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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Fiore returned to himself to find Enzo’s face beside him on the pillow, enormous dark eyes gazing into his own with fathomless depths of affection and Enzo’s skillful hand stroking his hair as gentle as a summer zephyr. He could respond with no less than a kiss, which Enzo melted into. And when he broke it, he couldn’t help but marvel at how the sickly pallor seemed cast aside and youthful vigor returned to those scarred and handsome features. Even so, Enzo’s revelations had given him a great deal to ponder.
“So,” Fiore ventured before he could halt his tongue. “Dragons.”
“Dragons,” Enzo affirmed with a brisk nod as though Fiore had said something sensible.
Tales of Halcyon’s founding god had whirled through Fiore’s mind since the first moment Enzo had revealed himself. He supposed he could put his wonderings off no longer and summoned all his courage to enquire, “Have you ever transformed into an enormous bat-winged scaly beast?”
To Fiore’s great good fortune Enzo took his impudence with a smile. “I have not.”
“Have you ever tried?”
A marked pause ensued, punctuated at long last by a very low and quiet, “Maybe.”
Fiore repressed a smile—for Enzo wore the self-conscious look of one who expected teasing, and Fiore had no desire to shame him. Quite the reverse. “Is that what drew you to the study of alchemy?”
A sigh of relief escaped Enzo as his stiffened frame relaxed in Fiore’s embrace. The shy smile returned at last to his lips. “You must think me beyond foolish.”
“Not at all,” Fiore replied with complete honesty. “I think you a daring and clever fellow. What did you discover?”
“Nothing definitive,” Enzo admitted. “One of my ancestors—an aunt some three centuries ago—was situated similarly to myself.”
Despite himself, Fiore balked. “You mean… with both a cunt and…?”
Enzo appeared nonplussed by what was undoubtedly one of Fiore’s least-respectful enquiries and answered it with a succinct nod.
“Ah,” said Fiore. He supposed he ought to have expected as much. Such a condition couldn’t befall men alone.
“Her lifelong research into our shared peculiarity has proved the cornerstone of my own studies.”
“Did she succeed in transforming into a winged creature?”
“If she did, she didn’t write it down.” Enzo hesitated. “Though she did vanish without explanation.”
Fiore stared at him.
Enzo continued as if he’d said nothing out of the ordinary. “My last serious attempt at a transformation occurred just before I left for university. I’ve neglected the study since then.”
“There’s nothing to learn of dragons at university?”
Enzo smiled. “My research there was of a more practical nature.”
An answering grin crept across Fiore’s own lips. “Well. I’ve certainly no objection to further practical research.”
A rosy tint softened the sharp edges of Enzo’s features. Fiore could reward his handsome blush with nothing less than a kiss.
Enzo accepted it with warmth. But he parted with a question on his lips.
“What do you intend to do,” Enzo asked, “when you find your elderly patron?”
Fiore had never received that sort of enquiry in afterglow before. It felt rather like Enzo had tipped him out of bed and into the canal. Nevertheless he had a ready answer. “Make him happy ‘til the end of his days.”
“And after that?”
Fiore shrugged.
