Page 14 of The Baby Dragon Cafe
“Can I get you something?” she asked, recalling her manners as she walked deeper into the empty cafe. She let Sparky down and he trotted alongside her. “We have leftover gulab jamun cakes. Theo dropped them off this morning and he always makes an extra few for me. He knows how much I like them, especially with chai.”
Aiden frowned, then, but so quickly she thought she might have imagined it. She kept speaking.
“Speaking of … I haven’t had my evening tea yet, so I can put on the kettle, if you want, or make some proper chai?”
“Oh, no, thank you,” he said, and she realized he hadn’t followed her in. He still stood in the door frame.
Narrowing her eyes, Saphira walked back toward him. He stared at her, looking awkward. Then, he cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll leave you to it, then.”
Before she knew what was happening, he turned, about to step back into the street. She grabbed his arm. “Wait!”
He looked down at where her hand was wrapped around his forearm, and something dark flashed in his eyes. Saphira felt a flush rise up her cheeks. She released his arm, though the skin of her palm felt warm from the contact.
“Where are you going?” she asked, voice high. “Aren’t you going to stay?”
He scratched his jaw. “Ah … no.”
Saphira was horrified. There was no way to train the baby dragon without his rider there. “But how will you two connect?” Saphira asked. “Build on the rider–dragon
bond?”
“I’m not worried about that,” Aiden replied. “I just want you to train him.”
He was being so callous. Saphira frowned. She didn’t understand.
“He’s your dragon,” Saphira said, hating how whiny she sounded. Maybe she didn’t know enough about this to be speaking on it; she wasn’t from a Drakkon family, after all. Even so, she continued. “You’re going to be his rider, Aiden. You two have to bond.”
Something opened in his expression then, a flash of intense emotion. For a moment, it seemed as if he was going to respond, but then he stopped himself. Aiden took a deep breath. His throat moved as he swallowed, and it was another moment before he finally spoke.
“I don’t want to get in the way,” he said.
“You won’t be in our way!” she said, trying to convince him. “You don’t have to do any work, really, you can just watch … for Sparky’s sake.”
She looked down at Sparky by her feet; he was rubbing his cheek against her leg, the scales of his face lightly scratching against her skin. He gazed at her with big purple eyes, and her heart squeezed with fondness.
She would kill to have a baby dragon to herself, to have one of her own, and Aiden did not seem to grasp what an honor and privilege he had. Yes, he was letting her train Sparky at the moment, but Sparky washis. Sparky would always belong to Aiden, and Aiden would always belong to Sparky. And yet, he was not interested in protecting that sacred bond.
Aiden was simply going to abandon Sparky!
“Sparky won’t miss me,” Aiden said.
Sparky did not look as if he’d miss Aiden, but Saphira would. The thought struck her with surprise. She had been looking forward to spending time with him all day. She wanted to know him. The desire was a seed buried deep in the soil of her heart.
And now he was just leaving!
“You really won’t stay?” she asked again.
She couldn’t think of anything clever to say, some reason to entice him. All she had was the truth: disbelief and disappointment.
But why should he care? He didn’t know her; he had no reason to be swayed by her emotions.
But when he turned his dark eyes to her, the breath lodged in her throat. Heat flushed through her as she held his gaze.
For a moment, he looked convinced. He was clearly at war about something, going back and forth in the depths of his mind.
He took a step toward her. She inhaled the scent of his cologne, a rich mossy scent, mingled with mint.
“I’m sorry, Saphira,” he said, voice low. A muscle ticked in his jaw, and the deep timbre of his voice reverberated through her. “I must go.”
