Chapter 29

T he very second the dragon pile released Gregori, the mages descended. All of them.

Or, at least, it felt like all of them.

People Salem could barely remember meeting at the wedding descended en masse, shooting off question after question.

"Gregori, how long did it take before it felt like something was off?"

"Hey, what were your exact symptoms?"

"Was it just your dragon feeling off or was it physical symptoms as well?"

"What helped you shift? I understand you were stuck in human form."

Gregori seemed bewildered by this onslaught and wasn't sure who to answer first. Growling internally, Salem stepped up, getting his hands into a "stay back" position and buying Gregori some breathing room.

"Stop, stop. You're overwhelming a person who just started feeling normal."

A few of them looked abashed at his chastisement. At least they had the grace to realize they were being pushy.

He also knew they were asking for a reason. Gregori was an unprecedented case, after all, quite likely the first dragon to ever experience this. They wanted to document it for future records.

And really, Salem agreed with them. This should be recorded, written down for the future, in case some other idiot dragon thought it a good idea to try and live outside the clan. This might not be the best timing for it, but it was fine. Salem knew the answers.

"Okay, in no particular order: No, it wasn't just the dragon side acting up. He had many physical symptoms as well. He ran a low-grade temp several times, but mostly his body temperature leaned toward cool and clammy. I honestly thought he had a cold or the onset of a flu several times. Exhaustion was one of the key symptoms. Lack of appetite as well."

Someone whipped out a phone and took notes, while another had a phone out and was apparently recording. Eh, didn't bother Salem either way.

"Someone asked how long it took for symptoms to kick in?" When Salem got a nod, he kept talking. "About a month, I think. First symptom to come in with homesickness was the lethargy. It just got progressively worse after that. Okay, what was the other question?"

Ha Na showed up then with a very stern, matronly look on her face.

"All of you, I told you to wait! Shoo, off with you. You can badger Gregori with questions later."

"But, Ha Na?—"

"NO!"

Discouraged, the crowd dispersed, forlornly going back toward the main house. Salem chose to think of it as a house instead of a manor because he needed that level of sanity. Now that it looked like he was going to live here and all.

When he turned back, he found Gregori looking at him with the softest, warmest eyes he'd ever seen aimed at him. It made Salem feel a little self-conscious.

"What?" he asked uneasily.

"You really were paying attention," Gregori murmured, still sounding awed. "I didn't think you realized."

"You live with a doctor," Salem pointed out with a sigh. "Of course I'm going to notice when you're not feeling well and what your symptoms are. My mistake was not dragging a confession out of you of just how bad off you were."

Sora loped over to them, looking as tired as Salem felt, but not slowing down any. "Hi, all. Sorry to interrupt, but I need to do a checkup on Gregori. Can I have a second?"

In private wasn't said but rather inferred.

That was fine. Gregori was not in the habit of answering questions honestly, clearly, as he'd fucking collapsed before admitting anything was wrong. If stepping away let him answer Sora's questions truthfully while getting checked out, so be it.

Salem had no intention of leaving Gregori's line of sight right now. It would surely trigger a relapse. But he could give the illusion of privacy.

He stepped about twenty feet away, finding a rocky outcropping to perch on top of. This way he stayed in line of sight with Gregori—a reassurance for both of them.

Sora performed diagnostic spells, from the look of it. From the way Sora moved about, checking every angle, he was being very thorough in his examination. Salem appreciated it. He wanted to make sure Gregori was on the mend.

The more he sat there—looking out over the dragons, the beach, feeling the humidity in the air—the more he felt like an asshole. It was beautiful here. The sense of community, of family, was incredibly strong. Anyone would give their right arm to live in such a place—except him, who had argued vehemently against it. Argued against it to the point Gregori couldn't be honest with him. Couldn't openly express when he hurt.

Salem sank his head into both hands, eyes closed, kicking himself repeatedly. He'd have to do so, so much groveling to make this up to Gregori. Salem wasn't even sure where to begin.

Over the sound of water lapping at the shoreline, he could hear footsteps shuffling over the sand. He didn't look up. Intuition alone told him who approached.

"You okay, bro?"

