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13
“Oh, hey, Braxton,” Imogen greeted when I entered the Dragon daycare. “Have you come to getanotherDragon?” Her lips curved into a sassy smile, and I chuckled.
“No. I thought I would visit the bronze baby, since I haven’t been able to see him for a few days. Is it okay if I stay here for a bit?”
“Of course, I’d love some company.” Taking an artic white one that sat on her head, she held him in her arms instead. “They all love my crazy hair. I think it reminds them of a nest or something.” Her red curls bounced freely down her back as she shook her head. “It’s impossible to keep them off me.”
“That’s because they love you.” I grinned, glancing at the baby in her arms. “Wow, I had no idea there were white Dragons too?” I admitted, reaching for him to scratch his little nose. He sneezed when I did, a puff of visibly cold air exuding from his lips.
“She’s an Ice Dragon.”
“We have Ice Dragons?!” I also realized Imogen had saidshe.It was a baby girl.
“Yep. Only one inside the kingdom though. But she’s not a legion Dragon, just a protector. She helps us with things we need and we in turn take care of her.” She lifted the girl in her arms. “And her baby.”
“Why isn’t she part of the legion? No rider?”
Imogen shook her head again. “Not really. Her kind are just very peaceful creatures.”
“Because they like to chill?” I snorted at my own joke, but the ex-warrior only gave me a perplexed expression. “Never mind.”
Something bumped into my leg then, and I looked down to see my bronze baby. Damn, he had grown in the time I hadn’t seen him. He was now as big as a fully grown golden retriever. He jumped happily at seeing me again, and that brought a smile to my face. At least someone was happy to see me today.
“Hey, buddy, I missed you.” Kneeling, I reached for him, scratching the top of his head, but had to pull my hand away abruptly.
“Careful with the horns,” Imogen warned knowingly.
“Holy hell, they are sharp.”
Small laughter escaped her. “And getting bigger.”
The bronze baby nuzzled my hand, looking for my caress again, so I stroked his neck and chest instead. “You are getting powerful, huh? Sharp horns, sharp teeth…” My voice drifted when I opened his mouth to check them. They were bigger, like a row of fangs.
“Have you thought of a name yet?”
With a shake of my head, I regarded Imogen while she sat beside me, deciding to sit down too. “Honestly, I kind of don’t want to call him anything other than bronze. But that makes a weird name, doesn’t it?”
Her shoulders rose and fell as she considered it. “You could call him bronze in the ancient tongue.”
Huh… I could. I tried to remember the word in Latin, Penelope had been helping me practice the language. “Aremen?” I asked, not sure I was pronouncing it well.
“Aeramen,” she corrected, enunciating it carefully for me to learn.
“Aeramen,” I repeated, grateful for her help.
“It is a shame the old tongue has been lost. It’s so beautiful,” she admitted, and I had to agree. Latin was beautiful.
Focusing on my bronze baby, I stroked his wings. “What do you think? Do you like it, Aeramen?” My eyes suddenly widened when I heard it again. “Hey, that sounds like Iron Man!”
“Like what?”
“Nothing.”
Aeramen licked my cheek excitedly, and Imogen and I laughed. “He likes it,” she confirmed.
Setting the Ice Dragon she carried on the ground, we watched Aeramen turn to play with a few other babies who were as big as him now. The ice baby rushed to the waterfall with the other younglings. The section around her froze the second she jumped in the pool of water, and she floated on it like an iceberg.
“So, why are you really here?”
