Page 116 of Mage of the Dragon Prince
“Yes, most of our travels will be done like the night we met, when I took you to the cave in my dragon form.”
Auslin hadn’t even considered that as a possibility. “We’re not walking?”
“It would take even longer if we progressed on two feet,” Kitaro said. “I can understand you in that form, so please do not feel that you have to endure the traveling parts in silence.”
Auslin grinned. “Are you encouraging me to have long, one-sided conversations with you?”
“Despite my inability to reply in any meaningful way in that form, I would very much enjoy hearing your thoughts while we travel.”
“I’ll do my best to find something interesting to say, then.” Some of Auslin’s good humor disappeared as it brought back the reality that they were really leaving tomorrow. “I wish we didn’t have to go.”
Kitaro kissed Auslin’s forehead. “I feel the same way, but alas, we must.”
“Doing the responsible thing sucks.” Auslin snuggled closer to Kitaro for comfort.
“It does indeed.”
Silence fell between them. It gave room for Auslin’s morose mood to return. “I wish there was some other way.”
“I will hold on to the hope that she will say fate brought you to become my mate. Then, we will have authoritative proof that you do not need to return to your time.” Kitaro continued to reassure Auslin through touch.
“That would be nice, even if it means having to put up with Mitsuki’s wrath for the rest of my life.” It sounded too good to be true. Auslin wasn’t nearly that lucky. At the same time, he suffered a pang of guilt about never being able to see his younger brother, Sephen, again if he stayed with Kitaro in the past.
“His displeasure would be a small price to pay for the privilege of having you stay here with me,” Kitaro said. “But these are not thoughts that are conducive to sleeping.”
“Yeah, thinking about Mitsuki before sleeping willonly lead to nightmares,” Auslin joked. It had been a relief he hadn’t run into Kitaro’s older brother since the disastrous breakfast the day after the banquet with Nasume.
“There are many more pleasurable things to dream about.” Kitaro chuckled at the comment. Auslin loved how it sounded from his resting place on the dragon prince’s chest.
“Yeah.” Auslin wished he could have a dream where everything magically worked out somehow. Maybe then tomorrow wouldn’t be so scary.
The next morning, Auslin and Kitaro set out on their journey to visit Satsuma. They had walked together out of Tiora before Kitaro shifted into his dragon form. It took some getting used to, but Auslin found a comfortable position to ride since Kitaro had been kind enough to provide a saddle for him. It was amazing traveling through the forest from such a high vantage point.
They covered more than triple the distance Auslin could have done on foot alone. When they were making such good progress, he wondered if the trip would take as many months as Tatsuki had predicted. Auslin hoped not because the sooner they reachedSatsuma, the sooner they could go back to the castle and resume their normal lives.
As dusk fell, Kitaro strayed from the main road to a pleasant spot by a river to make camp outside of Wandril, the capital of Elyenbell. He crouched down to allow Auslin to dismount before he shifted back into his human form.
Auslin marveled at the quick change. “You really are amazing.”
Kitaro chuckled as he used his dragon fire to start a small blaze in a pile of wood he had gathered from the nearby trees. “That is hardly cause to be impressed.”
“So modest,” Auslin teased. He sat close to the fire to enjoy the warmth. There was a slight chill in the air that made him rub his hands in front of the flickering flames.
“I will go for a quick hunt for dinner. I promise not to stray far.”
Kio had always whined about finding dinner, so it surprised Auslin to hear Kitaro volunteer. “Wow, thank you. I really appreciate that.”
“It is my pleasure to take care of you.” Kitaro disappeared in a blink of an eye, thanks to his shifter speed.
Warmed by both the fire and the comment, Auslin leaned back on his hands with a sigh. He stretched out his senses out of habit but stopped himself when he realized what he was doing. He would always checkfor Maseo’s nearby presence since Kio would often use hunting as an excuse for hooking up with the half-wolf shifter. That meant Auslin would be left alone for hours at a time, leaving him to forage for his own food.
But those memories were now so distant they didn’t hurt anymore. If anything, he was concerned about how badly Kio was probably treating Maseo. Despite the years of betrayal, Auslin could never hate Maseo when all he felt was empathy for the hurt he had to feel being on the other side of their twisted triangle relationship through Kio. Kio had horribly abused them both. Auslin could only hope that Maseo would also break free of Kio’s twisted version of love someday.
Auslin was amazed at his own good mood. It was nice that he hadn’t gotten yelled at once during their travels for being too slow, too human, too emotional, too whatever Kio found offensive that day. Admittedly, Kitaro couldn’t talk in his dragon form, but given that the dragon prince had never once raised his voice at Auslin in the entire time he had been in the past, he trusted it wouldn’t happen, even if they had been traveling together on foot.
It was incredible how stress-free the day of travel had been. If it weren’t for his fear of Satsuma declaring he must return to his own time, the journey would feel like a real vacation. He never realized how much anxiety he had during traveling because of Kio until it suddenly wasn’t an issue with Kitaro.
It was weird realizing how much joy Kio had removed from his life. He could never return to Kio’s side after being with Kitaro. Why would he ever trade his caring relationship for Kio’s abusive one?
