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For a moment more, he hesitated, then he smirked, as if unable to stop himself. “Okay.”
He shifted sideways on the bench to accommodate her.
“Sit down, I won’t throw out any flames, promise. I only do that when I’m wasted.”
Min sat next to him on the marble bench, and he flicked the pad open.
The page was filled with sketches of dragons with beautiful swirling wings and tails, and goblins and orcs and beautiful elves and swords and amulets. The pencil images were drawn with expert precision.
Min gasped. “These are amazing, Beau. Are they prep for a painting?”
“Nah, it’s for a game me and some mates are designing. I’m creating the characters and all the graphics. My friend Tom is a programmer. We reckon it’ll be a hit.”
“What’s it about?”
“Basically, the humans and the dragons fight, usually to the death. But there’s ways to tame a dragon, see, and the humans have to go through a number of tests to earn the dragon’s trust. And there are other monsters who will get in the way, to thwart both humans and dragons. We’re aiming to sell it on the human market; we reckon the time is right now that we’re trading with humans more. Besides, humans have money to spend on gaming, a lot more than monsters do, that’s for sure.”
“I love the concept. Where did you get the idea?”
He shrugged. “Dunno. Just came to us.” She sensed him side-eyeing her. “Do you know the rumors about dragons and humans?—”
“I’ve read a little about it. There’s not much information around. Your brother said…” she hesitated, and Beau took up where she’d left off.
“That dragons burnt all their books so humans couldn’t steal their magic.” He shrugged. “We’re all told that as dragonlings. Apparently, humans are responsible for us getting stuck like this.” He moved his legs restlessly in his leather pants. “Twilight dragons. That’s what they call us around Motham. We’re a complete fucking mess, if you want the truth. That’s why I like drawing the dragons of old—real dragons, you know, who could conquer the world and inspire fear, not fuckin’ ridicule. This,” he swept a hand over a spectacular drawing of a fire-breathing dragon, “is what I really want to do, not study aviation.”
“Why don’t you tell Ethan that?”
“You’ve got to be kidding. He’d torch all my drawings. Erase all the files I’ve been working on off my computer.”
“Maybe I could talk to him sometime.”
Beau gave her the side-eye again. “Why would you do that?”
“I guess I know a little of what it’s like for someone to have a passion others don’t support.” She hesitated, and sensed Beau was listening intently. “My dad, when he was young—his family tried to force him to go into the military, because that’s what Westwinds had always done, but he was quiet and shy and loved books, and he was fascinated by humans’ interactions with monsters.” She smiled softly, sadly. “He wouldn’t have survived five minutes in the military. For a start, he was completely myopic. I take after him, I guess, neither of us can see an inch in front of our noses without glasses.”
“Was?” Beau said. “Is he dead like our dad?”
“Yes, he was killed in a car accident last year.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah, it does.”
“Sorry, I won’t talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“It’s okay, it’s just, it was only me and him. My mom died when I was a baby, and I have no siblings so…” She pulled herself together. “Anyway, what I was trying to say was, Dad hated the idea of going into the military. So he ran away, over the mountains, and studied monster history at university. For a while his family disowned him, but then eventually, when my grandmother got sick, they made peace to some extent. Enough for him to have contact with his parents before they died. He was their only child. And while they never approved of Dad’s choices, in the end they accepted it was the right path for him.”
Beau looked at her properly now, his golden eyes studying her thoughtfully. “Your dad must have passed on his love of monsters to you.”
“Yes, he did.”
“Which is why you’re dating a dragon, I guess. And my bro is clearly mad about you.”
Min’s heart beat a little faster. “What makes you say that?”
“He’s asked you to move in, hasn’t he? He’s never got close to doing that with any other girlfriend.”
Min fidgeted. Was it having to live a lie, or the mention of Ethan’s previous girlfriends that made her uncomfortable?
