Chapter 15

CHAPTER15

Opal didn’t care that he got soaked going through the waterfall. He didn’t care that he tore his skirt. He didn’t care that his shoes were getting muddy.

None of it mattered.

His eyes blurred with tears, and when he reached a wider portion of the trail, he transformed into his dragon form and took off, roaring in pain.

Flocks of birds scattered, and he heard an answering cry from some wyverns. It would serve them right if he swooped down on their nests and tore them apart.

Opal kept flying though. He had to get out of here, away from Tristan, away from the heartbreak.

It wasn’t fair. Tristan had been about to confess his love! What did it matter that Opal had two cocks and horns and could fly? Opal wasn’t holding the whole dragon-hunting thing against him. They were meant to be together.

They had to be meant for each other.

Opal kept flying, going higher and higher, until the cold air chilled him and turned his wings stiff. If he kept going past the clouds, maybe ice would form on his wings.

He dove down before he reached the clouds and roared again when the warmer air washed over him and caused his joints to ache and prickle.

Opal didn’t know what to do. He had half a mind to find a city and destroy it, just like his brother had, but that felt like an answer, an end.

So he kept flying and flying, until he landed in his den in the northern mountain ranges, and he snuggled underneath the large, dragon-sized blankets in front of the firepit.

Opal slept.

He could easily have slept for a few months, wallowing in his misery, but Opal wasn’t sad and pathetic like that. After sobbing for a few hours, he found his favorite book and lost himself in its pages, reading the joyful tale of Guinevere and Sarazi.

This was the version Opal had written himself, where he’d changed the ending so that Sarazi remained a dragon. His brother Alabaster had helped him with the sex scenes, on account of Opal having very little experience with female dragons or humans.

Opal’s tears splattered onto the page and smeared the ink. He wanted to let them wash out all of the text, but he had enough sense to know he’d regret it later. He set the story aside and flopped down onto his side, wallowing some more.

If only he could turn off the feelings. If only he could enjoy carnal pleasure without wanting all the whirlwind emotions attached.

Alabaster would know how to deal with all this. Alabaster didn’t get tangled up in feelings. He just had lots of fun all the time. And he wouldn’t tell Opal to give up like Sapphire had.

With a huff of determination, Opal wiped away his tears, packed his things, then took off again toward his brother’s den.

Tristan didn’t know what he was missing, refusing to deal with dragons. They could have flown straight to his stupid sword, and probably found the dragon his brother had attempted to steal from—and that had been a stupid move. Opal couldn’t even blame the dragon. Opal would have done the same. Even Tristan would have done the same. A person had the right to defend their own home.

It was late afternoon by the time Opal arrived at Alabaster’s den, hidden inside a ring of mountains with a large hot spring in the center.

Alabaster was lounging in the hot spring, his head and tail the only parts of him not submerged.

“Alabaster,” Opal greeted, landing just next to his snout.

Alabaster opened one of his gray eyes. “Opal. What brings you here?”

Opal bumped his horns against Alabaster’s in greeting, magic tingling comfortably between them, then eyed the hot spring. “Is there space for both of us in there?” A hot bath sounded like a good way to wash away the tears, if not the hurt.

“No.” Alabaster rolled around, sending some of the water splashing over the sides. “Didn’t we just see each other? At Jade’s wedding. You can’t possibly be missing me already.”

“We did,” Opal agreed, huffing in annoyance. “Jade’s wedding is one of the reasons I’m here! Or, Jade in general. Because if it weren’t for him… no, wait. It’s not really Jade’s fault, it’s some other dragon’s fault, and maybe you know them, but it doesn’t matter if you do, because—”

“Opal,” Alabaster admonished. “Get to the point.” He closed his eyes again and made a low rumbling sound that could easily be mistaken for rocks shifting.

Opal sighed and rested his head against the warm stone. “I fell in love.”

“That’s nice for you. Congrats. Please don’t get married already, because I know you’ll want me there but I am pretty sure I’m all full on my family quota for the year.” Alabaster’s tail twitched against the rock on the other side of the hot spring, as if trying to show Opal just how annoyed he was.

“That’s why I’m here and not anywhere else. I already bothered Citrine and Mother, and Mother’s advice was wrong, so I need better advice.” Opal blew a soft flame at the back of Alabaster’s head, but Alabaster ignored it.

“Citrine gave bad advice? Did you ask her cats? They’re pretty dumb, but sometimes they’re more insightful than she is.”

“No, her cats were busy being just as sad and jealous as I was. Anyway, the point is that Mother wanted me to be honest with my one true love and tell him I was a dragon—”

“How did he not know you were a dragon?” Alabaster interrupted, craning his neck to give Opal a confused look.

Opal ignored that and continued, “—but now that he’s found out, he hates me. Because he hates dragons. The sex was great though, and he was about to confess his love, so I just need to know what to do so he realizes he was being a big dummy and comes back to sweep me off my feet again.”

Okay, that was the opposite of finding out how to not have feelings, but Opal didn’t actually want to give up on love.

Alabaster let out a very long, annoyed whine. “Opal, I don’t do love. You know I don’t do love. If you want advice on how to rail somebody hard, if you need to know how to stuff three rods into one hole, if you want to know where clits are—right in front of your nose, usually— yes, sure, I’m your dragon. But I don’t care about all the emotional crap.”

Opal sighed. He dipped his tail into the lovely hot water and grumbled, “That’s why I thought you’d be helpful. Because all the people who do do emotions have been unhelpful. Did I mention that Tristan hates dragons? It’s a bit of a snag.”

All of Tristan’s accusations came back to him. Monster. Murderer. Everything that people tended to throw at Opal, even when he wasn’t doing anything more than sitting in his den reading.

