7. Anthony

Chapter 7

Anthony

I couldn't believe it when Dane told me that I'd get to see Blaze in his fire spirit form. Fire spirits had once been numerous and they'd thrived in the hearths of people's homes. However, their population had declined in the past hundred and fifty years and there were very few known to be in existence.

That wasn't to say they didn't exist, since they might be staying under the radar, like Blaze, but I'd certainly never met one and I hadn't been able to speak to one, either.

To have the chance to now was a dream come true. Everything interesting had happened to me after mating Cuthbert. I'd got to come to a dragon's castle, to learn about curaidh and uasal culture, met (and studied) a gargoyle and met a dryad, though I was still waiting to get close to Arram while their flowers were in bloom on their body. Dee got possessive about them, so Cuthbert wouldn't let me get too close.

And now I had met a ridire , who I was hoping to talk to later. And a golden dragon. And a fire spirit.

My life was utterly perfect, and it was all thanks to Cuthbert and his family.

By the time Blaze arrived outside with Alfie, I was almost vibrating out of my skin with excitement. I beamed at them as they approached and Blaze smiled back at me.

When they got near, Cuthbert took hold of my hand. It might have looked like he was just holding my hand, but I think secretly he wanted to stop me touching again. I'd explained that already! Blaze had said yes, so I'd just assumed it was alright with Alfie, too. I hadn't realised their dragons were all riled. It was very inconvenient for me.

Still, I smiled at Blaze and tried not to start asking questions straight away. Cuthbert told me I needed to let people settle down first. I sent a quick smile to Cuthbert and he looked up at me, his adorable dimples popping into his cheeks as he saw how excited I was. I was momentarily distracted.

Blaze said, "Morning Anthony. How is your arm?"

"Oh, it's fine."

I waved my hand dismissively. To be honest, it hurt a bit and there was a blue bruise on my dark skin but it wouldn't be there for long. I'd worn long sleeves to cover it, because I knew that some of the Hoskins clan were a bit… sensitive and they might be upset if they thought I was hurt.

Matty grunted. He was standing with his arms folded, not too far away from me. He'd been following me around all morning, making sure I didn't get myself into trouble. I thought that was rich, coming from him.

Outside in the large gardens, where the lawn spread out for miles and the sky seemed vast and endless, everyone looked much smaller. Even the legendary golden dragon. Alfie looked very young this morning, much younger than he had yesterday, when his face had been tense and lined.

He shuffled his feet.

"Anthony, I'm very sorry about your arm. I hope- I hope you're not scared of me. "

I blinked at him. Actually, I hadn't thought to be scared of him.

"I'm not. I promise. And I'm sorry I tried to touch your mate. Cuthbert's told me not to do it again."

Alfie swallowed. "You can touch him. If he wants. Maybe later?"

Cuthbert squeezed my fingers slightly, which I took to be a warning. I smiled. "Yes, maybe later. You won't mind if I ask you both questions, though, will you?"

"Not at all."

"And can I see you shift?"

They both nodded and I got started on what I wanted. I held up my Dictaphone. "Do you mind if I record your answers? I can't write quickly enough to record them all."

Blaze shook his head. "We don't mind. How long have you been interested in fire spirits?"

"I've always been interested in different types of magic but I haven't been able to study spirit magic because there are so few of you who are known to witches. I've had to rely on old texts but they're not very reliable. Some of the information is false. "

Blaze pulled a sympathetic face. "Yes, people don't understand fire spirits well. There aren't many of us any more. All spirits are fading."

"Have you ever met any other spirits?"

"No, I never got to meet any."

"Would you like to meet an earth spirit? He's very nice."

Blaze looked at me in amazement. "You know an earth spirit?"

"Yes. We all do." I gestured round at Cuthbert and Matty. "He lives not too far from you, actually. I'm sure he'll agree to meet you, if I ask. His name is Terrund and he's very kind and very old. He's telling me all about earth spirits."

I called him up once a month and we chatted about all sorts of things, like magic and history and his memories and his mate. I hoped he liked talking to me as much as I liked talking to him. I did wonder whether he was just putting up with me but he always sounded happy on the phone and he always ended our conversations with, "Speak to you again soon," so I guess he must be okay with it.

Blaze said, "I'd like that. Maybe one day soon, when we're back at home."

I nodded. There was no rush .

