Chapter Four

Tritus

The Star Room Council sent out my replacement almost immediately. I was one of two unmated guides before Casimir strolled into the Star Room with the delivery from Castor. Now, I wasn’t unmated. At least, I wouldn’t be for long. Right? I wouldn’t be for long now? I bit my lip and tried not to smell unsettled.

“What’s eating you?” Roary asked.

They were tall with dark hair that fell to a blunt edge at their chin. Today, like most of Starscale 1, they were shirtless and showing off the line of scales that marked where their surgery scars once lived. That was another great thing about being a dragon. Most of the time, our scars decorated themselves if they didn’t disappear completely. Roary’s star-shaped scale was maroon in stark contrast to the silver scales that lined their scar lines.

“Not my mate,” I said, deflecting their question.

Roary and I attended guide school together. We’d known each other before that because, despite the flight being spread across three worlds, there weren’t many teenagers who wanted to be guides but most guides knew they wanted to follow the path before they ever finished high school.

“Is there a word for that? Hangry is being mad because you’re hungry. What’s the word for being mad because you’re horny?” they asked.

“Sexually frustrated,” I offered up.

“Not as catchy, huh? What’s up with the Moony? He’s not here? Or did he spray himself down? I guess it could’ve been Nettie that came out but it’s me and I’m mated and an alpha. So he doesn’t need to worry about me skittering off. Did he go to tell the other Moonys?” they asked. “It is he/him, right? I mean, assuming is usually right with Moonys but you know what they say about assuming.”

“As far as I know,” I nodded. “He’s like a padlocked diary.”

“Then do what my megalomanic mother did and pry the edges apart. Then you can hold it up to your eyeball and try to steal his secrets,” Roary said as they rounded the desk and settled into the seat behind it.

“Didn’t you booby trap it with squid ink that one time in middle school?” I asked.

“Yep. But you’re not a megalomaniac. You’re not worried about what’s going on inside his head and how it’ll affect your reputation.”

Sometimes it was easy to forget not every member of the flight was created equally in the one-for-all attitude department. Sure, she came around over the decades but Roary would never be close with her. I wouldn’t either and she tried when she figured out we were friends in high school.

“What’s Breezie and the kids up to today?” I asked about their family.

“We were out on the water but don’t worry they’re still hanging out at the beach. Won’t be able to pull a day like this off again until next summer.”

“Sorry,” I bit my lip.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you’re bumming off work. You met him. You met the one. I expected you to already be gone or perhaps to walk in on your christening the desk. Why do you think I stomped so much coming down the corridor? Wanted to give you a head’s up in case the magic let you be shy,” they chuckled.

“He asked me to the ball,” I said and bit my lip again.

“Maybe he had something to take care of. Which Moony is it? Is it the diplomat? I’ve heard he’s a hot head.”

“No, thankfully and you know it can’t be Sunny. You were here with me the last time he came in with Fred and Elio.”

“OH! It has to be the hot broody one, then, right?” they asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Tons of emphasis on the broody.”

“Someone’s broken that one’s heart and you’re the lucky one who gets to put it back together. He’s probably telling his egg mama and all them that he’s gonna be gone for a while.”

“Egg mama. Is that how they say it now?” I arched a brow.

“One of my teens used it the other day. I told her not to and now here I am,” they shrugged. “It’s catchy.”

“Let’s hope it’s not that catchy,” I managed a laugh. “If anyone calls me ---”

“You’d be an egg daddy.”

“That sounds--- like it belongs in a kink club.”

“Baby, it does,” they laughed. “You’re so innocent. Ever heard of a breeding kink?”

“Uhhhh…. Were you and Breezie planning on going to the ball?” I changed the subject.

Breeding kink. My dragon liked how that sounded a little too much.

Breeding kink. He might go along with it as long as it was Casimir doing the breeding.

“No. We’ll be out tomorrow night gathering candy eggs with the kids. Tonight, we’re going to get all the sleep we can. You should nap today if you can. I mean, if you’re not going to see tall, hot, and broody until tonight --- sleep while you can.”

I blushed and turned away to glance at the calendar behind the desk. That was how it was supposed to work, right? I wasn’t supposed to sleep tonight. Maybe not tomorrow night either. Casimir and I were supposed to be awake until we collapsed from sexual exhaustion, still hungry for more of each other. My insides were filled with the sinking suspicion that wouldn’t be how tonight went for me.

“That bad?”

“What did he say to make you feel so out of sorts in the bad way?” Roary asked.

“It’s more what he didn’t. What he didn’t do,” I sighed. “Are you sure you all can cover my shifts? I mean, I might not even need the time off.”

“No, I’m going to tell the council to give you more time off than normal. If you two have all this shit to work out, you still deserve time for a mating moon.”

“Hard to work stuff out when he won’t tell me anything.”

“The claiming vows will do that part,” Roary shrugged as I turned away from the calendar. “Everyone reacts differently when they meet their mate. It’s always weird. When I first met Breezie I was one million percent convinced she was going to be a batty dictator like my mother and I’d have to sneak out in the middle of the night and move to Starscale 2 and become a gladiator.”

“That’s trauma,” I frowned at them.

“That’s my mother for you,” they shrugged. “Still, it’s a weird fucking reaction. I’d transitioned decades before and here was this beautiful woman who I was sure was going to be the death of me if she couldn’t see me.”

“She did, though,” I reminded them.

“Of course, she did. She’s my true-mate. That’s how I know tall, hot, and broody will come around too. For all you know his mother was like mine or his dad or uncle or someone. Maybe an ex. Maybe --- maybe anything, Trit. Really. Go home. Get ready for the ball. Don’t lose your slipper or anything and it’ll be okay. If it doesn’t go one hundred percent your way tonight you’re not going to turn into a pumpkin.”

“No. I’m gonna melt like an ice cube.”

“Well, at least then, someone might lick you,” they teased.”

“Fuck you.”

“Not me, friend,” they shook their head. “I’m mated off. Happily mated off.”