“Just under fifty thousand. And I gave it great consideration when it was presented to me before I ultimately vetoed it. Granted, the papers the next day accused you of having bewitched me for your devious plots. There was also the implication that you and I were rather voracious lovers because you had a thing for my mustache.”
“I do have a thing for your mustache,” I said. “I mean, my gods, have you seen it? I demand that you declare it to be a national treasure.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
“See that you do.”
“Have you spelled me to do your bidding?”
“Eh, that seems like a lot of work.”
“I thought as much.”
“Thanks. You know. For the veto thing.”
He snorted. “You’re welcome.”
“Did you even consider it?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
“I suppose not. But fifty thousand is a lot of people.”
“It is.”
“I don’t know what I did to make them so angry,” I admitted as I looked down at my hands.
“You exist,” the King said. “You exist and are something that they don’t understand. That is the way of things, Sam. People live their ordered lives. They go day by day. They go to work. They come home. They feed their families. They live in their homes. It is measured. It’s routine. And then you come along, a boy from the slums, plucked seemingly from obscurity toward greatness. You can do things that most others cannot. It is wondrous, but they do not understand. And there is fear in the unknown. For the longest time, they could ignore it because you were just a child. But now you’ve become a man and have found happiness in the love you feel for Ryan Foxheart. Call it what you will, be it jealousy or fear or anger. It means the same thing. You were given gifts that they were not. They are loud, Sam. But they are not the majority. I often find that the will of the people is a quiet thing but one that is capable of amassing into something quite extraordinary. You’ll see. There may be those that are against you, but they will never be everyone.”
“A lot has happened.”
“Has it?”
I nodded slowly. “It didn’t go the way I thought it would. Vadoma. Ruv. The dragons. Myrin. It’s…. I just didn’t expect it to be like this.”
“What did you expect?”
“I don’t know exactly. Just—I thought, maybe, it’d be. You know. Easy. I know you probably don’t realize this, but I get myself into a lot of scrapes.”
“You don’t say.”
“Shocking, right? People like to capture me.”
“I can’t imagine why.”
“Exactly! I mean—wait. You’re insulting me, aren’t you.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“I’m worried too,” I said, the words out before I could stop them.
“About?”
“Just… how do I know if I’m doing the right thing?”
“What does your heart tell you?”
“The Great White said I shouldn’t let my heart rule over me.”
“The Great White isn’t the be-all end-all.”
“Isn’t he? The gods said—”
“The gods,” the King huffed. “They sit in judgment and do little else. They have underestimated you, Sam, as I think most everyone else has. They don’t see the scope of your heart. Not like I can. Not like your family can. They don’t know you like we do. We know what you’re capable of. You may have a destiny, Sam, but what you do with it is up to you. And whatever you think is right, you will have my support.”
“I still hate that word.”
“And yet there it is.”
I pressed my face against his chest and breathed him in. “I missed you.”
He kissed the top of my head. “And I you, Sam.”
Sleep was easier after that.
IT WASN’T until days later that we heard from Randall. Morgan had attempted to reach him via the summoning crystal numerous times since our return to Castle Lockes, but it’d gone straight to a message that said, “You’ve reached Randall’s crystal. I am unable to answer at the moment, either because I am ignoring you or I have fallen and I can’t get up. If this is Morgan, please send help. If this is Sam, I am ignoring you. Have a blessed day.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s… oddly specific. And rude. Also, why is it the people who tell you to have a blessed day turn out to be the biggest assholes? Have you noticed that?”
Morgan just stared at me from across the labs.
“It’s a thing,” I insisted.
I felt somewhat vindicated when Morgan didn’t send help to see if Randall had fallen.
Granted, any goodwill I’d built up toward Randall went immediately out the window when I opened my eyes in the middle of the night only to find him crouched beside me next to the bed, his face inches from my own, his bulbous nose almost scraping against my cheek.
“Boo,” he said.
I screamed.
Ryan shot up, wearing nothing but the skin he was born with, jumping out of the bed, bits and bobs swinging to and fro as he scrambled for his sword, which was propped against the desk. Once he’d pulled it from the scabbard, he immediately posed and said, “Back away from my beloved, you foul creature of the night, lest you find your head removed from your shoulders!”
Foul creature, Randall mouthed to no one in particular.
“Dude,” I breathed. “You are such a douchebag. I want to ruin you so bad right now.”
Ryan looked slightly bewildered, like he wasn’t sure how he’d ended up where he was. “Sam? What’s happening?”
“You’re making me want to ignore biology and try to get you so fucking pregnant,” I said aggressively.
“Oh my gods,” Randall muttered.
“You brought this upon yourself,” I told him. “For the rest of your life, know that you facilitated in giving me a boner that I am going to stick inside that dashing and immaculate man right—ow, why are you pulling me by my ear! Dude, you’re killing my pregnancy boner!”
Randall pulled me from the room.
“You better be ass up by the time I get back!” I hollered over my shoulder at Ryan. “The things I’m going to do to you when I get back are illegal in Verania and punishable by a fine and at least six months in the dungeons, I shit you not!”
“You will stay in here,” Randall said to Ryan. “Wizards only.”
Ryan gripped the hilt of his sword and took a step forward, but Randall slammed the door and we were already moving down the hall.
“Hi, Randall, nice to see you, Randall. Glad you could make it, Randall.”
Randall ground his teeth together. I thought about telling him how unhealthy that was but figured that it was better to have my ear still attached to my head.
He pulled me down flights of stairs, ignoring my yelps, before he shoved me through the door to the labs. I wasn’t surprised to see Morgan waiting for us, fully dressed, as if he hadn’t yet gone to bed.
“Great,” I said, rubbing my ear after Randall had let me go. “This is just swell. How nice. All of us together again.”
“This is your fault,” Randall told Morgan as he began to pace back and forth. “I warned you against coddling the boy. I told you what would happen if you tried to be his friend. And now look!”
“And I told you that your teaching style would never be mine,” Morgan said mildly, as if he had all the time in the world. “Something that you agreed upon after Vadoma came.”