Chapter Thirteen

"That was incredible," Ansley insisted.

Penley didn't know how to take the compliment. His face was warm, and he wished the earth would swallow him. The problem was that the other mages were gathered around him in the kitchen, so they'd jump right to it if the earth did. Then, he'd have to listen to them praise him for what he'd done with Emory again.

Bennett bumped their shoulders together. Through all of this, he'd never left Penley's side. "Take the compliment," Bennett whispered.

Ansley laughed. "I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable, Pen. I just wanted you to know that I'm proud of you. We all are."

That mattered more to Penley than anything else. Well, that and the fact that Emory had his dragon back. It was all Penley had wanted to achieve, and he had.

"What you did was great," Jarvis agreed. "I didn't even know you were working on this, and I wish I had. None of us thought there was anything we could do for Emory, but you didn't let that deter you. You forged ahead, and you found a solution."

"I don't think any of you would have been able to convince the earth to give up part of its magic," Penley pointed out. "You're not as close to it as I am."

"Maybe, but we should still have been doing more for Emory. Once again, you're the best of us."

Penley didn't like that Jarvis was talking like that. Everyone had been busy. Ansley had been focused on the seeking spell. Jarvis just got Marlow back and had become an instant father to Jason. Tyne was, well, Tyne, and Keylon had Winter. Dallin was hurting over what had happened to Sol, and before, he'd been worried about finding him.

They all wanted Carlyle to be defeated, and it had sounded like what had happened to Emory was final. The only reason Penley had found a way around it was that he felt he wasn't useful when it came to everything else but wanted to be.

He now knew that wasn't true. His magic might not be as useful as Ansley's or as showy as Jarvis's, but it didn't mean it was useless. He'd done something good with it and was proud of that.

He just didn't know how to deal with everyone telling him they were proud of him, too.

Luckily, he didn't have to deal with this on his own. Bennett stayed by his side, and even though they were crowding the kitchen and Jillian kept throwing them glares, Penley felt at peace. It would be better if Sol was here with them, but Penley had to have faith. Everyone had believed that Emory had lost his dragon for good, and he'd shown them wrong. The same had to go for Sol. The situation might look desperate, but it couldn't be. Somehow, one of them would find a way to find him, and they'd get him back.

"I'm getting another drink. Do you want one?" Meyer asked.

Penley turned to see who he was talking to and sucked in a breath when he saw that Meyer was standing in front of Tyne. Tyne hadn't talked to Penley yet, but he was here to support him, which Penley appreciated.

It looked like Tyne was about to tell Meyer to fuck off.

Tyne's expression was set and stern. He looked at Meyer as if he didn't matter, which was enough to make Penley wince. If Bennett ever looked at him like that, he'd run to his room to cry. He'd been lucky that Bennett wanted him as much as he wanted Bennett. He didn't know what he would have done otherwise.

Probably not what Meyer was doing. No matter how many times Tyne pushed him away, he pushed right back in. It almost looked like he didn't care what Tyne told him, but that couldn't be true. Meyer wanted to break down Tyne's armor and understand what had happened between them so he could fix it, but until Tyne let him in, he wouldn't be able to do that. He seemed to have infinite patience, which wasn't easy with someone as prickly as Tyne.

Especially because Tyne behaved as if he wouldn't ever let Meyer in.

"Fuck off," Tyne said as he pushed away from the wall against which he'd been leaning.

Penley expected Meyer to go after Tyne when he left the kitchen, but the dragon didn't. Instead, he stared at Tyne's back, then sighed so heavily that it looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Penley had had enough. No one knew what had happened between Tyne and Meyer, but someone needed to talk to Tyne. If he continued behaving like this, he'd never find happiness, which was what everyone wanted for him. Unless Meyer had killed Tyne's best friend or something, there had to be a way for Tyne to forgive him.

Penley turned to kiss Bennett on the cheek. "I'll be right back."

Bennett didn't try to stop Penley, but he looked worried. "Don't get too close to him."

"He's not going to hurt me."

"I don't think he would in normal circumstances, but he's angry."

That much was true. Tyne had always been grumpy and introverted, but since they'd found Meyer, it was as if he was boiling with rage. Penley couldn't imagine what it was like to live like that, just like he couldn't imagine what Meyer had done to earn this. He wasn't sure he'd ever find out, but he could at least try.

He rushed out of the kitchen and looked left and right. Tyne was striding down the hallway, and Penley went after him. "Wait up!"

