Thatwould be the sticking point, he realized as soon as he had the thought. It made perfect sense to him for their souls to be linked; but for all his affection for Ruan, he would not be surprised if the stubborn human was entirely resistant to the idea, at least at first. Humans always surprised him with how opinionated they were over things that seemed like simple matters. And it would require broaching the topic of fated mates first... Something about that eventual conversation made him nervous, too.
That would be a problem for the future, though. For now, he had the ritual that would eventually bind their souls together, and he was glad for it.
For Amaranthe, he decided on a tome describing the nature of enchantment, which included a spell that would manipulate a subject’s opinion of someone, or something, for well over an hour. It was a relatively strong enchantment that could be used for a variety of purposes, while remaining innocuous enough that Adrissu didn’t think that his elder mother could somehow use it against him to some particularly unwelcome advantage. Flying back and forth between Polimnos and Gennemont again was tiresome; by the time he’d returned home to Saltspire Tower once again, he thought that he’d had his fill of flying for the next several months at least.
He only had a few days until Ruan was set to return. He was tempted to leave and try to find the ingredients and components that he didn’t already have on-hand; but to retrieve some he knew would be a journey all its own, and the last thing he wanted was to be gone when Ruan returned. For now, there was no rush, so he resolved to wait until another job took Ruan away for an extended length of time. Now that he allowed himself tofeelwhat he actually felt toward Ruan, he could admit, at least to himself, that he missed the human.
When Ruan did arrive, pushing open the door of the tower without knocking, it was like he brought the sun with him.
“Hello, darling!” he shouted as he stepped inside. Adrissu could not stifle a laugh as he stepped to the landing to watch Vesper rush up to him, excitement emanating from her. “Oh, yes, you’re exactly who I was talking to. Hello, girl.” Only when the snake was happily wrapped around his shoulders did he look up, tired but grinning at Adrissu, who watched him from the stairs. “Hello to you, too.”
“Welcome back,” Adrissu said primly, though he did not try to hide the amusement on his face, nor his relief at seeing Ruan returned whole and healthy. Ruan watched him with a warm smile as he descended the stairs. “I take it the job went well?”
“Boring, so yes, it went well,” Ruan laughed, reaching for him. “I missed you.”
Adrissu’s heart swelled as they embraced. He would deal with dragons and all their ridiculous expectations every day if it meant keeping Ruan close to him.
“As have I,” he murmured, feeling Ruan’s hair tickling his chin.
“You’re in a good mood,” Ruan said. He grinned up at Adrissu. “You’re really happy to see me, aren’t you?”
“Of course,” he replied primly, stepping away. His smile faltered as he thought of everything he had to tell Ruan. “I had a... productive few weeks, to be sure.”
“Is that so?” Ruan replied, already sounding distracted, as Vesper bumped her head against his cheek.
“Yes. I’d hoped to... to talk with you about a few things, but it can wait,” Adrissu continued. Ruan glanced up at him suspiciously.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“Just that I wanted to talk to you when I’ll have your full attention. No distractions,” Adrissu said. For a moment they only stared at each other, then Ruan smirked.
“No distractions, huh?” he said, heat filling his gaze as he stepped toward Adrissu.
“No distractions,” he murmured, allowing Ruan to begin disrobing him.
When they were sated, they lay together quietly for a long moment, sunlight streaming through the window across their bare bodies. Adrissu watched him, eyes trailing along the beams of sunlight that illuminated stripes of his bronze skin, lingering where the locks of his auburn hair still plastered to his skin with sweat. Everything about him was drenched in sunlight.
Noticing his attention, Ruan grinned a sleepy smile and propped himself up on his elbows to look down on Adrissu.
“What did you want to talk about?” he asked. Adrissu managed only a tight smile in return.
“I think I’d like some wine first,” he sighed. As he began to get dressed, he could feel Ruan’s eyes linger on him with curiosity; but after a moment, the human moved to get out of bed as well.
Finally, when he had his wine in hand, and they were standing across from each other in Adrissu’s modest kitchen, he swirled the glass nervously and forced himself to speak.
“I have recently made some... discoveries that I would like to share with you,” Adrissu said. Ruan’s eyebrows raised over his own wine glass, but he gestured for the dragon to continue.
“When we are together,” Adrissu started, only to trail off, his face burning red. Why was it so difficult to say aloud? “When I... look at you, it’s as if—as if the very air around you bends inward and pulls me toward you. Like I couldn’t pull away from you, even if I wanted to.”
Ruan blinked dumbly at him, then pressed a hand over the grin spreading across his face.
“I didn’t realize you had such a flair for the dramatic,” he chuckled. Adrissu stifled his own grin, trying to retain his serious expression.
“But you feel it too, right?” he pressed, leaning closer to Ruan. “How drawn we are to each other?”
“I mean—of course I do,” Ruan said, still laughing.
“I felt it the first time I saw you,” Adrissu sighed, leaning back. “Even then, I suspected, but... Well. Ruan, there is something I thought was just a myth amongst dragons: that some souls are inexorably linked together by forces beyond even our understanding. We call them fated mates, or a fated pair. I did not think it could happen with a non-dragon—I did not think it could happen at all. But now I think that is what we are. Fated.”
