Page 71 of Don't Fae With Dragons

“Mili, are you okay?” I slowly ask.

Mili laughs bitterly and throws her hands in the air. “I’m fine, wonderful, even! I was justwonderingwhy in thegodsdamned RealmHelennia and the other townspeople are telling me you and Max broke the dam?” As she speaks, her hands curl into fists by her side, but I sense Max flaring up with righteous indignation at her words.

I grip Max’s thigh solidly in my hand and face Mili directly. “You can’t believe them,” I reassure her. “They must be mistaken. Why would we do such a thing after all the effort we’ve put into saving Ethelinda?”

At that, Mili wavers slightly –her hands twitch and her scent becomes mingled with immediate guilt. Max snarls beside me, though, and her eyes darken again as she pivots to face him.

“How could you believe we’d do that?” he growls.

I feel my heart start racing. This is not going to go well. “Max–”

“– No, how could she? Mili,” he continues, turning again to her, “You’d really trust that gossiping neighbor overus?”

“She’s not just some neighbor!” Mili exclaims. “She brought me to Chrysthinia, she helped me save them from dying when they got sick! How could I not at least hear her out?”

“Stop fighting!” My voice booms out. It echoes through the cottage, and both Mili and Max’s eyes widen in surprise. I huff out a heavy breath and continue, “I’m not Cory, so I’m not going to tell you both to calm down, but we can’t attack each other in this way. Not when we’ve come so far. We have to find a way to solve these things peacefully.”

I sigh as Mili’s eyes start to glisten with regret, and Max lowers his gaze to the floor beneath his feet. I’m not a leader, I know that –but I couldn’t sit there silently while the two of them tried to tear each other apart. Instead of talking more and getting my words all twisted up, I hold out a hand to Max and help him stand with me.

Mili bites her lip, avoiding my gaze, as we step over to meet her in the middle of the living chamber. I hold my arms out to her, a silent olive branch, and she rushes into my arms. A shaky breath escapes her and I pull Max into our embrace, smiling with relief when he wraps his arms around Mili, too.

“Can we stand here a moment?” Mili whispers.

I nod against her, and Max sighs, “I’d like that, too.”

“We can stay like this as long as we need to,” I answer softly.

After a minute, the three of us untangle ourselves and move to the bed so we can talk in a more relaxed setting. With only room for two of us on the loveseat, it’s bound to feel like an interrogation. Here, it’s quieter –softer. Getting to lay side-by-side is a nice bonus, too.

Max lays on the end of the bed, propped up halfway by his elbows. His right arm is wrapped around my lower calf, and he slowly strokes my leg hair. I get the feeling it’s as much to calm him down as much as it is for me.

I’m sitting on the left side of the bed, my back straight against the headboard. Mili is beside me, laying sideways. Her feet are close to Max’s, but they aren’t quite touching each other. I suppose they don’t want to set one another off again –but I make a mental note to bring it up to Cory. He might have an idea or two to help the two of them be less tense around each other.

“Max, Port, I’m...” Mili starts. After a frustrated sigh, she continues. “I’m so sorry I came into that conversation without hearing your sides, too. I was just panicked, so panicked that I masked it with anger. What would it have meant for all of us if you twohadbroken the dam? I didn’t want to lose you both, especially everything we’ve all been through, but I have to put Ethelinda first.”

Max snorts at that, and I raise a critical eyebrow of his flippant response. “Sorry,” he starts, forcing his smirk down. “I’m not a fan of the whole ‘duty to one’s homeland’ thing. Never got it, never will.”

Mili frowns, but sits up to face him better. “I don’t judge you for that, Max. We all come from different places, differentexperiences, differentlives. Still, you can understand where I’m coming from, can’t you?”

At that, Max scratches the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Yeah. Yeah, I can. Sorry.”

“Thank you,” Mili sighs.

“I just want to make it perfectly clear, too, that we absolutely did not break the dam,” I say. I hold Mili’s hand while I talk, and she looks down at our entwined fingers instead of directly at me.

“I know,” she whispers. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

At a loss for words, I look to Max. Surprisingly, he nods knowingly. “Honestly?” he starts. “I get it. The paranoia that comes when you put your trust in people is no joke.”

“Yes,” Mili nods, wide-eyed, “That’s exactly it. It’s not that I don’t trust you all, I just –I perhaps overestimated how long we’ve really known each other or how much anxiety I have about Ethelinda.”

I nod, humming quietly. “It makes sense that you’d be so protective of the town. Only a few fortnights ago the blight threatened to destroy it.”

Mili winces at my words, and Max gently nudges her foot with his own. “Hey, don’t get in your head about it, now. We’re not going to let anything happen to Ethelinda, alright?” I watch with a soft smile as Mili nods at him, seemingly strengthened by his words. He grins at her and winks, “That’s our girl,” and she blushes violently.

I laugh at Mili’s quickly-reddening face, and she dives to bury her face in a pillow. “Oh, gods,” she mumbles into the bedding. “You dragons will be the Death of me.”

Max chuckles, too, and the three of us quickly devolve into fits of laughter. After a moment, Mili sits back up, any trace of worry gone from her face.

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