"No," he answered on a long sigh. "Sam, I'm an asshole."

"This fact is well established, but normally you're okay with that?"

"I'm not okay with it when it damn near killed my boyfriend."

Sam sucked in a startled breath. "Wow. You're admitting to your relationship?"

Now he did look up to pin Sam with a glare. "Duh."

"No, no, this is huge for you. I mean, you were denying it even three days ago."

"Yes, well, having Gregori collapse right in front of me put things sharply into perspective."

"Ah." Sam nodded, like this suddenly made a lot more sense. "Crisis will do that. Kinda had a similar moment with Dimitri, so I know where you're coming from. Um, so, don't fret? Gregori will forgive you for this."

"Gregori was never mad to begin with. I wish he would get mad at me. I prefer being yelled at over feeling like this."

Sam came in closer, slinging an arm around his shoulders in a supportive hug. "I promise you'll be fine. Dragons are easy, trust me; give them lots of love and attention, admire their hoard, all things are forgiven."

Snorting a laugh, Salem grumbled darkly, "Hopefully that works here. Will you help me, though?"

"Do what?"

"Pack up and move down here."

Sam actually jumped a little in surprise. "Shit! You're serious?"

"It's not worth it. My job and shoebox apartment are not worth trading his life for. I spent the whole flight down here thinking about it, and honestly speaking, trying to maintain my lifestyle isn't worth his life. Nothing's worth that. I do need to have a proper sit down with someone to figure out the logistics. It's only the finances that worry me. But if I'm a doctor of the Valerii Clan, I get paid just the same, and it's cheaper to live down here, so I think it'll work out." He glanced at Sam only to find his twin looking at him with this proud expression. "What?"

"You really have grown up. Putting his needs above your wants."

"Are you deliberately getting on my last nerve?"

Sam threw an arm around his shoulders again. "I'm praising you! This is huge for you and I'm so proud."

"Yes, well, as I said. I spent the entire flight down here thinking. I promised I'd meet him halfway and I'm going to do my damnedest to live up to my promise."

Uncomfortable, Salem tried to shrug Sam off, but he only clung harder.

"I will absolutely help you pack up everything and ship it down here. I know you don't want to leave him right now. For that matter, I feel like it's a good call. Gregori needs you and his clan for a while before he's back to normal."

"Yeah. Exactly." Relieved his brother was so willing to help, he relaxed a little. "I'll make a list of all that needs to happen. I, uh, I know we talked about this briefly earlier, but are there seriously no pediatric surgeons at all?"

"Think about it. Up until last year, we didn't have kids in the clans."

Oh. Fuck, right. Only the Sodalicium did.

Sam shrugged and kept talking. "We've got a lot of kids incoming—all the clans are going to be having quite the baby boom—so a pediatric surgeon on hand will be super helpful. You know kids get into crap. It gets worse when said kids have wings and the ability to blow elements."

Salem winced at the mental image. "Oh god. What am I signing up for?"

"Magic," Sam answered promptly, grinning. "Magic, wonder, and shenanigans. It'll be worth the ride, I promise you. You'll have incredible teachers here, and if you tell Amaru what kind of equipment you need, he'll make it for you."

Now that was a great idea.

"Don't tell Gregori yet," Salem requested. "I need to…I just need to figure shit out before talking to him."

"Need to let the idea of living in a whole different country settle in your head, you mean."

"Yeah. I know, logically, it's the only possible answer. I just need to wrap my head around it." Salem rubbed his forehead. "I've been so focused on one single goal my entire life, it's hard to make a sharp pivot and do something else. Just let me sleep on this."

Sam hugged him again. "It'll be fine. At least tell Gregori you won't leave Brazil until you two figure everything out. He needs the reassurance."

"Sure. I can tell him."

Sam made a good point—he wasn't arguing that—it was just really hard admitting he'd been so incredibly wrong. Salem had to come to terms with it before he could force the words out of his throat. Also, his urge to beat sense into Gregori still ran strong.

One thing was for sure, though—Salem would do absolutely everything in his power to prevent this from happening again. If things started going sideways, he'd stop it immediately. He'd drag Gregori's ass to a counselor if that was what it took.

This scare would never happen again.