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What he did know for certain was this was destroying Luka. Luka was already resigned to losing him. Vasily, on the other hand, would absolutely never agree to breaking up with Luka. Even if Amaru demanded that of him, he wouldn’t be able to do it. Not that Vasily anticipated that, because Amaru clearly liked Luka a lot. Him insisting on wearing Luka’s clothes spoke volumes in and of itself…not to mention all the flirting he did.
Something wasn’t connecting here, but Vasily could not pinpoint what. All he could do was offer suggestions at this point.
He kissed Luka’s forehead, still holding on to him. “First of all, I don’t care how this goes down, but I am never letting go of you. Understand that if you understand nothing else.”
There was that sound again, like Luka was crying on the inside but refusing to show anything on the outside. That half sob wrenched at Vasily and he hugged Luka to him tighter.
“I don’t understand why your dragon has not said something at this point. But it might be a case like Gunter’s or Dimitri’s. Remember how their dragons took several days before confirming the obvious?”
Luka finally lifted his head to peek up at Vasily. “Do you really think so?”
Ah, there, finally a spark of hope in those clear blue eyes. “I will bet anything you care to name that’s the case. I think you need to spend a lot more time with Amaru. Do that, and try to put it out of your head, this fear you have. It could be the fear is blocking your dragon’s voice. Please, please try to listen to your dragon. Don’t write off everything as inevitable.”
Luka seemed to feel like this was a valid point. At least, he did not argue or get that not-arguing face he wore when he disagreed with Vasily but wasn’t going to say so out loud. He seemed to actually be thinking about it. Vasily held his breath and let Luka take a moment to think.
“All right,” Luka finally said. “I’ll do as you ask. I’ll spend more time with him. I’ll give my dragon a chance to say something.”
Vasily hugged him back, hard. He was relieved that Luka would try. He also felt helpless and devastated that Luka felt this way. He’d never anticipated Luka would be put in this position. Not when his own dragon was so sure the three of them were mates.
Before this conversation, Vasily had been trying to figure out how to tell Amaru that the three of them were destined together. Now, he wasn’t so sure if he should say anything at all. It felt abhorrent to reject his mage mate once he’d found him, and Vasily absolutely did not want to do that to Amaru. But if he could not convince Luka that Amaru belonged to both of them, he might have to do precisely that.
His dragon growled in irritated warning and he growled right back at it. Yes, it sounded wrong even in his own head, this decision. But Amaru he had known days. Luka had been half of his heart for over two centuries. If it came down to which would hurt worse, obviously losing Luka was the real nightmare. It would kill him to make that choice, but he could not live without Luka.
Vasily prayed this was a decision he would not be forced to make.
The next morning, Luka stuck his head inside Amaru’s tent to find him yet again tinkering with…well, he wasn’t entirely sure what it had been. The electronic device looked as if it had exploded on the table, a mess of wires, processors, transistors, and other electrical guts spread across the flat surface as Amaru poked at it with a tiny screwdriver.
“Amaru?”
The mage’s head instantly popped up and a wide grin spread across his face even as his floppy hair dropped to cover his eyes. How he could even see what was in front of him was a miracle. Luka didn’t know whether to suggest a haircut or bobby pins.
“Luka! You came to visit me!”
“Are you free?”
He shrugged one thin shoulder, his smile turning a little lopsided. “I’m just taking this apart. Keeping my hands moving sometimes helps me think.”
“I wanted to see if you would like to have lunch with me, but if you’re busy, I don’t want to disturb you. I can drop this off and let you get back to work.”
Even as the words came out of his mouth, he was mentally scolding Vasily. This had been a terrible suggestion. There was no way Amaru had any interest in spending time with just him. Vasily was the interesting one of the two of them. The fun one. The sexy one.
Besides, Amaru was Vasily’s mate. Not his. Trying to get alone time with Amaru just felt wrong.
