Page 49 of Nix
Evan rose and crossed the room quickly before he convinced himself that it would be fine slipping into bed with Nix. It wouldn’t. Evan just wasn’t sure that he would be able to follow his own rules. Not when it came to Nix.
“Good night, boy,” Evan whispered as he reached the threshold.
Of course, Nix heard him. “Night, Daddy.”
The boy was trying to kill him.
He made sure that Nix’s front door locked behind him before making his way home. Evan hadn’t done much more than shower after he’d woken that morning. His dragon had been riding him hard to get to their boy.
It had been a good afternoon spent with Nix. The two of them starting the bonding process. Time was essentially the only way that their connection would grow. The dragon would eventually want to show off and take his human to their hideout.
Evan could already picture Nix padding around barefoot and naked in the cabin that Evan had built with his own two hands. He’d had centuries to take his time, making sure that everything was perfect. Nix would fit right in with all his other treasures.
Stalking directly to his bedroom, Evan went for the closet. He flung open the door then pushed his clothes to the side.
On the back of the closet wall hung a long mirror.
Ancient magic pulsed from his surface. Evan stared at his reflection until he felt strong enough. He placed his hand on the mirror and said the name. “Lithis.”
The mirror shimmered before his cousin’s face appeared.
“Evan! It’s been too long!”
Evan felt his lips twitch. His cousin was naked from the waist up, all that Evan could see. “I really hope you are at least wearing pants.”
Lithis rolled his eyes. “Such a stick-in-the-mud. You summoned me.”
“You could have dressed before answering,” Evan pointed out.
“And keep my favorite cousin waiting? After…how long has it been anyway? A decade? No, longer than that.”
“It’s been a long time,” Evan agreed.
“To what do I owe this call?”
Evan wasn’t really surprised by the hostility. He and Lithis had been close growing up, closer than Evan had been to his brothers, and both he and Lithis had taken their journey to find their dragons in the same year. When Evan had cut himself off from his clan, leaving Lithis behind had been the hardest.
“You look well,” Evan said instead of answering Lithis’s question.
“I’m sure you didn’t finally contact me just to tell me how pretty I am,” Lithis responded. “Although I am pretty. Prettiest in the family.”
Evan had missed his cousin. He smirked. “Is that a frown line I see below your right eye?”
Lithis gasped dramatically as he leaned closer in the mirror. Which put him closer to Evan as well.
“Oh, it’s two lines,” Evan snarked.
“Lies! You are telling lies!” Lithis exclaimed.
“I am,” Evan finally said. “And I’m sorry it’s been so long since I called.”
Lithis gave a deep sigh. “I can’t stay mad at you. Does this mean you’re done throwing a temper tantrum?”
Evan sniffed. “I was not—”
“You went off the deep end,” Lithis interrupted.
“I…” Evan shook his head. “I couldn’t watch another member of our clan fall. We lost so many.”
