“All of what?”
I laughed. “This, Morgan. The dead at our feet. The people of Verania who hate me. Feng. Myrin. I don’t know about you, but all of this seems to be nothing but an exercise in stupidity to me.”
“You’re angry still.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Yes, Morgan. I’m angry still. I told you that. It’s not as if this is something I can get over quickly. I love you, dude, but sometimes you suck ass.”
“It’s been weeks since Vadoma came to the City of Lockes,” he pointed out.
“I need more time.”
Morgan sighed. “Of course you do. Sam, I’m not trying to make light of the situation. I have acknowledged my mistakes, however ill-advised they may be. I have apologized for them. I don’t know what else I can do for you.”
“I don’t know either,” I said. “Let me know when you figure it out.”
“You’re young.”
“So you’ve pointed out.”
“I forget that sometimes.”
I glanced at him. He was watching the cleanup. “Why?”
“Why do I forget? Because you’ve got an old soul, Sam. At many things, you are beyond your years. And at other things, you are exactly where you should be. I have to remind myself of that every now and then.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You do not have the knowledge I do, Sam. And I’m not trying to minimize anything you’re going through. I’m not trying to take away from everything you’ve experienced. But the life you’ll lead will be a long one, and there will be consequences to the choices that you make.”
That didn’t sound good. “And what about the choices you made? What are the consequences?”
He smiled sadly. “I’m living them. Do you think I wanted this for you?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “It doesn’t seem like you gave me the choice, does it?”
He shook his head. “Had I told you everything when you were a child, what do you think you would have done?”
And yeah, he had me there. “I would have done everything for you,” I muttered. “But at least then I would have known I was a pawn from the start.”
His hand fell upon my shoulder again. “You were never a pawn,” he said, sounding as angry as I’d ever heard him. “And I will not have you say such again. Do you understand me?”
I nodded dumbly.
“Sam,” he sighed. “Your fate may have been written in the stars, but you must believe me that even if it hadn’t been, even if I’d been a stronger man in my youth and had done what needed to be done, I will always believe that we would have found our way to each other. You may have a destiny of dragons, but my destiny has always been you.”
“Godsdammit,” I said with a large sniff. “You can’t just say stuff like that. You know how I have feelings about you being sappy as shit.”
He looked rather pleased. “That I do.”
“Manipulative.”
“A little, sure.”
“You’re buttering me up, aren’t you?”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “Pardon?”
“Whatever you and Randall were talking about. Before. I’m not going to like it, am I?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it just as quickly. He watched me for a moment before he tried again. “No. I don’t think you’ll like it very much.”
“Fuck.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Ryan turned then, the conversation with Justin seemingly ending. He scanned the field until he found me, and the smile he gave was brilliant and bright. Even in a field of death and gore, my heart tripped all over itself at such a sight.
“We need to talk,” Morgan said quietly.
“You breaking up with me?”
He jostled me a little.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s talk.”
Ryan’s smile began to fade.
Chapter 6: The Break-Up Talk
I BLINKED in disbelief. “You want to run that one by me again? Because I think I misheard.”
We stood in Mama’s office, Randall by the window, hands clasped behind his back, Morgan near the floor-to-ceiling bookcase, and me near the door, as if I could escape anytime I wanted to. What remained of Feng had been cleaned up from the floor, but there was a black smudge in the carpet and on Mama’s desk. Both would have to be replaced.
The office itself was still in disarray, though a hasty job had been done to right the wrongs: The books were haphazardly placed back on the shelves, the shade to the lamp in the corner sat crooked, the air still smelled crisped and seared. The little wooden bombs Feng had placed around the office had been removed. I had scanned the room when we’d entered, making sure none had been missed.
It hadn’t taken long for Morgan and Randall to drop a different sort of bomb on me, however.
“I don’t see what’s so difficult for you to understand,” Randall said, voice bland and even.
“Indulge me.”
“Don’t we always? And maybe that’s part of the problem.”
I scowled at him. “Maybe you should go suck a gigantic—”
Morgan cleared his throat.
“—lemon because your face already looks a little—”
Morgan coughed.
“Yeah, okay. I’ve got nothing to save that.”
“This isn’t helping,” Morgan said, and I was surprised to see that it was directed at Randall instead of myself. “There has to be another way to go about this.”
Randall snorted as he turned around, backlit by the sun pouring in through the window. “Can you think of any way that won’t bring about his ire? Because if you can, please, go ahead. But I think you know as well as I do that no matter what we say, it will be met with resistance. That’s just in his nature.” He glanced briefly at me. “Unfortunately.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t be… delicate.”
“You think Sam would appreciate a soft-handed approach? He usually prefers the hammer.”
“I’m going to pretend that you’ve complimented me,” I decided. “So thank you.”
Randall spread his hands as if to say I’d proved his point. Which, to be fair, I probably had. I hated it when I did that for Randall.
Morgan gave us the long-suffering look he did so well. “Sam.”
“Yes, Morgan?”
“You will be traveling with Randall to Castle Freesias. Kevin, Gary, Tiggy, Ryan, and Prince Justin will follow on the roads.”
“So I did hear you right. That’s… unfortunate. Well. No matter. Thank you, but no thank you. I politely decline. Now, if there’s anything else—”
Randall laughed a little at that, and if I weren’t feeling so cornered, I might have been surprised I’d been able to make him do that. “It’s funny how you think it was a suggestion.”
I stared at him. “It’s funny how you think it wasn’t.”
He wasn’t laughing anymore after that. In fact, he looked a little pissed off. And that, regardless of how intimidating it could be, was something I was used to. I’d had that directed toward me more times than I could count. I could deal with that. “It’s not a suggestion. You will accompany me back to Castle Freesias. It’s time I took a more direct approach to your training.”
“And by accompanying you, you mean that sucky teleport thing you can do.”
“Yes.”
“I threw up on you the last time, if you’ll recall.”
“Oh, I recall.”
“I’ll probably do it again.”