“I’m afraid that I’ll try to shift and nothing will happen,” Emory confessed.“I know it’s stupid.My dragon’s back for good, and I won’t ever let anyone with magic bond with me again.No one will be able to take my dragon from me a second time.”
“It’s not stupid,” Graham said as he pulled his feet up onto the bench and wrapped his arms around his knees.“You spent decades stuck in your human form.It actually makes sense that sometimes, you’re afraid to shift because it might happen again.You haven’t had your dragon back for long.I’m sure you’ll get used to it soon.”
“Will you fly with me when I do?”
Graham blinked.“You want me to fly with you?”
“Wouldn’t you want to?”Emory was surprised to realize that he meant it.He did want to go fly with Graham.Graham wasn’t a dragon, so he could never fully experience what shifting and flying meant, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fly at all.If they ever flew together, Emory would make sure that Graham had fun.He deserved that.He deserved many things, even though he didn’t act like he thought he did.
Graham looked up at the sky.“I don’t think I’m meant to be up there.”
“Everyone’s meant to be up there.”
“I would have wings if I was, wouldn’t I?Or I would be a mage who has a dragon.But even though Carlyle was my ancestor, I didn’t get one drop of magic.Simon didn’t, either.”
“You having magic or not doesn’t matter.”In fact, him not having magic made it easier for Emory.It meant that he didn’t have to be afraid that Graham would hurt him the way Carlyle had.Emory could relax.
“I think the closest I should come to flying is going on a plane.You don’t have to offer that to me to make me feel better.”
Graham always did that.He always found excuses for people when they offered him things.He probably believed them, too.
He believed that Emory was offering because he felt he owed him.He believed that the mages and the dragons had told him to stay at the castle because he’d saved Emory’s life, not because they liked him and wanted to help him.Tyne hadn’t made that any easier on him, but Emory hated that Graham felt that way.
Had anyone ever done something for him just because they could?Emory knew that Graham didn’t have a family, but he’d had his brother until recently.What kind of man had Simon been?
Well, he’d been the kind of man who worked with Carlyle, so maybe Emory shouldn’t be surprised.He wanted Graham to understand that he wasn’t offering because he felt obligated, though.“I’m not offering to make you feel better,” he told Graham.“I’m offering because I miss flying with someone, because I think you’ll like it.Being there, flying, it makes you feel free.I feel like maybe you need to feel like that for a little while.”
“Iamfree already.”
“Now you’re the one who’s playing stupid.You know what I mean.”
Graham hesitated, then shrugged.“Maybe I do.Maybe I’m just not sure I should accept the offer.”
“If you don’t want to, it’s fine, but I wouldn’t be offering if I didn’t want to do it.”
“I don’t understand why me of all people.”
“Well, for one, there’s no one else to ask.Everyone here has a dragon to fly with.”
“You could ask Matthias or Thorne,” Graham pointed out.
Neither of those men had a dragon.In fact, neither of them were a mage.Matthias was Parker’s human best friend, while Thorne was the man in charge of keeping everything in the castle as it should be.Both of them were nice, but Emory didn’t want to fly with them.He wanted to fly with Graham.
He wasn’t sure it made sense, so he didn’t think he could explain.Would Graham even accept an explanation?
Maybe.He seemed curious to know more about Emory.He seemed generally interested in what Emory had to say, and today, he’d actually come out to talk to him.That wasn’t something that had happened before.Graham was finally getting out of his shell, and Emory wanted to see more of that.He wanted to see Graham in the air, with the wind messing up his hair and a smile on his face.Flying made everyone smile.
“I don’t want to ask Matthias or Thorne,” Emory said.“I’m askingyou.You don’t have to say yes if you’re uncomfortable with the idea, but don’t say no just because you think I don’t actually want to do it.Like I said before, I wouldn’t be offering if I didn’t.I want to fly, and I want to fly with you.”
Graham stared at Emory for a long moment.Emory stared back, enjoying the view.Graham was a pretty man.It had been a long time since Emory had felt that kind of way for anyone, or rather, since he’d allowed himself to feel that kind of way.
Graham’s hair was dark and shaggy.He looked like he needed a haircut, but Emory quite liked how soft his messy hair made his face look.It made him want to pull Graham into his arms and comfort him, even though right now, there wasn’t a reason for him to do that.
Graham’s blue eyes were a striking contrast with his dark hair, but Graham didn’t like that they always looked wary, like Graham expected something to go wrong at any moment.Emory understood why Graham felt that way, but he wished he could change it.
“Maybe I’ll say yes,” Graham eventually said.
It was a maybe, which wasn’t as good as a yes, but it was better than a no.Emory was satisfied with that.He knew he’d wear Graham down.He was pretty sure that Graham had a crush on him, so it shouldn’t take much more than him batting his lashes at the man.