To begin with, I asked Blaze some questions. What it felt like to shift. What he could remember. How he kept his clothes when he burned. That one interested me, because it was different from every other shifter. It was unique to spirits.

I'd asked Terrund, too, because he kept his clothes when he became earth or stepped into his tree, but he hadn't been able to give me a satisfactory answer. It fascinated me that Blaze could keep any clothes, even new ones. Terrund had been wearing the same clothes since the eighteenth century and I secretly thought he looked incredibly hot in them (speaking purely objectively) but also it meant he'd had time to let them become part of who he was. I'd assumed it had something to do with that, but Blaze proved that theory wrong.

We'd been out there for nearly an hour when Alfie suddenly asked, "Who's that?"

The hardness in Alfie's voice made me look up and step back into Cuthbert's arms. I wasn't frightened! Just startled, that's all.

Alfie was pointing over my shoulder and I shuffled around to see. I couldn't see anything. Just the clear blue sky with some white and grey clouds in the distance .

Cuthbert said, "That's Daniel."

I peered harder. "I can't see him."

"He's quite a long way away."

Turning back to Alfie, I saw his expression had gone tense again. He said, "I didn't realise there were more of you."

"Only Daniel," I said.

"Really?"

Cuthbert was the one to answer this time. He had that particular note to his voice that spoke of understanding, and I was sure he understood exactly why Alfie was suddenly tense.

"Yes, really. He's very shy around new people and didn't want to meet you all at once. Nana gave him permission to stay outside while you were here. He often flies around the borders and doesn't come home for days, so none of us thought it was unusual. That's why we didn't mention it before."

"Why does he stay away?"

Cuthbert answered kindly but firmly. He used that tone of voice with me, sometimes, when I wanted to stay up and read some more but my eyes were hurting with tiredness. He made me go to bed and sleep.

He said, "That's his choice. "

It ended that line of questioning and not even the dragon elder questioned Cuthbert further.

Alfie didn't go back to looking relaxed and happy, though, so I thought I'd try to comfort him.

"I've never seen him in his human form. Even when he's in the castle, he stays in dragon form. Nadia's always complaining that he takes up too much room."

Alfie's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Your elder lets him shift indoors?"

"Well… yes. If he wants to be in his dragon form, why shouldn't he be?"

"I don't know, it's just I thought we weren't meant to do that. My father never let anyone shift indoors, so I thought it wasn't allowed anywhere."

Cuthbert said, "I can tell you about uasal customs, if you like. We've got some texts on them. We don't know as much as we do about curaidh customs, obviously, but we know a bit."

Alfie tried to smile and said, "Yeah, thanks, that would be great," but he glanced over my shoulder into the distance again. It really was bothering him that there was someone he hadn't met.

"Matty was here for weeks before he even met Daniel, weren't you, Matty? "

Matty was still standing there with his arms folded and a scowl on his face. He grunted.

"See," I said to Alfie, as though that grunt had been an actual answer. I was going to have to tell Matty off for that later, but not now. I didn't want to do it in front of strangers. Besides, I knew he was only there to keep me safe, which was incredibly sweet of him, even if it was entirely unnecessary.

Blaze sidled up to his mate and pressed his slender body down Alfie's side. He whispered, "He's getting further away, my darling. He's not going to come over and see us."

"I suppose I could ring him, if you wanted me to. He has his phone strapped to his ankle so he'll have it with him."

Alfie actually considered it. In the end, he said, "No, that's not necessary. Thank you for offering, though."

I smiled at him. "You can always change your mind. Do your scales feel different from silver dragon scales?"

Alfie blinked at me. "Uh, I don't know."

I realised belatedly that it was a sudden change in topic but I'd been curious!

"I was just wondering." Maybe I sounded slightly defensive but Matty moved closer to me and Alfie blinked again.

"Uh, I suppose we can check?"

I lit up. "Can we?"

Cuthbert chuckled. "I knew you'd ask about his scales."

"I'm only curious," I mumbled.

He pressed a kiss to my cheek and smiled at me with those dimples fully on display. He couldn't be mad at me if he was smiling like that. His whole face was glowing with happiness and his smile made me want to press my lips to his and never part.

"I know you are. As long as Alfie doesn't mind shifting for us, we'll take a look and you can ask as many questions as you like."

I almost vibrated out of my own skin with excitement. I was going to see a golden dragon. I'd get to identify any ways they differed from silver dragons. It was utterly fascinating!