Page 34 of Kimiko and the Accidental Proposal
The wolf reeled vaguely with his hands. “Island enclave. South Pacific. I’ll admit he was sketchy, but it was all he had to trade.”
“You traded language lessons for …?” prompted Quen.
Boon crouched, arms outspread. “More like surfing lessons, but he liked to talk, so I picked things up pretty quick.”
Quen huffed. “So you traded surfing lessons for …?”
“Oooh, you know how it is.” Boon waved off the question. “The less said about some things, the better.”
Merit cleared his throat.
Boon grinned and elbowed him. “Wait your turn, Penny. He askedmefirst.”
Quen’s elder brother growled, but Tenma couldn’t tell if it meantget on with itoryour doom is sure. Either way, he got the impression that Merit and Boon got along all right.
The wolf thumped his bare chest—his fur vest hung open, revealing tanned skin, beaded accessories, and what looked suspiciously like the edge of a tattoo at his hip—and repeated, “I’m Boonmar-fen, third son of Adoona-soh Elderbough. My name means ‘song circle,’ because I was born during a festival.”
Tenma searched for something to say. “What are you hunting?”
Boon’s smile was no longer the happy sort. “Trouble. And the less said about that, the better.”
A second set of palms was presented, and Tenma quickly touched hands with Quen’s older brother. Again, Eloquence guided the introduction. “Merit is firstborn and heir to the Starmark clan.”
Loose auburn waves, glinting copper eyes, stern gaze—this Starmark towered without actually looming. Oddly, Tenma’s insides didn’t dance skittishly because Merit was near. Only Boon made him nervous, as if his gadabout manner was simply a veneer.
“Subaru-kun, if Father was not occupied by urgent matters, he would bless your coming and bid you stay. Do not think less of us because the honor falls to me.” Merit took him by the shoulders and bent to kiss his forehead. With a searching look, he said, “Friend of my brother, fear not.”
So startled was he by the gentle treatment, Tenma lost his chance to ask Merit about his name, for the two adults were already moving along. Meetings to attend. Reports to discuss. He was a little fuzzy on the details.
But before they rounded the corner, Boon called back, “Fear not, but beware of dragons!”
Dragons. Tenma shook his head and looked to Quen. “He’s exaggerating again, right?”
“I don’t think he was lying.” His classmate’s brow furrowed. “But I think his words split onto two trails.”
“Like a double meaning?”
Quen hummed and turned back toward the pavilion where Rise sat patiently. But he snapped to a halt and muttered something in a language Tenma didn’t recognize. Even so, the tone was clear. He glanced around the snowy garden warily. What was bad enough to inspire rude words?
And all of the sudden, out of absolutely nowhere, Quen was tangled up with another person. Only it was more of a hug than an attack. Probably. Caught between needing to get away from this unknown source of oaths and trying to help a friend, Tenma stood frozen.
“El-o-quence,” crooned the newcomer, his voice deep and rich. “Hide me. I cannot bear another question.”
“Was there another inquiry?”
“Suspicions multiply, even though I am innocent as a breeze over open meadows.” Winding slender arms more firmly around Quen’s shoulders, he sagged disconsolately. “Have pity and offer us sanctuary.”
Although Tenma wasn’t clear on particulars, he felt certain that Quen was in no danger. But in the dim light, details were slow to come together. Male. Rivven. And … drunk.
“You’ve had too much star wine, Lord Mossberne.”
“I know.” He exhaled on a fluttering note that definitely wasn’t human. “It did not help. It never does.”
Mossberne? As in Lapis Mossberne? Tenma stopped breathing. Could this person really be one of the Five? Catching Quen’s eye, he pointed and moutheddragon.
Rolled eyes and a nod.
But the exchange may have been a mistake, for the dragon lord’s head turned, and light fell upon a lean face, putting fire into half-lidded sapphire eyes. “El-o-quence,” he drawled. “Why is that boy sealed?”
