Page 72 of The Baby Dragon Cafe
Heat flushed through her at the prospect, and she bit her lower lip to stop herself from responding as enthusiastically asshe wanted to. “Yes,” Saphira said, after a moment’s pause. “Of course, we have to sell it.”
“Right. Of course.”
They ate in silence, a little awkward, until she felt his foot nudge against hers playfully under the table. She smiled, and when he smiled back at her, any of the tension between them dissipated. They had the rest of the evening to themselves now, with Sparky being taken care of.
“I know that was all stressful, but let’s try and enjoy the rest of our time here,” Aiden said.
“Okay. Good plan.”
“So what do think about Mount Echo?” Aiden asked, looking up and around.
“Oh my god,” she replied. “I have so many thoughts.”
“I want to hear all of them.”
They talked as they ate, and since no one was sitting around them to overhear, she could speak freely. Though Aiden had felt far away before, when she was initially touring the compound, now he felt close, commenting and reacting to all of her thoughts, supplementing the knowledge she had gained with more tidbits here and there.
After they finished eating, they went outside to one of the terraces. It was mostly empty, just a novice passing through. Aiden’s knuckles brushed against hers, and Saphira didn’t know who initiated it, but then they were holding hands. Neither of them let go, even after they were alone.
They walked along the terrace, and the views from up here were stunning. Most of the clouds had cleared away, so she could see the other mountain peaks, each of them sharp white cones against the sky.
They were so high up in the sky, it was insane. She found it amazing that dragon riders had access to these views whenever they wanted—all they had to do was go for a ride.
The evening progressed, and the sun set. Someone came out to light the lamp posts around the perimeter of the area, casting a golden glow into the night. And then something truly magical happened—it began snowing.
Gently at first, but then properly, flurries falling down fast.
“Look!” Saphira said, tilting her head back. She held her hands out to catch the snowflakes, and they melted against her palms, little pricks of ice.
“Come on,” Aiden said, pulling her toward the door. “Let’s get inside before you get sick.”
“No!” Saphira dug her feet in, and Aiden stopped. “We have to enjoy the snow!”
She adored snowfall. He gave her a look, shivering as a gust of wind blew.
“You’re going to get sick,” he said, letting go of her hand. “Come on.”
He turned to head toward the door, and she narrowed her eyes at his back. Reaching down, Saphira scooped up snow into her hand, some old and some fresh powder. She made a snowball and threw it at his back. It landed squarely between his shoulders.
He turned around to face her, a shocked expression on his face. “Did you just hit me with a snowball?”
She lifted her chin. “So what if I did?”
“Oh, it is so on.” He smiled, then reached down and made a snowball, lobbing it at her. She yelped, ducking, and it narrowly missed her head.
“Ha!” She laughed, making another snowball and throwingit at him, and thus began a proper snowball fight. They ran around, attacking and ducking, both getting good hits in, their laughter ringing through the air.
Until she got him straight in the eye, and he fell back into the snow with a cry. Her heart stopped.
“Are you okay?” she asked, rushing to his side, where he was clutching his eye. He winced, groaning, and her chest hurt with guilt. “Let me see, let me see.”
She took his hand from his eye to inspect the damage, but he wouldn’t let her see, covering his eye again. “No, it hurts,” he said. “It hurts too much.”
“Let me see!” She demanded, intensely worried.
He slowly removed his hand, and she leaned close to check his eye, worried she had burst a blood vessel or something, but when she looked, there appeared to be no damage.
“It looks fine,” she said, frowning.
