Page 68 of Earth-Bound

I cleared my throat. “Is there a reason that she… died of a heart attack?”

“Yeah,” said Dum.

“There is,” said Dee.

“She nearly killed our Honey-cakes.”

“And she sent aridireto kill our cousin, Laura.”

I looked at Terrund again. I wasn’t quite following all this. He said, “So that’s why you were looking forridirein the area. No wonder Laura and Marcia left.”

“Is this the family emergency?” I asked.

Randall took a deep breath and breathed out slowly, regaining some of his equilibrium. “Yes, it was. We couldn’t tell you before, Joe, because it would have sounded too weird. We could hardly tell you that my grandmother had sent a dragon-hunter after Laura and so she’d taken Marcia back to her territory to guard her until the hunter left again.”

I nodded.“Fair.”

What I meant was, it was fair that he hadn’t told me. It had been a bit of a blow at the time, to be reminded that I wasn’t one of them, but Randall was right – it wasn’t the sort of thing you could just tell anyone. And, I reminded myself, they were telling me now. Because I was one of them.

Unfortunately, Dum thought I meant that Mrs. Winters’deathhad been fair. He gave a decisive nod and declared, “Shewaswarned.”

“Yeah,” said Dee. “She was told not to try anything.”

Anthony came closer and asked, “What’s this about Randall’s grandmother?”

Matty spoke before anyone else could. “She died of a heart attack. Randall’s upset about it.”

I wasn’t convinced that Anthony believed him, but he didn’t push for any more answers, which was probably for the best. From what I had seen of them, these dragons only confused things further.

I decided to get out of there and leave Randall to grieve and leave the dragons to their work.

We wandered off and, once again, it was only when we were well away from the house that I realised I’d assumed Terrund would come with me. I’d held his hand and taken him away from his friends.

“Did you want to stay with the dragons? I need to work over in the west field, but you can—”

“No, I don’t want to stay with them – I want to stay with you. Wherever you go.”

I got a satisfied glow inside me from those words. Basically, I’d never had anyone be so nice to me. It was making me feel funny.

We walked further and I thought hard, and Terrund was content to walk in silence.

Eventually, I asked, “You want to go wherever I go?”

“Yes.”

I cleared my throat, suddenly nervous. “What about when I leave? Will you… come with me?”

Terrund hesitated.

I rushed to fill the awkward silence. “No problem if you don’t, you don’t need to, I was just thinking that it might be fun to have some company but you don’t need to read anything into it if you don’t want—”

Terrund tugged at my hand and stopped me walking, and then stopped me talking, too, by pressing his mouth to mine. It was very effective.

I melted against him, amazed all over again that he felt so solid beneath my hands and against my chest when he looked so ethereal, as though he was an angel or a spirit. Although, I suppose hewasa spirit, so that might explain it.

He slid his tongue into my mouth and I wanted to suck on it, to make him moan and gasp the way I’d heard him before. I basically wanted him naked under me. I hadn’t seen him naked yet. I’d been too impatient every time and I’d only just managed to get his dick out.

When he pulled back, I tried to follow and felt his smile against my lips as I pressed them to him, leaning further and further forward.

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