Page 37 of His Greatest Treasure

I shook my head, hating that I had to let Alfie down when he really, really wanted my help. I just didn’t know anybody. I basically didn’t know anybody but him.

“Never mind.”

He patted my back and then pulled my body closer to his so that we were pressed together tightly. Normally, when we were pressed this closely together, we were both hard. We usually kissed a bit, until Alfie got freaked out by whatever was swelling inside him. He thought it was a sickness and I didn’t think he was ready to hear my theory about it.

I wasn’t sure I should ask about Seren, either, but I wanted to know and I thought it might help Alfie to talk about it.

“Why was Seren banished?”

“I don’t know. Nobody would tell me. I hate it when they don’t tell me things. I know I’m not a proper dragon- I mean, I haven’t shifted yetbut I’m not a baby, either. I want to know what’s happening in my own clan. That’s fair, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I think that’s fair.”

“Exactly! It can’t have been that bad. A dragon has to do something absolutely terrible to be banished from his clan and Seren can’t have done that. He’s too nice. Did you know he used to sneak me and Morgan chocolate when we were little? Well, he used to do it until a few years ago, actually, even though I was getting old. Then he got sick.”

I sat up straighter. “I thought dragons didn’t get sick?”

Alfie barely met my eyes as he answered.

“They don’t. Except Seren did. That’s why I wondered if it was something… I could catch. Or maybe it’s genetic?”

“What kind of sick?”

My stomach began to roil inside me at the mere thought that Alfie would be ill.

“Um, I’m not sure. Nobody would tell me that, either. But his dragon vanished. Like, poof! Just vanished. All his magic went. He used to have a lot of power to protect people – his talent was for defensive magic and he could layer up protections.When I had a nightmare, I used to go to Seren’s room and get into bed with him and he’d put more protections on me. I could feel them there and it made me feel safe. Even the nightmares couldn’t get through them. They all vanished when he got sick, though.”

Normally, when I felt a strong emotion, I’d burn hot. I was a fire spirit. Heat and flame was my natural state.

That’s why going cold felt so unnatural to me. But I felt cold right then.

My mouth was dry as I said, “I didn’t realise anyone could lose their dragon.”

“Neither did I. But I can’t feel it inside Seren. He’s empty.”

I tilted my head. “You can feel people’s dragons? How?”

“I don’t know. I just can. Like everybody else.”

“Ican’t feel people’s dragons inside them,” I pointed out.

“No, but maybe that’s because you’re not a dragon. Maybe only other dragons can sense it.”

A bit of my heat returned and I was a bit snappy as I said, “I’m a fire spirit. I can sense the fire indragons.”

“Can you? Can you sense any in me?”

Sheepishly, I had to admit, “I can only sense it in dragon form.”

“Oh.” He sounded so disappointed and it nearly killed me. “I just wondered. Mother keeps saying I’ll shift when I’m older, but I’m nearly twenty. Most dragons shift years earlier than me. I just wondered- never mind.”

“You must have a dragon, my darling, or you wouldn’t have healed so quickly when I burned your hand.”

“Yeah, I guess. I just feel really useless sometimes. I can’t do anything to help. I didn’t even know Seren was being banished.”

“Maybe he did something terrible and that’s why he’s been banished.”

Alfie fiddled with the cuff of my coat sleeve. I still wore that coat, even though the weather wasn’t as cold recently. I just liked to wear his coat because it reminded me of him. It was almost like getting an extra hug from him while he wasn’t there.

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