“So eat him?” Alabaster suggested. “Find a human that has a kink for dragons instead. There are more of them than you’d think.”

Opal lashed his tail in irritation, splashing the hot spring water. “No, eating humans is what started this mess in the first place! Keep up, Alabaster. I need some… grand gesture. Like in the romances. Do you think I could rescue him from something… although I’ve already rescued him several times.”

Alabaster groaned again. “Opal, please. What do you want? I’ll find you a hot dragon hunter—the kind that wants to fuck, not kill. We can double-team him. Just shut up about your love life, because I don’t care.”

“Maybe if you kidnapped him,” Opal went on. “You’ll have him in your clutches, and I’ll fight you off, proving that I won’t let my species come between our love.”

The water from the hot springs splashed over the sides as Alabaster got out. That meant there was enough space for Opal to finally slip in.

Ahh, the hot water was so nice. Opal should have fucked Tristan in the bathhouse after all. Surely his towel and the steam would have hidden everything.

“No, I didn’t get out of the water so you could get in!” Alabaster complained. He knocked his horns against Opal’s again, but not with enough force to do any harm. “And your plan is stupid. For one, nobody would believe you could possibly defeat me.”

“I could.” Opal looked up at Alabaster, whose white scales shimmered under the moonlight. Sure, Alabaster was the oldest and biggest of his siblings, and he was a good five hundred years older than Opal, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was stronger.

“Opal, you are a baby. And I love you, you are a very dear brother of mine, but I honestly just wanted to relax tonight, and if you don’t shut up and go away, I will show you how you absolutely cannot possibly hope to defeat me.” Alabaster brought one talon down to grip Opal’s horn, using it to force Opal’s head to the ground.

Opal struggled and thrashed, but Alabaster was indeed stronger. Alabaster wasn’t fazed by Opal’s flame either, and after a while Opal gave up, huffing in irritation.

The huffs turned to sobs.

“Alabaster…” Opal whined pitifully. “Why does nobody love me?” He wailed loudly, and more tears spilled out of his eyes.

Alabaster’s eyes widened in panic, and he released Opal’s horn. “Uh. I love you? Mother loves you?”

“That’s not the same!” Opal burst out sobbing, slipping deeper into the hot water and letting his tears mix with the hot spring.

“No, no, Opal…” Alabaster cast his gaze around, like he expected somebody to show up and rescue him from Opal’s tears.

“I was so nice to him! I helped him on his dumb quest! I was gonna stab Jade a few times for him! I’m gonna die old and alone and everybody else is going to have a romance while I turn to stone!”

“No, no, stop…” Alabaster lowered his head to lick Opal’s forehead. “Come on, I’m sure it’s not so bad.”

Opal sniffled some more—and lunged forward, biting down on Alabaster’s neck and dragging him back into the hot spring. Alabaster thrashed, and between the two of their bodies and their wrestling, the hot spring ended up half empty.

“Opal, you fucker!” Alabaster shouted while Opal laughed.

Opal let Alabaster scratch him a few times before settling down again. “See? I could totally beat you.”

“Pfft. Only because I felt sorry for you.” Alabaster sighed and lay down next to Opal. The water barely covered them now. “You ruined my hot spring. And I still don’t know what you want me to do to help you with your dragon-hating lover.”

“I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Like you’d make me forget that I was sad, or you’d come up with some plan that would blow Tristan’s mind…” Opal nuzzled Alabaster’s jaw. “How do you keep fucking people without falling in love? I took one look at Tristan, and he was just… so shining and glowing to me.”

“Nobody’s really grabbed me like that. I like sex, but everything else is tedious. I don’t want to share my den with anyone. My collection of phalluses and sleeves is for my own amusement; my smut caters just to me.” Alabaster draped his wing over Opal. “I can’t give you advice, Opal. I don’t think it’s worth the trouble or the heartache. But if you really want him, do like Jade and chase after him. Figure out a compromise. Or just keep him drugged up and fucked out.”

“He chased me away. He wants to kill me,” Opal whined. “That seems kind of insurmountable.”

“Don’t all your silly stories include insurmountable obstacles? And not just your cocks being too big for his hole.”

Opal snorted at the joke, but his heart warmed too. “Yeah. True love finds a way.”

“And this is definitely true love?” Alabaster asked, voice going high.

The question stopped Opal short. Not because he didn’t know the answer, but because he wanted to think about it carefully.

He knew that whenever he saw Tristan, his heart fluttered. Smelling him made Opal smile, and everything about Tristan made his cocks stir. When he stopped considering Tristan as a dashing knight, but as a man…

Tristan was kind, and he always listened to Opal when he spoke… but he was also a little rough around the edges. He was grieving, and he drank too much, and he was probably lying to himself about a few things.

But Opal lied to himself too, and maybe they needed each other to be more… honest.

As Sapphire had said.

Opal sighed. “I think it is. I called him all sorts of awful things, and he shouted awful things back at me, and I still want to be with him. I want to help him. Not to kill dragons, but maybe… to find peace? I want to comfort him. And yes, I do want to have sex with him.”

Alabaster nodded along. “Which means, you should…?”

“I should talk to him, now that we’ve calmed down. I’ll try to explain myself again, and… I might need to tie him down, and I probably should apologize for lying to him, but I… I really believe, when he isn’t mad, he’ll probably listen to me.” Opal got out of the hot spring and shook the water off. “Okay. Thank you, Alabaster.”

“I did absolutely nothing, and do not tell anyone about this. I don’t want credit for any of this.” Alabaster sank further into the water. “Now get the fuck out, and don’t invite me to any weddings for at least three years.”

Opal nipped at Alabaster’s snout one last time before launching himself into the air.

He’d fix his love life and absolutely invite Alabaster to a wedding within a month.