by Honor James
“Talk to Viper, it’s his ancestral home,” Ladon said. “I’d work on him, but slowly. He’s a little sensitive about change. Being so old, I think it’s hard on him. And, yes to your next question, he’s older than I am. He’s older than Drake is, actually, by a lot, and I do mean a lot.”
Violet laughed. “I’m older than Drake is as well,” she reminded Ladon. “So tell me, what do you think about how old I am? Are you saying that because I’m as old as I am that I’m stuck in my ways?” She looked at Ladon, waiting on him to insert his foot into his mouth.
“Hell, no,” he said. “You are a woman of the times. I had to hound Viper to get in plumbing, for the love of the Gods. Plumbing! The electricity was a little easier, especially after he set his, what was it now?”
“Fourth,” Viper muttered.
“Right, his fourth jacket on fire from a candle. You’d think a guy that can see in the dark wouldn’t have these issues, wouldn’t bother with candles. Except for the fact he likes to read and our vision doesn’t work well with books. Screws things up in the inks, making it difficult to read. Thus he’d light a candle and get so engrossed, poof! Up in flames. So that was the easy sell.”
He shifted to kiss her cheek. “You, my dear, are like a fine wine. You only improve with age. Besides, I’m older than you are, so really, you’re just a young’un.”
“Well it’s all good. I don’t mind being the age that I am, because I’ve learned a great deal in my life. I’m happy to be where I am, because I think that we all needed me to be here where I am so that we could have the life that we do. What do you think?” She was once more curled in close to Ladon, her hand still holding Viper’s and looking up at him.
“I think you’re exactly where you were always meant to be, Violet.” Viper squeezed her fingers lightly. “Now we just have to ensure our future together. Which means that at some point, very soon, we need to talk about that prophecy. Drake got me a copy of it from Drakos. I haven’t read it yet, though. I wanted you to be here when we did read it through. I think there’s something you’re, hell, we’re missing in it. I don’t know what, but it’s a gut feeling I have, and I always listen to my gut.”
Ladon squeezed her. “His gut is very good, always trust in his gut feelings on something. He’s sickeningly so rarely wrong.”
She had, for a time, forgotten the prophecy about her life. “I hope that you are right. I truly hope that there is something that is missing, something that I’ve missed and will be a loophole to allow us to have a life together for now and for all time. I truly do want that. I want to have more than just this moment, I want forever.”
“Hey, we’ll figure it out.” Ladon pressed a kiss to her forehead, squeezing her close. “All right, enough of this dismal shit. Let’s go and raid the kitchen. I’m fucking starved. Oh, and we should see what Cook sent back with us. I’m pretty sure I smelled one of her pies in that basket.”
“Oh Gods, Cook’s pies.” Violet felt her mouth watering, literally. “And you are right, we will have more than enough time to worry about all the dismal and icky stuff in life later. For now, I’m totally with you on the food hunt.”
“Thought you would be. Up, get your adorable ass up.” Ladon urged her off his lap and stood. “Grab cranky pants, and let’s go feed him. I think his blood sugar is dropping given how dour he seems to be right now. We’ll feed him pie and make him more… Well, I was going to say smiley, but he doesn’t do that. He’ll be less dour, at least.”
Violet laughed and moved closer to Viper. “Come on, big guy. Take me and feed me pie? Then later, if you want, we will cuddle up in front of a fire or something equally fun. Oh, or we can all go out with a blanket and watch the stars as they move across the skies. What do you think about that?”
He let her pull him up from the bed. “If that’s what you want to do, I’m not going to argue,” he said softly.
Ladon snorted at that, and under his breath said, “Much.”
Viper shot him a dark look full of deadly promises. “Unlike you, Ladon, Violet isn’t a pain in my ass. If she would like to go out and sit watching the stars, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Ladon shot him a sharp look and frowned. “I was teasing, what the fuck?”
