I motion for him to sit. “They won’t accept it. They can’t. The doctors would know and—”
“They’re iron-crafters,” James finishes for me. “Damn it.” After another beat of silence, he jolts. “What about gold? If you could make that…” He breathes like I’ve been breathing, like the weight of the world rests between us.
“I…” I should tell him. That I don’t plan on doing it ever again, but there is someone who has tasted gold this century. Him. “They’ll run into the same problem, only worse. Plus, we shouldn’t take any from Nity and the babies. Not when we don’t know how much they’ll need.”
James nods. “Okay. Then what about if they saw my doctor? If I recommend Shelly, I think Dr. Burke will at least prescribe her silver.”
I know Dr. Burke from the racing tracks. He’s the kind, handsome doctor always standing by at the medical tent. When an accident occurs, he’s who I bring them to. He’s who I brought James to. “You think he’d give iron-crafters silver?”
“I do,” James says, inflating me with hope.
“Then please. Make the introductions. Thank you, James.”
My heart pounds like it’s in trouble. Never once have I considered that James Murphy might care about others as much as I do. But James is different than I expected in almost every way.
His masks have fallen.You see all of me, he’d said.
I think… I think I’m starting to like what’s underneath.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREEWHEN DEVELOPING A CRUSH
FARREN
Ihave a big problem. I think I actually, truly, like James. As in, a crush, attraction. Two things I thought I was broken for never feeling before. Well, now I’m like a broken dam, a flood of emotions anytime he’s near.
For the next two weeks, James and I study together and spend our time with dragons. We soak in the sun with Skidders, feed the Rhinoridges, fly Hort and the other Sprinters. But mostly we live in the cave with Nity and her babies whenever we can. And every moment it grows harder to not like him.
I’m realizing I only hated what I thought James represented. I hated how quiet and uninterested he always seemed. I read it as uncaring, as a bystander to the brutality of how our society treats dragons. Yet, he isn’t uncaring in the slightest. I’ve seen it in the way he spread his arms in the barn, worried Hort didn’t have enough room. I’ve felt it in the way he covered my ears when Hendrix was descaled. I’ve heard it in the way he whispers sweet words of affirmation to Nity’s hatchlings when he thinks no one’s paying attention.
It’s like once I noticed what a good person he is, my eyes refocused and Icould see how attractive he really is. I mean, yes, the hair, the shoulders, the dimples. It all works. But now, it all works for me.
I’m not the only one with a crush though. Oria has only grown fonder of James, currently curled in his arms like a baby. Nity naps in the corner, tired from producing gold for her hatchlings. There are patches in her metal coat now, always shedding to keep an ample supply of gold. Hort pounces on puddles by the entrance of the cave with Zilar and Electrum in tow. We introduced him to the hatchlings to help with socialization and he quickly became big brother and bad influence. It’s so adorably ridiculous, especially as Hort splashes Zilar in the face and the baby ruffles his blue scales in dismay.
“They’re so—” I turn to James and catch him kissing Oria’s forehead. My words stall and my lungs hitch. Before I can stop myself, I imagine that’s my forehead. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be a dragon more. Then I fantasize his lips drift lower and I replay when I gave him mouth-to-mouth after his fall. I mean, I know something is wrong with me, because that’s sick. I let my head fall into my hands and try to will away the blush from my cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” James asks.
I keep telling myself I’m envious that Oria seems so infatuated with James, and only James, but deep down I know the truth. “I’m jealous,” I admit meekly.
He laughs before shifting toward me.
I look up just as James extends the cradled Oria. His face is close, way too close. He asks me something, but I’m too busy relearning how to breathe to hear.
“What?” I whisper.
“Want her?”
Want. I want…
Electrum chooses that moment to jump on James’s legs and wake up Oria. Zilar pops in between us and it becomes a climb-all-over-James game.
I’ve cracked. That’s the only thing that can explain this feverish desire to join them toppling James to the ground. When the boys can’t displaceOria from James’s chest, they run to me. Electrum hops across my lap like a game of leapfrog.
“I’m like leftovers to them. They are settling for me,” I complain.
James stares up from the ground and laughs. “I’ve tried to convince you how likeable I am. Glad you are starting to figure it out.”
He has no idea.I turn away as if in exasperation, but really, it’s to conceal my blush again. I think in the last two weeks I’ve discovered what bashfulness feels like and I’m not a fan.
