks flushed, and he grabbed his spoon.

“Sorry about that. I can get pretty animated when I start talking about magic.”

“I noticed. I liked hearing you talk about it. It’s clear it’s something you’re passionate about.”

“It’s a part of me.”

Keylon said it as if it was obvious, but having lived with mages, Winter knew it wasn’t. Some mages were more inclined toward magic, while others had great difficulties using it, to the point that some preferred living like humans.

That wasn’t the case for any of the mages who lived here, but it made sense. They’d banded together to defeat Carlyle, which meant that all of them were incredibly strong. Keylon was right when he said that younger mages often didn’t have specialties, but Winter suspected that everyone in this room did. Keylon had protective spells, while Jarvis opened portals as if it were as easy as breathing. Ansley had perfected a seeking spell that had led him and the other mages to the dragons. Winter wasn’t sure about Penley, but he’d seen him giving magic back to a dragon who hadn’t been able to shift in decades.

All of these men were impressive, and Winter had to believe it meant they would be able to defeat Carlyle a second time—and for good.

And Winter would be there to help them. He wouldn’t have it any other way, especially now that he wanted to see where things went between him and Keylon. They hadn’t kissed again,but that was all right. Winter would wait for as long as it took for Keylon to be comfortable with him.

He’d been watching him since the kiss, and he could easily see himself fall in love with Keylon. He understood why Alvin had fallen for him. How could he not have?

Keylon was passionate. He was fascinating, especially when he started talking about things he loved. The fact that he was beautiful didn’t have anything to do with his personality, but Winter liked that, too.

Keylon was his type, which might be why Keylon and Alvin had ended up together. From what Winter had seen over the years, mages and shields weren’t always in relationships, but their bond was much stronger when they were. It came from the feelings they had for each other. Defending someone they loved might make the dragons more reckless, but it also gave them a reason to ensure their mages wouldn’t get hurt. Who better to protect a mage than the dragon who was in love with them?

Winter wasn’t ready to let go of Keylon once they were done eating. Most of the other people in the dining room had come and gone, leaving them nearly alone. Meyer was still there, sitting by the window, staring at the sky. Winter’s heart broke for him. Meyer wanted to know what had happened with Tyne, but Tyne looked ready to kill him every time he saw him. It was even worse than what had happened between Winter and Keylon. It felt like their situation might be desperate, but Winter hoped Meyer would find peace.

“I should probably go,” Keylon said as he got to his feet.

Winter scrambled to follow him. “I was going to go fly this morning. Would you like to come with me?” he offered.

Keylon sucked in a breath and stared.

Winter expected the answer to be no, but he had to try. He wanted Keylon to understand that he hadn’t been lying when he’d said he was all in. It would take time, but Winter expectedthe two of them to be together the way they had before. He couldn’t remember any of that, but it was what he wanted to give Keylon.

“Are you sure?” Keylon asked.

“I am. I’ll understand if it gives you bad memories or if you don’t trust me, but I’d like to do that with you.”

“Of course I trust you.”

Winter wanted to say that Keylon didn’t trust him with his heart, but he didn’t. This was yet another step forward. He loved that they were taking so many today.

He led the way out of the dining room. They crossed paths with Thorne, a human who was in charge of the castle. He blinked at them, looking surprised, maybe because they’d still been in the dining room when everyone else had scattered around the castle. Another of the humans was behind him, but Winter couldn’t place him. The human blushed, quickly looking from Winter and Keylon to Thorne.

Keylon’s smile was easy, and it made Winter a bit jealous. He wanted Keylon to smile at him like that, and he told himself that, eventually, he’d have that.

“We missed you at breakfast, Matthias,” Keylon said.

Matthias’s cheeks went even redder. “Sorry. I had breakfast with Thorne.”

For some reason, Keylon appeared delighted. “Really.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Thorne said gruffly, but he was smiling.

“We’re going for a fly,” Keylon said. “We’ll see you later.”

Winter was confused as to what had happened, but there was a new bounce in Keylon’s steps as he led the way toward one of the towers.

“What was that about?” Winter asked.

“Matthias is Parker’s best friend, while Thorne has worked for us for twenty years. We all think he should have found love along time ago because he deserves it, but he’s always very busy, and nothing we can say has ever changed his mind about leaving us to find someone. It looks like the easiest way to get him to fall in love was to bring love to him.”

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