Page 21 of Fractured Sky
It was suspicious.
“I saw the way you were watching him the day you arrived,” Pippa said, pointing out.
Sol closed his eyes and leaned his head against the headboard.“He’s good-looking.”
“He is, and apparently, the two of you were in love back when you were still Sol one-point-oh.”
Sol smiled.“Nice way to say that.”
“It’s weird to think you were a completely different person before I even met you.”
“Tell me about it.”
Pippa continued chatting, but Sol was quickly losing his fight against sleep.His body needed more rest, and he should give it what it needed so he would be ready when Carlyle attacked.
Pippa would be protected at the castle.Sol could never have imagined that he’d find himself fighting a war against a powerful mage and his minion, but he was, and there was no way out of it.It helped to know that the one person he cared about in the world would be safe while he did that.
But Dallin would be at the center of the fight, and that worried Sol.He was Dallin’s shield, but he had no idea what that meant or what he was supposed to do.He should probably ask Dallin, or if he couldn’t find it in himself to talk to the guy, Jarvis.
Solwantedto talk to Dallin, though.He wanted Dallin to visit him like the other mages had.He had questions that only Dallin could answer, and while he’d been relieved when Dallin had told him that he would give him space, he hadn’t expected it to be somuchspace.He wanted to talk to Dallin before Carlyle attacked.
He wasn’t sure that was possible, considering the way Dallin was obviously avoiding him.
Chapter Nine
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DALLIN NEEDED TO DOsomething that wasn’t being a creep outside of Sol’s bedroom door.He’d done that yesterday, and when he’d realized how bad things had gotten, he’d left the castle and had gone for a walk around the lake.Even there, though, he’d found himself glancing back at the castle and trying to find the window of Sol’s bedroom.
Today was a different day.Today, Dallin had a plan.It would be hard to stay away from Sol, but Dallin had promised his dragon that he would give him space, and that was what he was planning on doing.Once Sol felt better and was ready to talk to Dallin, he’d cometo find him.The last thing Dallin wanted was to push Sol into a conversation he wasn’t ready for, so he’d wait for him.
Sol didn’t have the benefit of the memories of the moments he and Dallin had shared.He wasn’t even the same person.Dallin supposed that, technically, he didn’t have any memories with Sol, either.His memories were of Kent, and Kent was gone.
Dallin wanted new moments with his dragon.He wanted to build more memories—new ones.He couldn’t do that now, though, so instead, he decided to visit Graham.
Tyne would be pissed if he found out about it, but Dallin didn’t care.When he’d promised Tyne he’d get out of his bedroom more, Tyne had agreed that in exchange, he’d talk to Meyer, but Dallin was pretty sure that he hadn’t yet.If he as much as breathed in Dallin’s direction, Dallin wouldn’t hesitate to tell him what he thought of that.They’d made each other a promise, and Tyne hadn’t kept it.Dallin wouldn’t forget that anytime soon.
He’d stopped at the library to grab some books for Graham.He didn’t know what the man liked to read, but he suspected that anything would be better than staring at the ceiling.Or maybe Graham was really into bad daytime TV shows.Anything was possible.
Dallin knocked when he reached the bedroom.Graham couldn’t openit, but Dallin still wanted him to know that someone was coming in.He opened the door with his magic, peeked inside, and smiled at Graham when he saw him curled up on the couch.He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and he held onto it as he sat up and warily eyed Dallin.
“Sorry to bother you,” Dallin said.
Graham snorted.“You’re not bothering me.It’s your right to be here.”
“This is your bedroom.”
“Is it?Or is it my cell?”
“Only until this mess is over.”Dallin held up the books he’d grabbed in the library.“I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got a little bit of everything.”
Graham stared for a moment.The TV was off, and the silence felt heavy, but Dallin gave Graham time to find the right words.
“Thank you,” Graham eventually said.“You’re kind.”
“I will never be able to thank you enough for helping my dragon escape Carlyle’s clutches.”
“I didn’t do it for you.”
