He couldn’t resist whipping his head back to see Celia’s reaction and was rewarded with her actually rolling her eyes at that one.“You mean the walk that I have been doing by myself every day, every time I come to town for the past two years?”
“Yes, of course,” Uncle Bram said.“I’ve heard there are dragons lurking in the meadow.”
Darian resisted the urge to snort, but the corners of Celia’s mouth twitched.
He nodded seriously.“I think I agree with my uncle.I would feel terrible if something happened to you on your walk, and I could have prevented it simply by being there.”
Celia sighed.“You just want to see the dragons again.Is that it?”
“Is there a problem with that?”Darian asked.“I would think you would be excited to have an interpreter come with you.”
He could barely keep the innocent look on his face, but it was worth it when Celia sighed and said, “Let’s go.”
“Yes, let’s go,” he said, getting to his feet.
His uncles gave each other a high five behind their backs.
“I’m going to go see how the baby dragons are doing today,” Darian told them.
His uncles nodded sagely.“As you should.”
“All three of you are ridiculous,” Celia muttered under her breath.
“Thank you for breakfast,” his uncle said.“Come again soon.”
Celia sighed and made her way to the door.“Coming or not?”she asked, looking back at Darian.
“I’m coming,” he said.He gave his uncles a thumbs up.
His uncles returned the gesture as he made his way to follow her, and Darian tried not to laugh.They were far too obvious.But he had to admit—choosing to follow Celia felt like one of the best decisions he’d made in a long time.
Chapter seven
Celia
Nomatterhowmuchshe wanted to feel annoyed at all the impertinent questions, Celia couldn’t help feeling welcomed as she left the home above the general store and made her way through town.There was something about the shopkeepers that was so friendly and reassuring; no matter how much she wanted them to ignore her, she couldn’t tell them no.
She couldn’t get them out of her mind.It was almost like they were her uncles too.Something about them stripped away all her armor.Even though she was used to retreating, avoiding contact with people, she’d very nearly found herself sharing with them everything that had happened.
Her defenses hadn’t been so low in years.
“I’m sorry for my uncles,” Darian said as he caught up to her with his long legs.“They mean well, but they don’t always know when to stop talking.”
“I know they mean well,” Celia admitted.Something in her chest was threatening to choke her.
She didn’t want that emotion.
She didn’t want any emotion.
She began to walk faster, and Darian easily matched her pace with his confounded long legs.She wanted to outpace him, but to do that, she would have to run—and running was for people who were being chased by a bear.If only she could ride one of her baby dragons and fly far away from him.
But even as she thought that, another part of her thought that she wanted nothing more than to stay with him forever.Where were these thoughts coming from?She had no wish to stay forever with Darian and his uncles.All she wanted was her cottage in the meadow and her dragons.Nothing more.
Certainly not a tall, handsome young man who never stopped talking and had more energy than all of her baby dragons combined.
She had no use for that.
“Breakfast was delicious.Thank you,” Darian said as they made their way to the edge of town and took off into the woods, following the trail.“Where did you learn to cook like that?”
