Page 46 of Kian

Rings of Odysseron…

He groaned a little and the two laughed at him even harder.

Heartless Grummish wenches…

“Here, dragon,” Lyslee said, handing him another mug of brew. “Heat your belly a little before you speak.”

He took the mug but found himself peering at his own frowning reflection in it instead of drinking.

“She's so small,” he said. “And frail.”

“Sure,” Avril said. “But that doesn’t really matter, because you’ve seen how unbelievably fierce she is.”

Avril was right, of course. Though Kinsley being Terran should have bothered him, it didn’t, at least not below the surface. He liked the idea of protecting her.

“What’s really bothering you?” Lyslee asked quietly.

“Me,” he said without thinking, then blinked and looked up at the sisters.

They watched him with kind eyes, waiting for him to go on.

He turned his attention back to the mug in his hands.

“I’m not good with new people,” he said flatly. “Matter of fact, I’m so bad, I’d probably stop her from making the connections she needs to make here for her fishing operation to succeed.”

“Sounds like something you could work on,” Lyslee said.

“All I seem to do is hurt her feelings,” he went on. “She’s so good with people, with animals, even with the baby, for heaven’s sake.”

“Ah, you’re jealous,” Avril said. “Is that why you won’t tell her the baby’s name?”

“The baby doesn’t have a name,” he said automatically.

“Bullshit,” Avril said.

“Talk to her,” Lyslee said at the same time. “Talk to Kinsley about all of this. She’s the one you need to be talking to, not us.”

He groaned, hating that idea.

Kian was a doer, not a talker. Talking situations were where he always got in trouble.

“Talking to a true mate should be easier than talking to us, right?” Lyslee asked him, winking.

She was right there.

“If you can fight a war, you can talk to a girl, soldier,” Avril said, clapping him on the back and causing what was in his mug to slosh out over the side.

“Fine,” he said, rising and brushing off the brew that had landed on his breeches.

He almost reached the tent flap when Lyslee called to him.

“Hey, dragonman,” she said.

“Yeah?” he asked, turning back.

“Avril and I already discussed it,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “We’d charge you a half-rate to accompany you all the way home and watch the whelp during the frenzy, long as it takes.”

He broke out into a grin, in spite of himself.