Page 35 of Cosmo

The triplets had screens on everything. There were screens that showed pictures of anything you wanted to see. He could see stories and history. He could listen to a book and read a book on a screen. It seemed very odd.

The video games interested him very little, but the puzzles? There were thousands of puzzles that he could do at will anytime he’d like.

That was fascinating.

And he could ask this man, Google, anything, and he would bring up Web books like a library.

He had asked the triplets about this Google person and his vast library, but they didn’t seem to know what the man looked like.

In the deepest part of his brain, Hawk imagined him as an enormous leviathan swimming in this ocean of information, huge tentacles pouring things into different pockets so that one gets it. It was quite the pleasant thought.

Less pleasant was the idea that Cosmo could go out into the dragonland and become hurt, and Hawk couldn’t go and rescue him.

Cosmo pointed out, and he told himself as well, that his worries just weren’t true. Should something happen to Cosmo on the other side, he could absolutely go in and rescue him.

He just couldn’t come back here to his home.

He was curious to meet these dragon children that the triplets told him about, though. And to see how his world had grown and changed in the last millennia.

It was good to be curious. It kept a man alive.

Also concerning was the fact that although they had spent many, many, many hours in bed making wild, passionate love, Cosmo did not seem to be pregnant.

These things took time, of course, and he had no idea how long it took a fae to become with child, but autumn was upon them.

From what he knew of the human lands, it got cold here in the winter, and he wanted Cosmo to be safe. So now maybe he didn’t want Cosmo to get pregnant until it was closer to spring. That way, he wouldn’t be growing large during the winter months.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” Cosmo asked, coming in to find him scrolling through an electronic book.

“Hmm? Oh, I was simply thinking about information.” Hawk wouldn’t mention the pregnancy thing. He didn’t want Cosmo to get self-conscious.

“There’s a lot of it. I’m proud of you for learning so much.”

“Mmmm. Are you? I feel as though I still have a great deal to process.” He had watched a movie with Cosmo where the men could put jacks in their head and send the information directly. That might be easier. That way no one had to process it. It was just there as whole knowledge.

“But you just do it. You just soak it all in. It’s really cool.”

Cosmo bounced a little bit, looking odd.

“What’s wrong?” Hawk asked. “What do you need?”

“I know that all of this electronic stuff is super interesting to you right now, but…do you want to go explore? I mean literally, physically, right now. Find a stairwell and go down it and see what’s at the bottom.”

“I would love that.” He was feeling the urge to stretch his legs and to poke his nose into things that it may not belong in. “Where should we start?”

Cosmo grinned hugely. “So, I was in the room underneath the tower room, and I found a secret door.”

“Intriguing.” He didn’t remember a secret door, but that meant very little. “What was in it?”

Cosmo vibrated with his excitement. “I don’t know! I was waiting for you. I thought we could go explore it together.”

If Hawk hadn’t been in love—which he was—he would be now, because that joy?

Was everything.

“Lead the way.” All of this screen stuff would be there later. This was the real magic.

Cosmo stood with him, grabbed his hand, and oddly enough, took him to the kitchen.

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