Reign the Flame (4)

Chapter One

"I can almost see my will to live up there," Luca mused as he and Rowan snuggled on the blanket.

"Hey," Rowan warned playfully.

"Sorry." Rowan wrapped a strong arm around Luca, enveloping him in a safety net that caught him from sailing too far.

"I don't like when you get stormy."

"Me neither. It feels like... I lose myself. I get quiet. Everything goes dark. Even the things that used to make me happy. Like you. Aurora. Training. They wouldn't mean anything to me anymore."

Rowan inhaled sharply, adding to the list: "You get angry."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Do you think... Are there other beings living on those stars? Like what do they see when dragons are flying under them?" Luca wondered, squinting at the supernovas and clusters of constellations.

"Birds. That's what they'd look like. To us, they seem massive. Bigger than life. But to them... they seem miniscule."

"Like Quinn's raven?"

"Yeah. That's how they'd see Valiant."

"And to think he holds so much power down here."

"You hold the same power, Lukey."

"Not when we think about the life up there."

Rowan snuggled further into Luca. "You let yourself go." He was, of course, talking about what happened during the Tempest Trials.

"I did."

"I don't like talking about that night. But... we are on a cliff."

"You make me want to stay. Even if the Tempest Trials get shitty, and Valiant gets even shittier. And Ollie complains one more time about not having sex with Milo," Luca mused.

"I think you can handle Ollie on more celibacy."

"Definitely not. He needs to get in Milo's pants."

"Milo's been holding out," Rowan said sarcastically.

"What." Luca turned to face Rowan.

"Yeah. He wants to see how long Ollie can go."

"If you ever hold out on me-"

"You don't have to worry about me, Lukey," Rowan reassured, a fire in his gaze that made Luca swear his skin was burning up from. "I want to ask you something, though."

"What is it?"

"Quinn wanted me to check up on you."

"...Why?"

"Because he's worried you think he's casting you away now that he has a baby." Aurora Dahlia Faelan was born at 10:43 AM. Luca was relieved to hear everything went smoothly with the delivery and both she and Elara were okay.

"I don't think that," Luca said gently.

"You don't?"

"...No. Why does he think that?"

"Because you haven't been to see her." Luca looked at Rowan, then. One thing about being Prince of the Dragons was you learned how to control your emotions. You understood that neutrality was necessary in addressing matters. Any flicker of emotion, and your words can be twisted. With those lessons, Luca has learned to conceal his true emotions from Rowan and everyone around him to the point where even on his worst days, his faux smiles seemed real.