Page 102 of Always Say Yes to a Dragon

He seemed a lot more relaxed than last night, though his eyes strayed to my neck regularly, and his arm stayed anchored around the back of my chair.

Halfway through breakfast, Udar entered. He glanced at my neck, glared at Az, then stomped over to the breakfast buffet to make a plate.I couldn’t help but notice his bruises were still healing. He must have been hurt a lot worse than Az—Az’s injuries had already healed over, thanks to what he referred to as “innate dragon magic.”

Udar left, plate piled high, without looking at us again.

So I’d been right. Udar really only cared about taking something Az had, and he’d lost interest now that he knew he couldn’t succeed.

Az didn’t seem to notice him, too deep in conversation with Tika.

I happily stuffed my face. At least the food was good.

A servant interrupted us, carrying a note.

Az carefully unfolded it. “My parents want to see me.” He hugged me close, his nose finding his mark on my neck. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll go with you.” I pushed back my chair.

He grimaced. “You’ve dealt with them enough for one visit.”

So had he. This morning was going too well to let his parents ruin it. “No. I’ll go with you, and we can leave right after.”

In his parents’ private dining room they greeted us both, their eyes immediately finding the mark on my neck.

“Oh, well done, Az’zael,” Rasonu said, her gold scales gleaming in the morning light.

So they did like me. Hard to tell with dragons, but I didn’t care about their opinion nearly as much as I had twenty-four hours ago.

Az tensed beside me. “Is that why you called me in here?”

“No,” grumbled Yvinth. “I thought about what you said last night, about”—his lips pressed together, and it seemed like he had to force the next words out—“not visiting. We’d prefer that you visited more, not less.”

Az stared at him. “You would?”

I pursed my lips. Sometime in the late hours of the night, Az had told me about his fight with his dad, and given how terrible dragons seemed to be at apologies, Yvinth’s words surprised me.

“Of course we would. You’re our child,” his mom said. “Even if you do disappoint us at times.”

Az’s wing wrapped around me, his eyes bouncing between his parents. By now, I knew my dragon well enough to know that he didn’t know how to respond.

I gripped Az’s arm tight in reassurance. Dragons didn’t do subtle, so I’d better make this stick. “That’s a fucked-up thing to say. Figure out how to be nicer to your son, or we won’t come by at all.”

Both of his parents jerked back, eyes wide. His mom recovered first, her slit-pupiled eyes roaming over me, unmistakably pleased. “Do you agree with the human?” She directed this to Az.

Now both of Az’s wings curled around me, like he could glue me to his side with sheer force of will. “My mate can speak for both of us.” He shifted. “But I already told Dad the same thing.”

“Be nice. Hmm.” Rasonu turned to her husband. “It would be a challenge.”

“We haven’t had one of those in a while.” Yvinth rubbed his chin. “We could try it.”

With heroic effort, I refrained from throwing up my hands. It was a victory, of sorts.

“I need to get you out of here,” Az whispered in my ear, already tugging me away. His parents didn’t even notice when he carted me back to the room.

After I’d insisted on his worth to his parents, as he put it when he was ripping my clothes off me, he needed to be inside me.

My body was still sore from last night and this morning, but it was very willing to accommodate him.

Epilogue—Az'zael

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