Delaney had nearly forgotten all about her tears by the time she, Rian, and Rhydian reached the outside landing area.
Her nephew was a talker and far more charming than any seven-going-on-eight-year-old should be.
Although she recognized the chatting for what it was—a way to hide his feelings or try to forget about his recent past.
Delaney had done that, too, when she'd been not much older than Rian was now. It'd taken boxing to help her deal with the grief surrounding her younger brother's death and sort through her feelings. While many viewed the sport as merely two people hitting each other, it was so much more. The strategy, the tactics, the decision-making—it all required a lot of concentration and practice. So much so that Delaney hadn't had the time to natter on and on about nothing. To be the best, she had to focus her energy on other things. She eventually realized that when she embraced her feelings, she accomplished so much more in the ring than when she had tried to lock them away.
Doing the same in real life was harder, though, ever since she'd been forced to give up her boxing career. Hence why she'd broken down about her sister earlier.
Rian stopped in place and tugged her hand, the action jarring her from her thoughts. He motioned his stuffed toy rabbit toward the ground. "We need to stay here. Any closer and we could get hurt. Right, Rhydian?"
The Snowridge leader smiled down at the lad, good humor and caring filling his gaze. "Aye, you're right."
He ruffled Rian's head, and Delaney took a second to study the dragonman.
He was far kinder than she'd pictured, especially given Snowridge's reputation as a close-knit clan that didn't take well to strangers.
And yet, he'd taken in a wee Irish boy as his own and hadn't batted an eyelash in acknowledging Delaney's mini-breakdown earlier.
Her eyes fell to his jaw, and then up to the scars on his cheek. She burned to know the details of the story behind them. No doubt they had shaped the man Rhydian had become.
Not that she should care about such things. However, if Rhydian was to be involved in Rian's upbringing, then she most certainly had a right to know a bit about his past.
Rhydian caught her staring, but Delaney didn't look away. Being coy wasn't her style, and she wasn't about to start now.
The dragonman looked as if he wanted to say something, but he instead looked back at Rian. "Do you remember what I told you about what to do when shifting in front of humans?"
Rian swung his stuffed rabbit to and fro before nodding. "Aye, we ask them to turn around. That way they don't get embarrassed."
She couldn't help but quip, "What? No shifting while still clothed and looking all fierce and mighty?"
Rhydian shrugged. "This is one of my favorite tops. So, no, I'm not going to destroy it to fulfill some fantasy of yours."
She was tempted to say it wasn't a fantasy. But as the image of Rhydian ripping his shirt off to reveal his muscled chest flashed into her mind, she decided maybe it could be. Determined to move the conversation to much safer territory, she said, "So that shirt is a type of treasure, right? That means it's true, then, about dragons hoarding treasures."
Rian asked, "What's hoarding?"
Rhydian never looked away from Delaney's gaze. "It means keeping things forever. Humans like to tell stories about how we only want to collect gold and other treasures and store them in protected places like vaults or mountains. Usually the stories also say that we do all sorts of crazy things to protect the objects, making us look stupid before eventually getting killed."
Rian leaned forward. "Do we do that? Keep stuff? Is there a room full of treasures?"
The corner of Rhydian's mouth ticked up. "Well, there are a few treasures stored in the archives, but those things are fairly worthless to anyone else. And since dragons have to trade and pay for things, just like humans, hoarding gold is fairly impossible."
Grinning, Delaney replied, "And here I thought it'd be fun to try swimming through a room of gold and treasure, just like you see in some of the cartoons. I guess that means striking it from my list of things to do here."
Rhydian raised an eyebrow. "There may or may not be other secrets here. You'll just have to stay around long enough to find out what they are."
Okay, those words piqued her curiosity. Just what kind of secrets did Clan Snowridge possess?
Rian opened his mouth—probably with another question—but Rhydian beat him to it. "If you want to see me shift, it's now or never, lad. I have quite a few things to do today. Do you want me to answer questions, or do you want to see my dragon?"
Even though Delaney knew Rhydian was clan leader with a multitude of duties, she'd nearly forgotten about it. What, with his teasing and easy manner, he wasn't anything like what the rumors on the internet said about him and other dragon-shifter leaders.
Before her thoughts went back down the dangerous path of thinking how much sexier he was than she'd expected, Rian made a circling motion with his finger and said, "Turn around so we can see Rhydian's dragon."
It was on the tip of her tongue to say no. If she was to live with dragons, she needed to become accustomed to their ways.
Although, secretly she was curious to see what Rhydian looked like without a stitch of clothing. His broad shoulders and lean hips suggested some rather juicy eye candy underneath all those layers.