Page 63 of Harbinger

The Komodo dragon ignored him. To Eden’s horror, it stuck out its long, forked tongue, licked him from his horned head to his tail, and picked him up gently in its jaws, mucus-covered scales and all.

“Look, for the lassst time, I’m not your mate, you dumb reptile!” Ladon screeched as the Komodo dragon took him back to its bed of straw. “Hey, where’sss your tongue going? Noooo! Don’t lick methere!”

“Wow,” Kes muttered, her voice laced with pity.

“Shouldn’t we help him?” Eden said, a little aghast at what the lizard was being subjected to.

An evil smirk twisted Loki’s mouth. “Let him suffer, the little shit.”

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Kes sighed.“Look, for the tenth time, we’re sorry, okay?”

“No, you’re not, you dessspicable Goddessss!” Ladon snarled. “And I can hear you laughing, you damn imp!”

He shook a claw at a sniggering Loki before clutching the banana Eden had given him.

“He’s as rude as ever, I see,” Tisiphone muttered.

“But also strangely kind of cute in this form,” Orena observed with a hint of mixed feelings.

Ladon puffed up his cheeks. “I amnotcute!I am a fearsssome dragon!”

Tisiphone picked him up by the scruff of his neck, banana and all. “You’re a lizard.”

Ladon hissed and spat at the frowning Goddess.

Atropos pinched the bridge of her nose. “How about everyone calm down? Tis, release him.”

A bolt of sympathy shot through Victor at her brittle tone. Dealing with their sisters was like handling a bunch of kids on a sugar high. He was surprised she hadn’t walloped one of them yet.

“Are we sure this is Ladon?” Theo murmured uncertainly.

Victor could understand his lover’s wariness.

The lizard positively vibrating with indignation on Cassius’s coffee table did not look in the least bit like a powerful divine guardian.

Ladon peeled his banana aggressively and munched on the fruit.

“Five hundred yearsss of peace and quiet all gone,” he grumbled under his breath. “And I’d finally tamed Kujo too. Dumb imp and dumb Goddessss.”

“Hey, we can hear you,” Kes said sharply.

“Who’s Kujo?” Tisiphone asked Eden, nonplussed.

“A Komodo dragon.” She made a face. “They were in the same enclosure, although I suspect the zookeepers didn’t know Ladon was there too.”

“Tamed?” Loki sneered at the lizard. “That didn’t look like tamed. In fact, I’m pretty sure Kujo would have violated you had we not intervened.”

“Ssshut up!” Ladon huffed out a trail of smoke and flicked his tail irritably. “I had the sssituation under control!”

Atropos watched the dragon for a moment. “How long were you hiding there for?”

Ladon did not meet her eyes. “Twelve yearsss. I was elsssewhere before that.”

Atropos exchanged a cautious glance with the rest of them. “Menippe said she saw you in the Astrea Sea briefly before you ended up on Earth.”She hesitated.“Did you not make your presence known to the otherworldly here because you were scared?”

Ladon stiffened at Atropos’s guarded question. For a second, Victor thought he would snap at the Goddess.

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