“Sorry,” Viper muttered. He had a hand to his face, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’ve got a headache, and I’m taking it out on you. No excuse, I know, forgive me.”
Ladon stopped their forward movement. “Viper, how bad?” he asked softly.
“It’s nothing,” he said back.
Apparently, Ladon wasn’t buying it. He shot her a worried look, but just nodded. “All right, let’s get some food.” He shot her another look and shook his head slightly. A warning not to say anything, maybe.
Violet frowned and looked to Viper. “Viper.” She put her hands on his chest and stopped him, looking up at him with worry clear in her eyes. “Honey, if you are hurting, we can help you. Just tell me what you might need and we will do it for you.” She was speaking softly in deference to his aching head, her tones low and calm.
“Food is all I need, my headache will go away in time,” he said. He touched her elbow. “Let’s go, my stomach is growling, and it doesn’t help my head any.”
Ladon snagged her other elbow and nodded. “Good idea,” he said. He shot her another look, his eyes going wide, then narrowing slightly before he cocked an eyebrow. He was trying to tell her something, that much she got. What it was, no clue. He rolled his eyes at her and groaned. “We’ll talk, sweetheart.”
“Okay.” Violet didn’t do silent communication well, at all, and she had no idea what it was that Ladon was trying to tell her. It was obviously important, because he was trying to get her to figure it out, but she couldn’t. She had never been good with charades and trying to read someone’s eyes was worse.
He tugged on her arm to get her moving. Once they were in the kitchen, Ladon quickly set about getting the meal on the table. He also lit a couple of oil lamps and doused the overhead lights, which appeared to help Viper, since he wasn’t squinting any more.
When she was collecting drinks, Ladon urged her into the pantry. “When he gets a headache, don’t make a big deal about it. Just ask how he’s doing and get on with business. He hates being the center of attention, especially if it’s sympathy. We’ll get him fed and then go outside. Out there the lights won’t bother him, hell he’ll probably fall asleep, which would be good. If he can relax and rest a bit it will go away quickly.”
“Okay. I will try to keep that in mind,” Violet replied and helped Ladon get their food together. Once they settled down she put her hand on Viper’s, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, and then set about eating.
Ladon kept the chatter light and low. Viper occasionally put in some thoughts, but for the most part he stayed quiet as he ate. When they were done Ladon quickly cleaned up and grabbed them drinks. “Vi, why don’t you grab a blanket. There should be one for the outdoors through there in the mud room. There’s a chest in there we keep anything that goes outdoors.”
“Sounds good. I will get a couple of them. One we can use for a pillow and one to lay on. I know that I won’t need one to cover up with, not with my own personal heating sources close by.” She teased both men. “Which I truly love, by the way.”
“No, you won’t need that,” he said with a chuckle. He shot a worried look to Viper. Shaking his head, he went back to what he was doing. After a few minutes, he moved closer to her and took the blankets as he passed her the drinks. “Come on Viper, let’s get out there.”
Violet moved along with them, her hand slipping into Viper’s and giving it a squeeze. She liked touching him, especially when he was hurting. She hated that he was hurting, a great deal, but she wanted to be there with him for all things.
Viper slid his hand from hers, putting his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to him. “I’ll be fine. I get these once in a blue moon. They annoy me for a time and then go away.
There’s no reason for you to wrinkle up your face like you are over this, Violet.”
“I worry about you,” she admitted to him. “I worry about when you hurt like this. I don’t like it,” she confessed. “I would rather you be yourself and living out loud than hurting. I happen to love it when you are in-your-face and loud and everything. Well, I wouldn’t say loud, but I would say more, here?” If that made sense.
“I think she’s trying to point out you’re kind of a shadow of your usual charming, if growly, self,” Ladon said. “I have to agree. I don’t like when you’re all quiet. At least when you have a headache, I know you’re not plotting my demise. So there is that, I suppose.”
“Well as long as he’s okay, that’s what’s important,” Violet retorted. “And he said that he’s okay, so I’m going to go with that. I’m going to take his word for it. However, I won’t complain when he’s ready to lay down and relax on the blanket.”
