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Hawk knew what he would find: history, science, magical tomes, and penny dreadfuls. He’d always loved having books to snuggle with of a winter.

“Ohhhh.” Cosmo lifted an old leather-bound volume off the shelf. “It’s a magical bestiary.”

“Is it? How fascinating. Now we need to put it on a table near a sofa so we can read after our explorations.”

“Oh, yes. One with a window and a fireplace.”

It was as if asking for it made it so. It wasn’t. It was much more likely that he knew the nook existed, so his mate saw.

“That sounds perfect. It has to be here somewhere, hmm?”

When they found the couch, tucked away in a nook with a lovely sofa, a table with a tea set just for them, the teapot steaming.

“Look at that!” Cosmo put the book down carefully, keeping it away from the tea and sweets. “Do you have brownies serving your household or something? I haven’t met them.”

“Or something.” When a dragon lived as long as he had, he attracted all sorts of magical beings. Some good, some bad. Brownies, domovoy, nisse…they were all helpful. The boggarts and banshee not so much.

“Oh… Or what? That’s exciting. Do you think that they like the fact that you have a mate? Because I’m not going anywhere. In fact, I’m going to be with you forever. I am willing to be friends though. I’d love to be friends.”

That he had absolutely no doubt of. Cosmo was quick and friendly, more than willing to reach out.

“Yes, this house has been a place of magic for many, many years. There are many spaces for magical beings to be welcomed. And there are many magical beings in the Lunastra as well.”

Cosmo nodded. “It was like that in the Land of Summer, my mother’s home. Not many different kinds of magic, but everything there has been touched with light and music, laughter. It’s not always happy laughter, though. There can be darkness.” Cosmo cuddled into him after pouring them both a cup of tea. “You know, not everyone was happy when my mother mated with my father. Not everyone loves dragons, and not everyone loves the idea of half-breeds.”

“That’s ridiculous! Half-breeds? That’s just…no. You’re a special magic all your own. The joining of two magics in love is…well, I simply cannot see that it would be bad.”

That wasn’t exactly the truth, of course. Hawk could admit to himself he had seen two magics joined together to make a greater, more evil magic.

But this wasn’t the time or the place for that nonsense. This was the time to reassure his mate that he found part-fae, part-dragon folk absolutely irresistible.

Especially pink ones.

Most definitely pink ones.

“I know. It’s just—Believe me, in a land of very small fae, dragons can seem extremely…large.”

“Oh.” He leaned back, his teacup in hand. “Yes, I can imagine.”

“Right. That bull-in-a-china-shop story has nothing on a dragon in fairyland.”

He chuckled. “Oh. I can see that. I mean, nisse are only a foot tall, maybe less. I always worried that I might smoosh them if I was in dragon form.” He loved holding Cosmo in his arms, loved having tea and cookies in this little nook.

“So tell me about the nisse.”

“They come from the far north. In fact, many believe that’s where Santa’s elves originated.”

“Oh, cool. I mean, I know the rock gnomes live with the Santa Fe clutch. And the Estes clutch has brownies…”

“Yes, you see? When the magic needs to come together, it does.”

“Mmm.” Cosmo pulled back to look at him. “So wait. Dragon form? Is there a place in your house where you can dragon out? Like be all the way dragon? I want to see you.”

“Well, once upon a time, I did. I assume that I still do. I had a basement. It was very deep in the mountain. My hoard was there…”

Cosmo frowned. “Do you have a pool? We really need a pool.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m a fire dragon. I really don’t care for the water a lot.” So, no pool. “There is a sandpit. It’s very nice for rolling around in and massaging your scales.”