Page 66 of Mage of the Dragon Prince
Kitaro’s dragon preened with victory, confident that meant Vanra had chosen them. Rather than joining in the celebration, Kitaro focused on reassuring the miserable human. “The debt my father owesyou for saving your companion’s life is why you stay with us. It was not contingent upon you being in an ongoing romantic relationship with him. You being separated changes nothing about your place here.”
“Romantic relationship,” Vanra sarcastically repeated with a scoff. “That man doesn’t have a single ounce of romance in him.”
“It seems he has quite a few disconcerting failings.”
Vanra laughed bitterly. “That’s one way of putting it.” He sighed as he banged his head against the pillar behind him. “He’s so awful in so many ways. What does it say about me that I was willing to stay with someone who treated me so badly for so long?”
“It says that you have a great deal of patience and possess the optimism to hope that he might one day be better than he is.”
Vanra buried his head in his hands. “Why am I such a fucking fool?”
Kitaro arched an eyebrow at hearing a mage swear. “You are many things, but a fucking fool is not one of them.”
Vanra laughed hard. “That’s not fair! How can you make swearing sound so elegant?”
“I am a man of many talents,” Kitaro retorted with mock arrogance.
Vanra’s mirth disappeared into a pained groan. The teasing hint of arousal Kitaro smelled gave him a good idea of where the mage’s mind had gone.
Kitaro wanted to put the human at easeabout the other issues. “Not going to the temple does not make you a bad mage.”
Vanra scoffed as he began a list on his fingers. “No, it’s just the never praying, never attending services, not missing them at all, the occasional swearing, and the refusal to live a life free from lust like they preach.” He scowled. “I never would have been involved with the temple if my mother hadn’t arranged for us to live there after she died. That’s part of why I’m gone all the time. I don’t have to deal with all the rituals and ceremonies.”
Kitaro’s dragon perked up at the mention of lust, but he forced it down. “I was unaware you were required to be celibate.”
The human stared up at the sky once more. “It’s more a strongly suggested tenant of practice that probably about ninety percent of them observe. I know there are a lot of complaints about me with the elders, who are extremely disapproving of my ‘less than savory’ relationship with my companion. Well, my ex-companion now, I guess.”
“And yet, despite your intimacy with him, you are still a virgin,” Kitaro stated.
Vanra turned bright red. “How can you tell?”
“Your scent is still pure. But I fail to see why that is distressing to you. It is not as if I am any different in that regard.”
Vanra hid his face in his hands with a groan. “Idon’t want to know what else you can tell from my scent.”
“I find it a curious situation,” Kitaro admitted, amused by Vanra’s embarrassment. “You have been with your companion for some time, and you are clearly intimate in other ways, and yet he has never laid claim to you.”
“He always told me he was too afraid to do more than fool around because he feared his dragon would claim me as mate. He was adamant he didn’t want that to happen to me,” Vanra explained. “And yet, he had no problem running away to have sex with his ex without becoming bondmates. He always explained it away as I was too human. I certainly wasn’t the one who banned him from sex.”
“Forgive me for being grateful you are not eternally tied to his selfish stupidity,” Kitaro said, meaning it more than Vanra knew. He was curious why a half-shifter would claim to have a dragon when only full shifters possessed a shifted animal form. Either things were different in the future, or Vanra’s companion was lying to him. It didn’t feel like the right time to ask for more details, though. The less Vanra thought about his former companion, the better off Kitaro would be.
Vanra made an amused noise. “It used to really bother me, but I’m so grateful it didn’t happen. Now that I know there could be so much more…”
“You are not beholden to your companion any longer. You are free to do whatever you wish.” Kitaro’sdragon rattled in his cage, demanding the human choose them.
Vanra scoffed again. “Am I? Because it sure doesn’t feel like it.”
“And what is it you wish to do that you feel you cannot do?” Kitaro tried not to get his hopes up too much.
“I’m not saying there’s anything specific,” Vanra demurred. “It’s more of a general thing.”
“These thoughts kept you from returning to bed last night?”
Vanra blanched. “Please tell me I didn’t wake you up yesterday.”
“No,” Kitaro denied, causing Vanra to look relieved before he added, “I was already awake before then.”
Vanra once again hid his face with an anguished noise. “I’m going to die of embarrassment at this rate.”