“We’ll go over here on the hill,” Ladon said. “It’s got a nice natural depression that makes it very comfortable to laze about in. If the wind kicks up at all, it’ll keep you extra warm, too,” he said to her. He led the way up the small hill to the spot and spread out the blanket. He took the other and rolled it up, laying it at the top of the hill before holding out a hand to her.
Vi put her hand into Ladon’s and squeezed it gently. “Well, I know two amazing Draygons that will keep me nice and warm, as well. The two of you will always do whatever it is that you need to in order to keep me warm.” Just as she would do anything she could to keep them happy as well.
As they all settled in, Viper on his back, Ladon on his side, facing her, the calm of the night seemed to settle in. Viper closed his eyes after getting his head adjusted on their pillow and let out a breath.
Violet watched as the tension all seemed to roll out of Viper and each muscle seemed to loosen and the tightness on his face seemed to end. Nestled in between her two men, she sighed and yawned. “This is very nice. I like this, being between both of you like this.”
Wrapping an arm around her loosely, Ladon pressed a kiss to her neck. “We like having you here between us. I know we’ve only been together a short time, but it feels right, perfect even. Like a piece of the puzzle that’s always been missing is suddenly found.”
“I agree. I happen to love how this feels as well. The comfort that I get with having both of you holding me close. It’s wonderful,” she said quietly. “And you are right, it is like finally coming home. I like it. A great deal.”
Chuckling, he gave her a little squeeze as he wiggled around a bit, curling into her more. “If you want to have a nap, go ahead. I’ll stay awake so that Viper can hopefully get some rest and banish his headache for good.”
“I will be fine for right now,” she said with a grin. “It’s actually nice. The heat of you both close to me. All of it. I like it, a lot. For now I just want to watch the skies. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to do that.”
“It’s hard to find a spot to see the stars on Earth, isn’t it?” he commented softly. “Even with all the mandates for the lighting restrictions, signage restrictions, and everything else, you still have to travel so far from the cities to get even a glimpse of them. Such a shame, too. Their star system is very lovely.”
“I agree. When I first ran to Earth the skies were clear, the air was clean. It was truly amazing. The stars seemed to be so close you could almost reach out and touch them. I have always loved looking up at the skies and watching them as they raced around, the stars, that is,” she said with a smirk.
“I got your meaning,” he said with a soft laugh. “I remember those days. We weren’t there very often, but it was always pleasant to visit with the few humans we’d made friends with. Not that they knew we were any different. Though maybe if we’d broken it to them then, stayed with them, we wouldn’t have gotten into the mess we did.”
“You do remember they liked to burn so-called witches at the stake and such, right?” Viper asked in a sleepy voice. “Anyone the church pegged as an outcast didn’t fare well in the old days.”
“This is very true. I had to hide who and what I was from those people so that they didn’t find out what I was. I would have truly hated to have hurt humans for their stupidity,” she teased. “And sadly I would have. I did love the nights though. The way that the moon and stars light up the night. I know that many would say that it was a terrifying time, but it was a real time. An honest time. It was a real time instead of the illusionist facade that is far too often portrayed to the worlds.”
“You mean the load of bullshit that’s fed to the masses, right?” Ladon asked. “Politicians of every Realm are all the same. Putting a shiny coating on the real issues that are affecting everyone. But they figure if they can point it to just one group, usually with a study or polls, then they have a way to suck more money out of people so they can fuck us around. Sadly there are only a few good politicians out there, both in the Realms and on Earth. Too few good ones, really.”
“It’s terrible but that is so true.” Violet sighed and closed her eyes. “Most politicians are people who only want what is good for them and what will line their pockets with the most money.”
