Sol blinked.He hadn’t expected that.Not only had he found a bunch of dragon shifters, but they didn’t remember their past, either.There was only one logical explanation for that, but it didn’tfeellogical.“How did we lose our memories?”he asked because he wanted at least that answer.
“It was Carlyle.He cast a spell.He wanted to hurt me and the other mages, and he knew that the best way to do that was to hurt our dragons and take them away from us.We’ve been looking for you for decades.”
Sol frowned.“Your dragons?”
“Our shields, and most of the time, our romantic partner.Every mage has a dragon shifter shield that protects them when they’re casting spells and helps them with magic.My dragon is Marlow, which I introduced to you earlier.Tyne’s is Meyer.”
Tyne grimaced as if he wasn’t happy about that.There was a story there, but it would have to wait.Sol’s brain felt like it was about to explode from the onslaught of new information and too many questions he had.
“So all of the mages you introduced earlier have a dragon,” he said slowly.
“Exactly.Ansley and Parker are together.Tyne and Meyer are complicated, but Penley and Bennett are together, too, as are Winter and Keylon.”
Sol had no idea if he’d been good at math before, but even if he hadn’t been, he could count.“You haven’t mentioned Dallin.”
He didn’t miss the way Jarvis and Dallin looked at each other.He didn’t really have to ask to know what was happening here.He could tell.After all, Dallin was the only mage who didn’t seem to have a dragon, and Sol was a dragon shifter.These people had dragged him to this castle for areason.
There could be only one explanation.
“I’m Dallin’s dragon, aren’t I?”Sol asked.
“You are,” Dallin confirmed.“But we don’t have to talk about any of that right now.Right now, you need to eat and rest and focus on healing.”
Sol was grateful Dallin wouldn’t push.He wanted to know more, but at the same time, he was afraid of what that more would be.He was lost.He’d landed in a world he didn’t know anything about and hadn’t suspected existed until a few weeks ago.He needed time.
He wasn’t sure he’d have it.Carlyle would come for him, and when he did, Sol would have to fight.
Luckily, it looked like he wouldn’t fight alone.
Chapter Eight
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DALLIN DIDN’T KNOWwhat to do.Sol had been at the castle for a few days, and the only thing Dallin wanted to do was spend every hour he was awake—and most of those in which he was asleep—with Sol.Instead, he’d forced himself to stay away, but it was starting to weigh on him.He’d been happy to spend most of his time in his office and in his room before they got Sol back, but now, he wanted to scream as he stared out the window of his bedroom.
Sol needed time.He’d been told what was happening, and he needed space to wrap his mind around all of it, including the fact that he and Dallin were bonded.They hadn’t had that conversation yet, and while Dallin wanted to, he was scared.What if Sol decided he didn’t want him?It wasn’t a fear Dallin had ever felt until Tyne told him that Peyton had been planning to leave him.Dallin had known things like that happened, but it was so rare that he’d never thought it could happen tohim.
Now, that was all he could think about.
It was ridiculous.Sol hadn’t given Dallin any hints that he wanted to leave.Hell, he hadn’t given Dallin any hints at all.Dallin hadn’t talked to him.He desperately wanted to, if anything to reassure himself that Sol was all right.Jarvis had told him that Sol’s wounds weren’t bad and that he’d heal without complications, but Dallin still needed to see it with his own two eyes.
Part of him was afraid that if he stood in front of Sol, he’d blurt out everything, including the fact that they’d been in love.Sol had to suspect that was the kind of relationship they’d shared, but he hadn’t reached out to Dallin, and Dallin hadn’t reached out to him.When he’d told Sol that he didn’t expect anything from him, he hadn’t been lying.
He just wasn’t sure how to deal with any of this.
He got up from his armchair and pushed away the blanket he’d wrapped around his legs.Staying here, staring at the lake, wouldn’t help.If he wanted something to happen, he needed tomakeit happen.
He didn’t have a plan as he left his bedroom without stopping to put on shoes or slippers.His socks would be fine.He wasn’t planning on leaving the castle, anyway.He wasn’t planning on doing anything but sit down and talk to Sol.
Dallin knew where Sol was staying.Jarvis had made a point of telling him which guestroom Thorne had prepared for Sol, so even though Dallin hadn’t visited him yet, he knew where to go.He headed there, trying to come up with the first thing he’d say, only to stop when he saw that the bedroom door was open.For a moment, he was terrified that something had happened.
It wasn’t possible because the alarms would have blared, but Dallin wouldn’t put it past Carlyle to somehow find a way inside the castle.
Loud laughter made him jump.If he moved slightly to the side, he’d be able to see in the bedroom.It wasn’t his place, and he could tell that nothing bad was happening, but he was curious.He’d never felt so much on the outside looking in.His place was next to Sol, yet he was in the hallway, spying on him like an idiot.
He stepped to the side and peeked in.He wasn’t sure why the door was open, but either Pippa and Sol hadn’t noticed, or they didn’t care.They were sitting on Sol’s bed, pressed close together in a way that was familiar and painful to see.Once, that had been Dallin’s spot.Once, he’d been the one cuddled in bed with Sol.Sol hadn’t been Sol then, but Dallin’s heart didn’t care about that.
He took a step forward, then stopped.He didn’t want to be a creep, even though he was kind of spying on them.It wasn’t what he’d meant to do, and he needed to stop, but he couldn’t.
