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“Cool. Amaru, eat your breakfast. Don’t just drink coffee,” Luka chided.
Amaru obediently put another bite on his fork, but he eyed Luka sideways as he did so. “You sure we can’t just buy you more clothes? I’m good with that option.”
“I’m not. Behave.”
“There’s perks to letting me have my way, you know.”
Luka snickered even as he pointed a stern finger at Amaru. “You’re not winning this fight.”
Amaru didn’t argue but he notably didn’t agree as he popped a bite into his mouth. The machinations were clearly underway inside his head.
Vasily chose to rise, bus his plate, and go find Gregori. The sooner they got shopping done, the sooner he could sit on Luka and get some answers. Because he absolutely was not going to bed again until he had straightened this situation out.
It took some doing, but after they returned from their shopping trip he was able to snag Luka and haul him into the trees for some privacy. Luka seemed resigned to the conversation but also strangely afraid at the same time. Vasily did not understand that expression whatsoever. Luka had never once been afraid in all their time together. It made an ill, twisting sensation churn in his gut.
The very second he was sure they were out of earshot of the rest of the camp, he stopped dead. Even the typical birdsong and insect noises were muted in comparison to what they normally were—like the wildlife around them had taken notice of the mood and chosen to make themselves scarce.
Luka hesitantly asked, “Is…is Amaru Gregori’s mate?”
Why the hell did he think that? “Of course he isn’t. Why would you think that?”
“Oh. Um. He…gets along well with Gregori, is all.” Luka became absolutely crestfallen, his shoulders slumping like he was caving in on himself.
Vasily tried to meet Luka’s eyes dead on, but his lover’s gaze was fixed on the ground. If this talk was that hard on him, if looking away made it easier for Luka to stand here, then Vasily would not argue the point right now.
“Luka. Please, talk to me. What is going on?”
Luka struggled to lift his gaze from the ground and failed. His arms were crossed around his chest in a very defensive manner. He almost looked defeated, and Vasily’s heart squeezed uncomfortably just looking at him.
“He’s…yours.” Luka’s voice was a strained whisper.
This was precisely what Vasily had feared. He corrected him firmly. “He is ours.”
Luka shook his head in denial, expression absolutely miserable. “That’s just what you want to believe.”
“It’s not only me saying it. My dragon has been very confident about this from almost the beginning.” Were these words penetrating? It did not look like Luka actually believed them. Which was a very strange thing because Luka had always believed what Vasily told him. But what else could he possibly say to convince him?
Unable to just stand there, Vasily pulled Luka into his arms. Luka latched on, hands tangling in Vasily’s shirt at his back. He made a sound almost like a sob, but Vasily felt no tears on his chest. He tried to comfort Luka even as he tried to convince him.
“Tell me why you are struggling to believe this.”
It took a long moment before Luka found his voice. “Honestly, I have dreaded this moment for years. The more mages were found, the more sure I became that when you found your mage, I would lose you.”
Oh god. Vasily had had no idea Luka felt this way. He had never breathed a word of it to him. Had this fear carved into his heart so deeply he could not accept any other truth? Was that why he was struggling in this moment to see the obvious?
“I prayed, for years, that we’d never find our mage mate. How selfish is that? But I wished for it, ardently, because…because I couldn’t face the fallout.”
“But you aren’t going to lose me.”
Luka shook his head gently against Vasily’s chest. “I see the way you and Amaru look at each other. Part of me wants to hate him, but I can’t. He’s so charming, even I get swept up and want to spend more time with him. The two of you are just so perfect for each other that I cannot deny the obvious. I’ve always been braced for this—”
“I think that’s exactly the problem,” Vasily interrupted. “This negative mantra has played in the back of your head for so long that to you this feels inevitable. Beloved, I’m going to say this again: he is both of ours.”
Luka did not say anything. He just stood there, stiff and miserable.
Right, that had not worked. Vasily bit back the impulse to shake him. “Isn’t your dragon saying the same thing?”
Luka’s voice was barely above a whisper. “My dragon has been perfectly quiet this whole time.”
There was no way in hell that could be the case. They had been together for far too long, and Luka had said before that his dragon liked Vasily. Why would he not have anything to say about this? Vasily’s own dragon had quite a bit to say about it and his dragon was not nearly as chatty as Luka’s. Luka’s dragon being silent made no sense.