“True enough,” he murmured. Sighing, he rested his cheek to her shoulder as he stared up at the stars. “Sometimes I wonder if the humans wouldn’t be better off living in simpler times. While I’m not going to claim the Races are the perfect example, we all know we’re not, we’ve had our fuck-ups, too, for the history books. I have to wonder if maybe they progressed too fast. If they’d had more time, would they have been more open to our impromptu coming out party?”
“There are times I worry that they did. I think that if they would have, could have, kept those core values of paying it forward and loving each other no matter the difference in color or sex, they would have been better off. Even a hundred years ago, while there was serious issue with people not accepting color difference or sexuality differences, one thing was true, they always came to the help of their neighbors. It was a purer time.” There had been heartache, pain, and more, but it was also nice being able to lean on others, should the need arise.
“Yeah,” was all Ladon said as he heaved another sigh. He fell silent after that, as they watched the stars above, bright, big, and seemingly so close to the ground. It felt like you could reach up and pluck them down if you wanted to.
Violet found herself shifting slightly, and she closed her eyes. “This is nice,” she whispered softly and shifted so that she could lay her head on Viper’s shoulder and curl into him, her hand, however, moving up and over Ladon’s hand and stroking her thumb over his hand. This was nice. The heat of Ladon at her back and Viper at her front. She loved it.
She didn’t know how long it was, but eventually she became aware of movement. “Shh, we’re going back to the house. You fell asleep, sweetheart,” Ladon said in her ear. “We’re going to get you tucked into bed so that you can sleep without your clothing confining you and making you wiggle about.”
“Mmm, that does sound lovely.” Violet knew that they had a great deal that they still had to do. She knew that they had to figure out this prophecy and even more, but at the moment all she wanted to do was rest and have her mates close.
“We thought you’d appreciate that. The bed is much softer than the ground. Though we’ll have to all hang on since it’s not the largest of beds. Tomorrow we’ll look into getting a bigger one made for the room. In the meantime we may need to invest in mats to soften any unexpected landings Viper or I might have in the middle of the night onto the floor.”
“Just get back up and climb back into the bed when you get pushed out,” Vi teased. “Because we all know that you won’t let me fall out, either of you.” Her mates would always ensure that she was happy and safe, no matter what. She liked it. A lot.
“You won’t be falling out, as you will be safely tucked in the middle. My ass, though, really isn’t looking forward to landi
ng on those hardwood floors. So mats, nice and thick, right by the bed are called for until we can get a larger bed. Though why Viper didn’t think of that sooner.” She felt Ladon shrug.
“Not like you mentioned it during the renovations,” Viper said from somewhere close-by.
“Yeah, but were the two of you sharing the same bed before I came along?” She asked in question. “Because I have to tell you, I somehow don’t see the two of you sharing a bed. Not with the way you both bicker and fight.” Not really fight, but they knew what she meant.
“We don’t fight, he just doesn’t understand that I’m always right,” Ladon told her. His head snapped forward in the next moment, and he grunted.
“Lying to your mate is a sin,” Viper said. “If it isn’t, it damn well should be. I can’t believe you actually said that. We fight, often, and no, we were not sharing the same bed. You may not realize this yet, since we had a very large bed last night, but he’s a bed hog. He will steal all the blankets, he will try for the most amount of space, and I’ll be the one on the floor. I don’t know why he’s worried about his ass hitting the hardwood. I doubt it’ll ever even get close, given what I know of him. If you don’t believe me, ask his mother.”
“I won’t let either of you fall,” Violet assured them. “I will hold you both close so that you will both stay on the bed with me. I rather love having both of you close to me and holding me during the night. I just hope we will be able to do just that,” she added with a shrug.
“We can only hope,” Viper muttered. He stepped around Ladon to open the door so he could carry her into the house. “Take her upstairs, I’ll lock up and be right behind you.”
“Sir, yes sir,” Ladon said and then sprinted suddenly. He was snickered at the snarled words that Viper was biting out. “Oh, come on, that’s just rude,” he called out. “Saying such things in front of a lady in the old tongue, even if she doesn’t understand, is still wrong.”
