Page 16 of Gladiator's Bite
“But your answer would change if it was one of the crew of that ship. Capitalism gives some people help but not in the way it should. Hey, I know we could talk this in circles all night and we can if you want to. For now, we can’t do a whole lot to help your flight but one day that’s gonna change. I studied lore and history at school. When seers get involved shit hits the fan. Why do you think I don’t go around shouting about the little bit of abilities I have? I don’t want to be the one to fan the shit but here you are – you fell into my arena, Sunny. For tonight, we can drop it but it’s going to come back around.”
“Our parks have fruit trees back home,” Sunny said after thinking for a minute.
“I’d hope so. Dragons eat a lot.”
“We have that in common. We have fruit trees in the parks.”
“Eh, we have them everywhere we can make them grow but if you got someone over there to start doing that and made them a flight asset it would be a start,” I said.
“Again, you think I have more power than I do.”
“No, I think you’re afraid to grab that power and wield it in a way that might piss some folks off, mate. I have your back. You can hold your own, but I have your back and so does the crew if Teddy is anyone to judge by. I almost asked your place or mine to switch the subject but I’m not sure either is optimal. Yours is far away and mine is full of my grandmother.”
“I met her on the shuttle.”
“She told me,” I nodded. “She’s great but has no concept of privacy.”
I raked my eyes over him. He wasn’t used to the rise and crash of adrenaline in his veins. I probably wasn’t getting laid tonight but I still wanted to spend the evening alone with him.
“Stay here then?” he arched a brow.
“We could. There are bedrooms. Some dormitories even. We could call and see if the inns have any openings.”
“How do inns work if everyone has a house, and no one spends money?”
“Inn workers and keepers have jobs. They get points like everyone. It’s first come, first served unless you’re on 3 and you make a reservation at a vacation hotel. Then it’s first call, first serve. We could even call around to see which inns keep suites open for newly met mates.”
“Sounds an awful lot like home.”
“Yeah, but no one needs to pay a wing and a tail to stay there and let’s drop it, okay?”
“You brought it up.”
“I didn’t know it would crawl under your scales and live from that moment forward.”
“What if I said something about how the Starscales do things,” Sunny said, meeting my gaze.
“If it had merit, I’d spend a lot of time thinking on it. You’re right I should’ve known.”
He opened his mouth and closed it again. That’s when I realized inn or not, neither of us were getting laid that night. There’d be no claiming vows or exploring each other. All the tension made me miss fighting him in the arena.
Chapter Seven
Sunny
We ended up camping out on a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor of Laken’s office. Much to his credit, he didn’t make a joke about me needing more amenities as a prince. I was positive he considered it, though. I should’ve been used to it. Grew up my whole life with that hanging over my head like it was my fault humans who lived too many generations before I was born invented capitalism.
We slept naked so as not to wrinkle the clothes we had to wear out the next day. Laken dozed off easily as if he was used to sleeping anywhere and everywhere. It took me longer. It’d always taken me time to fall asleep. Even as a kid, I remembered lying awake for hours no matter what time I went to bed. That night my head was full of meeting Laken, missing my family – however capitalist they were, Teddy, and of course whatever Liam Moonscale-Hemlock saw in his vision. He was well enough known back on Earthside even for those who didn’t live in Heartville where he was the first mate. He helped to organize the final blow that brought the ending of a hate group’s war on the Moonscales when I was too young to remember.
“Rituals,”my dragon sighed inside my thoughts.
He was curled up like a cat might curl up in the window seat inside his inner sanctum. His massive head rested on the midsection of his tail. His eyes drifted closed but his brain was working overtime. Rituals. Ritual? Plural or singular I wasn’t sure I liked the idea. I wasn’t afraid of magic. It was impossible to spend any time back in Heartville if you were. Magic brought about change. That’s the real reason most people didn’t trust it. No one likes change.
In his sleep, Laken scooted closer to me, and I wrapped my arm around him, pulling him over to me. He blinked for a second and rested his head on my chest before dozing back off. It’d been a long fucking day, and I was sure the next day would be just as long. I considered trying to find somewhere to hide with him. Somewhere none of this bullshit could find us but we both belonged to flight links that probably wouldn’t leave us alone for very long.
“We’ll have time alone. I put in for my matingmoon,” Laken murmured, rubbing his cheek against my chest. “Don’t worry so much. We’ll work it all out, mate. Nothing’s life or death yet. Nothing’s so bad it can’t be ironed out. Not even the stuff with your flight.”
I kissed the top of his head and closed my eyes, trying to believe him. When had I picked up so much anxiety? I remembered my older brother having panic attacks about his kids and me when I was a kid. One of the triplets had them as a teenager too. I was never sure which one had them because they all started to dress alike and would crowd right around their third until it passed. Was it genetic? Was it finally starting to kick in on me?