“You….” He shook his head. “Just when I think you can’t surprise me anymore, you do it anyway.”
I grinned rakishly. “Damn right I do. I’m Sam of Dragons.”
“Ungh.”
“Ryan, please. Not in front of my adoring public.”
He took my hand and squeezed it tightly. “We’re gonna be okay.”
“We as in everyone? Or we as in you and me?”
“Both.”
“You’re gonna be mad, though, huh?”
“You better believe it. You fucked up, Sam. And you’re gonna owe me for the rest of our lives.”
I kissed him. I figured we both deserved it.
THEY WERE waiting for us in a large tent near the entrance to the docks. The smell of salt on the air and the sound of seagulls calling out overhead reminded me of the way the Port used to be before Verania fell, and I promised myself it would be that way again.
Two knights stood outside the tent, snapping to attention and saluting Ryan and me as we approached. One of them winked at me as we passed by and commented how nice the mark on my neck looked. Ryan glared at him, but the knights just laughed.
“He doesn’t know how to control himself around me,” I told them. “He gets one look at this hot bod and can’t help but do things to it.”
“Would you stop undermining my authority,” Ryan muttered, his cheeks red as he pulled me into the tent.
“I’ll let you undermine my authority if you get under my—and those are my parents standing there with their judgmental faces. Mom. Dad. Ignore what I just said. My virtue is intact.”
“I thought Knight Delicious Face eat your flower,” Tiggy said, face scrunched up. “Sam go in woods and become virgin again?”
“I’ve missed these cringeworthy moments,” Dad told Mom. “It feels like things are finally getting back to normal. Well, as normal as things can be in a makeshift camp after being forced from our homes by hordes of Darks.”
“It’s good to know that even as a wizard now, he can still make an entire room feel uncomfortable with just a few words,” Mom said. “Do you remember when he was little and would get scared of the dust monster he thought lived under his bed? He would come crying in our room and demand to sleep with us. It was easier to say no when he turned fifteen.”
“Ha ha,” I laughed awkwardly. “She’s joking, everyone. I never did that. Ha ha ha. So funny, she is.”
“Glad you both could join us,” Justin said coolly, standing in front of a large table littered with parchments and scrolls, including what looked to be a detailed schematic of Castle Lockes. “Maybe next time, take the hour that I gave you and use it wisely without wasting my time. Do we understand each other?”
“So kingly,” I whispered to Ryan. “Gives me chills.”
Ryan nudged my shoulder and shook his head.
“Are we good?” Justin asked, glancing at Ryan.
I waited, fearing what answer he would give, or that it would be a lie.
“Getting there,” Ryan said, and I believed him. His hand was still in mine, and he didn’t seem as if he wanted to let go.
The interior of the tent was spacious but cluttered. There were boards set up on wooden stands that looked to be covered in strategies meant for battle, lines showing movement and direction against an opposing force. Several of them showed various methods of attack, and while I thought they seemed well planned, I couldn’t help but wonder what they expected to happen, sending their brawn and swords against waves of Dark magic. I didn’t see it ending well, even if I was impressed that they seemed to be preparing to fight back.
Standing near the Prince was Lady Tina, her sword in its scabbard at her side, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. If I didn’t know that in her chest beat a cold thing of malice, I would have thought she looked like she belonged next to him. I didn’t like it one bit. If she thought she could come in and steal my best friend 5eva, then she was going to have a fight on her hands. She stared at me unnervingly, as if daring me to say something about her presence. I would have, too, and probably said something so witty and demoralizing that she’d run crying from Camp HaveHeart, never to be seen again, but I was distracted by another person standing in the room next to my parents.
Vadoma. Why she would need to be here with the others was beyond me. She could leave with Lady Tina.
And next to her was Terry, a sight I didn’t know if I was ever going to get used to. He had an expression of disdain on his face, looking so much like his brother that I did a double take, especially when I saw it was directed at me. He sneered a little before looking at the knight at my side. “Ryan, are you all right? That miserable little thing seems to be clutching on to you as if it were some kind of malevolent barnacle. If you’d like, I can remove it for you and you can stand by me and feel comforted by the fact that I have saved you.”
“That’s how they are,” Lady Tina told him. “It’s a sort of affliction for which I have yet to find a cure.”