“Yes, please,” Gary said gleefully. “Ryan, do show the biggest dragon in the world just how cool you are.”
“But I thought Knight Delicious Face not cool?” Tiggy whispered.
“Oh, he’s not,” Gary whispered back. “I just want to see what happens.”
“I’ll defend your honor,” Dimitri said, fluttering up around my face. His little penis was eye level, and I couldn’t not stare at it.
“I think you mean something entirely different than what I’m asking for,” I told him.
“Probably. Still. Shall I?”
“You shall not.”
“Old people are the worst,” Zero moaned. “Gods, why can’t there be someone normal here?”
“I pretty normal,” Tiggy told him. “I have brooms.”
“I feel like I need to be doing something with my horn,” Gary said to no one in particular. “Does anyone require any assistance involving my horn?”
“I could use a good buggering,” Kevin said.
“They grow up so fast,” Leslie said fondly.
“Good,” Pat said. “Then maybe we can leave and go home and never have to deal with any of them ever again.”
“I regret everything about you,” GW growled at Randall.
“My heart breaks at such a thought,” Randall snapped back.
“Enough!”
We all turned to the source of the angry voice.
Grand Prince Justin of Verania stood tall, glaring at all of us, arms across his chest. A breeze blew over him at that moment, making his clothes billow slightly, his dreamy curls bouncing on his head. He looked kingly as hell, and I was at once jealous of how amazing it was and proud that he was my best friend 5eva.
“You look really good,” I told him, in case he didn’t know. “Like, dude. I’m thinking about breaking up with Ryan and wooing—oh my gods, I’m kidding. Ryan, put your sword away. Justin, stop gagging.”
“I’m watching you,” Ryan warned Justin.
Justin rolled his eyes. “I should hope so. That’s your job.”
“Oh. Right. Well. Carry on, then.”
Justin looked as if he wanted to punch something “As delightful as all of this is—”
“I don’t think he means that at all,” Gary whispered to Tiggy.
“—we didn’t gather here for more of your shenanigans. Whatever grievances you may have, it is time to put them aside. Or at the very least, hold them until after we’ve saved Verania.”
“Grievances,” GW rumbled, cocking his exceptionally large head. “You reduce the betrayal by an apprentice to a grievance. Who do you think you are, human?”
Any normal person would have been shitting themselves. Justin was not a normal person. He squared his shoulders and narrowed his eyes. “I’m the King-In-Waiting. I am the Prince of Verania. I shall have your respect if you hope to ever have mine.”
“Holy shit,” Gary breathed. “Did anyone else just get a power boner?”
Kevin raised his hand. So did Dimitri. I was going to, but Ryan was glaring at me. Inexplicably, Leslie also raised a hand. I felt it better not to ask.
Justin ignored them, eyes only on GW. “This is bigger than you. Than myself. Than any of us. Our very way of life is threatened. Myrin will not stop until he controls all he sees. This is my country. These are my people. He has taken from me—from all of us—and I will see to it that he has paid for his crimes against Verania. I don’t care about apprentices or cornerstones or whatever has brought us to this moment. The time for blame has passed. We’re made up of our histories, but we control our futures. Sam is my wizard. He’s been chosen by the gods to bring about the end of the man in shadows. And I will stand by him. I expect you to do the same. Sam, get that look off your face. Now is not the time for hugging.”
“But—”
“No.”
“I just—”
“No.”
I sighed.
The Great White stared down at Justin for a moment that stretched a beat too long. There was a second or two where I was sure GW was just going to eat Justin, but he snorted instead. “You must have a heart of steel to speak to me in such a way.”
“I’ve found that there’s a time and place for diplomacy. This is not it. I will be blunt, as is required of someone in my position.”
“You cannot wipe away the sins of the past.”
“True,” Justin agreed. “But when all the world depends upon you, I would hope you could at least overlook them for now.”
GW’s lip curled. “And you say you will be king?”
“Yes.”
“I can see that. You are impressive.”
“Wow,” I said. “I’m so glad you’ve known him for all of five minutes and come to that conclusion when I’ve known you for a year and the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me was that at least I was more adept at magic than a rotting corpse.”
“You’re my apprentice,” GW said. “I’m not supposed to be nice to you.”
“He’s been coddled far too much,” Randall said.
“I noticed. Rather soft, isn’t he.”
“Like dough.”
“Well,” I said, clapping my hands. “As fun as this is—and really, I just love how the two of you have seemingly already forgotten a centuries-long feud so that you could pile on me, so wonderful, thank you—I think we should move on and do what Justin said. Focus on the big picture and kick some ass and—okay, I really don’t remember what Justin said because I was distracted by how kingly he was being.”
“O, ancient one,” Dimitri said, flying up in front of GW’s face. “Forgive us for this mockery. These humans know not who they speak to. You are the light of the world, the reason for which we all draw breath. Why, your very heartbeats are the pulse of the earth beneath our feet, your breath the wind through the trees, the—”
“Dimitri.”
“Yes, ancient one.”
“Stop it.”
“Yes, ancient one.”
GW turned back to Randall. “Why now?”
Randall arched a tremendous eyebrow at him. “Because we’re running out of time. We have rescued our King. Myrin has seen Sam with his own eyes. It will not be long before he descends.”
“Can he be saved?”
Randall appeared startled at the question. “What?”
“Myrin. Can he be brought back from the shadows?”
Randall stared up at him. “Even if there was a way, why would you care?”
“You think me coldhearted.”
“I think you obstinate. And unsympathetic. Incapable of seeing anything outside of the ways you view the world.”
“But?”
Randall’s shoulders sagged. “I never thought you cold. You cared about me. In your own way.”
“You loved him.”
“I did.”
“He was your cornerstone.”
“He was.”
“And he turned from you.”
“Yes.”
“And yet you survived. Even after the King of Sorrows. Even after your… experience in Castle Freesias. Somehow, you survived. Tell me, Randall. How is it possible?”
“You knew? About—”
“You were my apprentice. Of course I knew. How did you do it? How did you find your way into the light?”
“Morgan.”
“Is that all?”
Randall sighed. “I remembered what I’d been taught.”
GW looked taken aback. “Truly?”
“Yes.”
“Can the same be done for Myrin?”
Randall hesitated. Then, “No.”
The Great White nodded slowly. “And why is that?”
“Because of the corruption in his heart, the darkness that lurks beneath his skin. I became what I did because of the extent of my grief. Myrin did the same, but of his own volition. It was power he sought, and nothing more.” Randall glanced at me, and a chill ran down my spine. “And to do what he did to—to Morgan, it…. To consume another’s magic is the darkest of all the arts. He took something that did not belong to him. How it must have fractured his soul. So, no. I believe there’s no coming back from that. He has made his choice.”
“And you have made yours.”
“Yes.”
“They gonna hug?” Tiggy whispered to Gary.
“They better,” Gary whispered back. “You can’t just be old and decrepit and talk about bad things in your past and forgive each other without hugging afterward.”
I’d taught him well.
GW looked around at each of us in turn. Kevin and Zero and Pat and Leslie. Gary and Tiggy. Dimitri and his fairies. Ryan. Justin.
Me.