Page 37 of Until the End of Ever
“I fuckinglove.” It perfectly went with her bone structure, highlighting her delicate, elvish air. “When did that happen? Did you squeeze in a haircut before hunting dragons?”
“During, actually. One of the fuckers burned most of it. Thankfully, we had a wannabe hairdresser amongst us. He fixed it.”
I glanced inside the chopper, half expecting to see Irwin holding a pair of shears. It would make a lot of sense, actually. But he left the helicopter next, tear-stained and looking positively traumatized, with a wet patch on the front of his pants.
I stepped to the side, giving him a wide berth.Ew.
François came next, his overly tight trousers and shirt in one piece, if a little grimy, too, followed by Barron.
I frowned. Everyone seemed fine so far. That was the whole team—as Alden was still in the cockpit to handle the end-of-flight checks, which meant the only person left was Lucian. Surely he wasn’t the one hurt, was he?
The two healers were still standing around expectantly.
Lucian felt grander than life, untouchable. Yes, the concept of dragons was seriously frightening, but surely, if everyone else made it back more or less in one piece, so did he.
Unless he’d done something stupid to help everyone else. Sadly, I knew him capable of that.
I met the healers’ glare head-on. He wasn’t part of the Guard any longer. If he was hurt, it was my business, not theirs.
But he walked out on his own two feet, gorgeous and graceful as ever in the dark duster he’d thrown on before we ran out of the manor. Like everyone else, he was considerably filthier than usual, but otherwise seemed perfectly fine.
I was too relieved at first to notice the boy tucked as close as possible against his side, holding on to the sleeve of the leather duster.
The boy was the only passenger of the chopper who came out of it relatively clean. So pale I could see veins, a more vivid blue than they should be, and with green hair, as well as eyes as bright as fire, he was maybe fifteen, sixteen at most. He wore nothing except a blanket tied tightly around him.
Instinctively, I reached out for him, and watched him flinch.
Fuck.
The healers all but muscled their way between us. “We got this. We’re fully trained in various species,” Julia Woods announced proudly.
I was certain of it. But the boy needed food and warmth and hydrationright now.
Calm down, Kleos. They can handle it.
It took all my restraint, but I made myself let go.
They demanded he follow, and the boy clung harder to Lucian, fear and mistrust at the prospect of accompanying any stranger evident.
“I’ll tag along,” Lucian said with a shrug, and I had never been more desperate to throw myself at him. “But you have to let them take care of you, yes?”
The boy nodded, and they departed, healers casting various spells to detect the boy’s various ailments.
I could have recited them.
They wouldn’t have listened.
I reeled on Silver. Gideon was already gone, off to give an official recap to his superiors. “Talk.”
16
KLEOS
“And then,” Silver continued as we made our way to the healing ward on the third level of the Hall of Truce. “Lucian started to suck on the bitch’s energy. He said, ‘What, I thought you were a fan of sacrifices?’”
I snorted, wishing I’d seen it. “She deserved it. I can’t believe they were hunting one of their kids.”
Silver nodded darkly. “It’s like what Lucian said, though. A dragon horde only understand strength. After they understood he could take their leader, they agreed to bugger off. We spent most of the rest of the day trying to find Elias. That kid plays a mean hide-and-seek.” Her face morphed into a big smile. “In the end, it’s your cookies that got him.”
