Page 12 of Rejected By Dragons

"You don't have to--"

Brynn casts her gaze skyward. "I heard my mom bossing you around down there." She's firm when she reminds me, "This is one thing I can do to help."

I bite my lower lip but nod. It's hard to accept her taking care of me, but I know it's something she does out of love. "Okay. But seriously, I can handle it."

She smiles. "I never doubted that for a second."

With that, she shoos me to my room. Safe inside, I head to my dresser. It's slim pickings, both because of my run-ins with the mean dragon squad and because nearly everything I own is second hand, and usually a little worse for the wear by the time it gets to me. As I pull on an old band T-shirt, I count my pennies in my head. I've been working hard for years to try to save up enough to get my own place. It's been tough; working for Maude at the shop doesn't exactly pay a lot. It does come with a tiny employee discount, though. I'm reminded of the cute skirt I saw on the rack today. I still don't think I can justify the expense, but maybe I'll luck out and find a few other, more practical items in the used clothing section tomorrow.

Once I'm dressed again, I head downstairs, where Aunt Helena barks at me to get to the kitchen already. While I make dinner, she puts her feet up and pulls out one of her mystery novels. Brynn joins us and silently takes her place by my side, helping to peel carrots. I shoot her a silent glance of thanks.

Eventually, my aunt looks up, and she glowers. "Don't you have better things to be doing?" she asks her daughter.

"Better than hanging out with my favorite cousin?" Brynn replies, all sweetness and light. With her back to her mother, she catches my gaze and rolls her eyes.

"I am your only cousin," I remind her.

"What I said is still true."

Together, we get dinner finished in no time. Brynn sets the table while I serve up. Aunt Helena grumbles as she puts away her novel and takes a bite of the balsamic chicken we made. She grunts, unable to find fault in it. That's about the best compliment I'm going to get, so I take it.

As we eat, Brynn makes pleasant small talk about her day. Aunt Helena complains about her job at the bank, then moves on to gossip. It all floats over my head at first, until she stabs at a chunk of glazed carrot and holds it in front of her face. Her brows rise as she looks to Brynn. "I hear that Ortez boy down the road is starting to show signs."

Jimmy Ortez is hardly a boy. He's only a couple of years younger than me and Brynn. He's also become a solid wall of muscle over the course of the past few months--a fact that has definitely not escaped my cousin's attention.

Brynn perks up, then visibly tamps down her reaction. Her crush on Jimmy is deeply embarrassing. "Already?"

Aunt Helena pops the carrot into her mouth and chews slowly. Wiping her lips, she nods. "Practically bit off Mary's head the other night. She said she saw it in his eyes."

My stomach does a little dip.

"Well, I suppose we'll find out at the next Emergence," Brynn says coolly. Wincing, she darts her gaze to me. "Sorry."

I don't know what's worse. Talking about the upcoming Emergence or how Brynn always feels like she has to protect my feelings around it. I wave her off. "It's fine." I push the last little bit of rice around my plate, glancing between Brynn and my aunt. "Actually..." I should probably keep this to myself, but it's not like they're not going to find out tomorrow anyway. We had might as well have our fight about the fact that I'm going to try to summon my dragon again now. I curl my fingers tighter around my fork. "I heard a rumor it's coming up soon."

"Oh?" My aunt tries not to sound too interested, but she does love rumors.

"Yup. Next Shadow Moon."

Pinching her brows together, she frowns. "Asking for trouble, that is."

She's not wrong. I half think that's the point, though. King Zephyr's rousing speeches are always at their best when he's fear-mongering. Who cares that the Shadow Dragons haven't been heard from in over a decade? Despite their disappearance, it's still easier to rile up public sentiment against the scary boogeyman of the dragon world than against the other clans we were once allied with. Not that he hasn't done a damn good job of that, too.

"We haven't had an Emergence during a Shadow Moon in ages," Brynn muses. Stars shine in her eyes. "I bet it'll be incredible--all those new-born dragons soaring through the darkness."

My heart twists. The night of my first Emergence, the moon was brilliant and full. Even as I sank to my knees, my bones aching and the fire searing me through, I stared up at the sky as the others of my kind blazed their way into the heavens, bright light glinting off their rippling hides.

While I was left there. Broken and alone.

Aunt Helena stabs at a piece of chicken too hard, her fork scraping against the porcelain plate. "Well, the festival had better be well lit, is all I'll say."

Every Emergence, the town comes together to throw a giant party. Dragons from all across the Air Kingdom come to enjoy it, celebrating the night their young find their wings and take flight.

"I'm sure it will." Brynn's still got that starry look in her eyes. "Lanterns and fairy lights everywhere. It'll be so romantic."

I take a drink to stifle my laughter. Fingers crossed she can find some time to enjoy that romantic atmosphere with Jimmy Ortez.

While me? Well. Maybe Storm and I can sneak away together at some point. Otherwise, it'll be another fun night of pretending we hardly even know each other.

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