Tyne stopped moving. His back was ramrod straight, as if he expected Penley to hurt him. Penley would never do anything that could hurt Tyne, especially not on purpose, but he suspected that whatever had happened between him and Meyer caused Tyne a lot of pain.

He was surprised that Tyne waited for him. He had to know why Penley had followed him, and even though it was clear that Tyne didn't want to talk about it, he didn't tell Penley to leave him alone.

"You can't keep doing this," Penley said when he reached his friend. "You're in so much pain that it makes me want to hug you every time I see you."

Tyne's lips twitched. "And we can't have that."

"Well, I mean, if you want me to hug you every time I see you, I can certainly do it, but wouldn't it be easier to fix whatever's wrong between you and Meyer? You'd be so much happier."

Tyne was already shaking his head. "I'm perfectly fine without Meyer."

Penley frowned. It was obvious to anyone who saw Tyne that it was a lie, but he wasn't sure that telling Tyne that to his face was the best idea. "Maybe you're right. Maybe you are perfectly fine without Meyer. You look miserable, though, and I hate that. You'd be happier and stronger if you welcomed Meyer back into your life. We would all be, and we'd have a better chance to defeat Carlyle."

"Are you telling me that we'll lose this fight because of me?"

Tyne's voice was flat, but Penley could hear his anger. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his friend, so he tried to explain himself. "Of course not. You're the strongest of us all. You're certainly stronger than me. I just hate seeing you in so much pain, especially when I believe you could fix this by talking to Meyer. I don't know what he did in the past, but neither does he. How can he fix it if you refuse to tell him? He's been trying hard, but you keep pushing him away, and eventually, he'll have to stop. You thought you lost him all these years. Do you truly want to lose him again?"

For a moment, Penley thought he'd finally broken through. There was pain in Tyne's expression, and Penley made the mistake of reaching for him to attempt to soothe him.

Tyne shook off Penley's hand as soon as he touched him, stepped back, and set his expression. "I'm tired of coming second," Tyne said in a hard voice. "When the dragons vanished, I told myself that from then on, I'd learn to be fine on my own, and I am. I don't need Meyer, not even to defeat Carlyle."

Penley sighed as he watched Tyne turn around and leave. He'd tried to make things right but suspected he'd made them worse instead. Tyne hadn't told him what had happened between him and Meyer, and he seemed set on keeping distance between them and maybe putting more distance between himself and the other mages.

What would that mean for their fight against Carlyle? Even more important, what would it mean for the bond between Tyne and Meyer and for their future?

* * * *

Bennett watched Penley follow Tyne out of the kitchen. He hoped Penley would get through to his friend and get the answers and the result he wished for, but he suspected he wouldn't. Whatever Tyne had against Meyer ran deep enough that even finding Meyer again after decades hadn't softened him. He still refused to even look in Meyer's direction, and when he was forced to, he glared at him as if he were a cockroach he couldn't wait to stomp on.

Meyer was still standing where he'd been before Tyne left, so Bennett turned to him. When Meyer noticed him, he plastered a smile on his lips, but Bennett could see through it. His friend was hurt, and Bennette hated that. He wished he could help Meyer, but he didn't know how.

"Everything all right?" he asked, even though it was clear the answer would be no.

Meyer shrugged. "I've been better."

"I hate that he still won't talk to you."

"I hate it, too. There's nothing either of us can do about it, unfortunately. No matter how hard I try, it's like slamming against a wall every time. I can't get him out of his funk and his anger because he won't tell me what I did to deserve it." Meyer snorted. "Hell, I don't even know if I did do something to deserve it. I have no clue what's happening."

Bennett squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Penley followed him to try to talk to him."

"I doubt it'll change anything. Tyne is pushing everyone away. He won't tell any of his friends what's going on. Penley isn't the first one who's tried talking to him, but as far as I know, no one has had any success."

"He'll have to break down eventually."

"I don't know about that. I'm pretty sure he won't. Whatever happened, he's set on keeping me as far away from him as he can, and he's succeeding."

"What about when you fought in the gym?" It had looked like Tyne was finally opening up that time.

"It was the closest we ever got. I thought things were finally changing because we'd never been that close, but when I begged him to tell me what I did to him, he just climbed off me and left. I don't know what to do, Bennett. I don't want to stay here if he doesn't want me. Knowing that we share a bond and that I hurt him so badly that he doesn't want to see me is awful."

Bennett's stomach dropped. "Are you telling me you're thinking of leaving?"

"Not for a while, and definitely not until Carlyle has been taken care of. I don't want you or anyone here to be in danger, but I especially don't want you to be in danger. That means taking care of Carlyle, but if things don't change, once we're done with that and have Sol back, I think it'll be best if I left."

