Page 54
I love you.
Harden gave everyone a smile. “I have ale and sandwiches. You all have earned it.”
“When did you make sandwiches?” He hadn’t been on patrol that long, and Harden had been out working by the time he’d left.
Harden rolled his eyes, so dramatic. “Make sandwiches? I traded for them. They all came made. They’re quite lovely.
“Ah, you took something to the tavern.”
Harden laughed for him, the sound hearty. “I didn’t even have to take it. I arranged for one of their young kitchen workers to come this morning and pick it up, so I could have the sandwiches delivered. You taught me that by telling me about DoorDash.”
Brayden had to grin at that. Food delivery services and grocery delivery services had been a great fascination for Hayden.
“Hey, I’m glad I could be good for something.”
“Got to admit I’m jealous about that. We never got to do anything along those lines,” Samuel told them. “Although we did have the Calhouns. They delivered pretty much anything we needed.”
“You hear much from the folks on the other side? I know the fae lady comes to the guardian house and gives news.”
“Arian,” Samuel agreed. “She sends messages to Zeke every so often. Once she even went to Cosmo and Cullen and Corbin’s closed patio and had a discussion with him. I know he misses her advice.”
Brayden got that. Although most of the dragons he had gone to for advice had crossed the veil so he could see them. He did miss Myk’s brothers. They’d gotten killed by vampires, and they’d been friends of his.
He was grateful to still have Myk around, to be sure. Although Myk and Tyson seemed to be incredibly busy having babies.
Myk grew things — plants and babies — beautifully.
Sebby laughed. “They do that in the city, Papa. You can buy any kind of food you want, and a lot of food that you don’t want. Some of it was really cool, especially some of the fruits and vegetables. It was almost worth going just for that, to see all the different dragons.”
Brayden grinned, loving the excitement in Sebby’s eyes. “Did you meet a lot of dragons?”
Seb’s eyes went wide. “There are dragons from the north who are fierce and big, like hulking dragons, and I’m pretty big. There are the dragons from the south, the deserts, and they’re almost just like these sinkholes of magic, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They say the ground there shoots fire up like volcanoes. There are some mountain dragons who were like us, very much like us. I think that’s probably where we came from, Papa. They reminded me very much of Zeke.”
Seb learned to talk quickly while he was away, Brayden noted.
Harden answered with a near invisible nod of his head. Can you imagine, all those students and trying to get a word in edge-wise?
I can’t. I imagine the whole thing was quite overwhelming for him, and I can’t decide if I’m proud or I feel awful for him having to go.
No one forced him to go. That’s obvious. Harden waved to everyone. “Come let’s eat.” He wanted to learn things. He wanted to see, and I think deep down he wanted to protect Arielle.
Which is an odd thought, isn’t it? Brayden had met Arielle. She was the fiercest of the children. She’s a firecracker, totally invincible.
I don’t think, though, that Sebby believes she is. Honestly, I think that he understands Arielle better than any of us.
Privately he thought Harden had a huge soft spot for the young alpha, because he was an animal whisperer too, as was Samuel.
There was going to be a strong friendship built there.
But maybe Harden was right. Maybe because Sebby had grown up with Arielle in a lot of ways, even though they hadn’t lived in the same homestead for very long, he did get it. They were both firstborn. They were both alphas, and they butted heads constantly, so they had a lot in common.
They both had the pressure of carrying on their particular line of dragons.
Brayden had never felt that. I wondered if Sloan did, but his brother had never talked about it if that was the case.
He brought up the rear, waiting until everyone else had washed up before he plunged his hands into the soapy water and scrubbed the feel of wool off of his hands and forearms. He understood where lanolin came from now because it felt just a little bit greasy.
He was shocked at the amazing spread that Harden had laid out for them. Not only were there sandwiches, there was fruit and vegetables and dip and absolutely ale.