Bennett didn't want to lose his friend. He wanted to tell Meyer to continue pushing and force Tyne to tell him what had happened, but how could he? He could see how much pain his friend was in, and he only ever wanted Meyer to be happy and at peace. If to do that, Meyer had to stay away from the castle and the mages, then he should take care of himself and do just that.

"Where will you go?" Bennett asked.

"I'm not sure. I've been talking to Jarvis about my family. He hasn't heard from them in a while, but he's sure the clan still exists. Maybe I'll go visit them. I don't know how they'll take me being back, but it can't be worse than the way Tyne has reacted to it."

Bennett wasn't happy about any of this, but knowing that Meyer wouldn't be alone reassured him. He yearned to do more for his friend, but he couldn't, and he despised feeling powerless. He already had enough of that with the Carlyle situation.

They still didn't know where he was, and they still didn't know where he was keeping Sol. Emory had left right after Penley had given him his ability to shift back, but it would take time for him to find the information he sought. In the meantime, the mages and dragons at the castle could only wait, and Bennett didn't like that.

He needed to do something. Spending time with Penley and getting to know the other dragons was fine, but it wasn't enough.

He glanced at Meyer. He might not have the power to do much, but he had time. He could find a way to get Tyne to talk, and if he did, Bennett would finally have the answers Meyer needed. Meyer might still leave, but Bennett liked to think that he could be convincing when he put himself to it. He might even be able to convince Tyne to give Meyer a chance.

He supposed anything was possible, although not probable.

Penley walked back into the kitchen, and from his expression, Bennett could tell his conversation with Tyne hadn't gone well. He gave Meyer's shoulder another squeeze, then moved toward his mage.

"Nothing?"

Penley shook his head. "He won't talk to me. He insists that he's perfectly fine on his own and that he doesn't need Meyer. He said something about always coming second, but I have no idea what it was about."

Bennett frowned. "I can't see Meyer has ever treated Tyne as if he wasn't important. He definitely isn't this time around."

Penley's eyes widened. "But Tyne still feels that way. Maybe Meyer didn't want to be Tyne's shield, or maybe he was in love with someone else. Maybe they weren't a couple."

"I don't know. You were there, but I don't remember anything."

Penley's excited expression disappeared. "I don't know if they were together. I can't remember them ever behaving like they were a couple, but Jarvis and Marlow kept things professional, too. I mean, I knew they were together because they were obviously in love, but they weren't visibly affectionate when we were working."

"Whatever happened, I don't know if there's anything we can do." But that wouldn't stop Bennett from trying.

"We're still going to try, right? No matter how many times Tyne says that he's fine without Meyer, that's not true. He's being a stubborn asshole, but he deserves to be happy, and so does Meyer."

Bennett looked back at his friend. He was still standing by the window, looking like he might throw himself into the lake. Bennett wasn't afraid that Meyer would do something like that, but he was still worried.

When the mages had found them, he and Meyer had believed they would finally have everything they'd never had—or didn't remember ever having, anyway. Bennett had thought they found a place where they belonged and people to call family, and they had, but the Tyne problem was burning Meyer's happiness away. He was talking about leaving, which Bennett didn't want to consider. He and Meyer had had each other when they'd had no one else in the world. They'd been best friends for years, moving from one place to another when it was time to leave their life behind because they weren't aging.

Bennett hated losing people he cared about every time. He'd never have to lose them again.

But he might lose Meyer.

Bennett wrapped an arm around Penley's shoulders and pulled him close. "We'll find out what happened."

"I don't know. If Tyne doesn't want to tell anyone, I doubt there's any way for us to. Besides, we should focus on Carlyle."

"Finding out why Tyne is so angry might help us. I'm sure we'd be stronger if all the mages had a strong bond with their dragon. Even if Tyne and Meyer never fully bond, they should at least know how to live together in peace. No matter how Tyne treats him, Meyer feels his duty as his shield strongly. He'll protect him, whatever happens."

He'd even sacrifice himself for Tyne. Bennett was tempted to tell him that he shouldn't, but he understood.

He just had to look at the man in his arms. Even if Penley decided that he never wanted to talk to Bennett again, he'd still be important to Bennett. Bennett would still do everything he could to protect him. Meyer's heart might be broken, but his instinct and sense of duty were intact. He'd protect Tyne through the upcoming war even if Tyne continued treating him like shit.

But what would happen between them once it was over was anyone's guess.