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Cosmo tilted his head. “That would be fun. I like sand, I think. I don’t see why I wouldn’t like sand. Is it warm sand? Because that sounds…wait. Did it get into, like, weird places?”

He started chuckling. “Not in dragon form that I remember, but it’s been a very long time, so perhaps. Perhaps, no, surely not.”

“Oh, that’s good. That’s very good. So we should make a plan to go and search for your sandpit.”

“We should. I would like to see your dragon as well.”

“I’m not sure about that.” Cosmo sort of winced. “We are not the most impressive dragons. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we are magical and clever and quick, but not particularly impressive.”

“No?” Now Hawk was curious. “Can you explain?”

“I’m sure I could, but I really don’t want to.” Cosmo rolled his eyes. “You see…well, one, we’re half fae, and two, we’re half dragon, and three, there’s three of us and so… To be perfectlyhonest, if you put all three of our dragons together, we’re not the size of a whole dragon. We’re little. Like,little.”

Hawk frowned. “How little is little?” He held his fingers about six inches apart. “Little?”

“Here.” Cosmo’s sighed and rolled his eyes. Then suddenly, immediately, instead of a man, he held a lean, perfectly formed, very, very little dragon. He was exactly the size of Cosmo as a man. Pink and sparkling.

Hawk was absolutely stunned.

I told you I wasn’t a very impressive dragon.

His mouth opened and closed, then opened and closed again. He simply couldn’t speak.

At least not until he could feel Cosmo pulling away, then he found his voice again.

“Oh my rose, you’re beautiful.” He’d never seen anything or anyone more perfect in all of his life. “Such a lovely dragon.”

He ran his fingers down along Cosmo’s scales. He found them cool and smooth, and he swore he could hear music as he petted the long spine. “The tip of your tail is shaped like a heart.”

The tip of Cosmo’s tail was shaped like a heart.

Hawk couldn’t be more in love if he tried.

You don’t think I look strange?Cosmo asked.

“Of course not. I think you’re amazing.” He couldn’t believe how stunning Cosmo was. He had never seen such a thing in his life, and he’d had a pretty long life.

Cosmo ducked his head, just snuggled in.I wanna be amazing for you.

“Oh, love, you’re perfect. Now shall we read our book and have our tea?” Maybe they just needed to relax together.

Cosmo nodded, his head dipping again.I think that’s a wonderful idea.

So Hawk grabbed the book. And they read about magical beasts. And had tea. Careful not to spill it on the book, of course.And Hawk thought that Cosmo relaxed. He would have to think about this, about how to make Cosmo understand that he was wonderful, magical. And his.

Chapter

Ten

Cosmo sat in the living room, not sure what he should do. Hawk was still asleep. Not the kind of sleep that he worried Hawk would slip into, just normal sleep. But no one was up yet. And Cosmo wanted to… He didn’t know. Play cribbage? Watch a movie with somebody?

Just talk to his brothers about how it had been to be in his dragon form with Hawk and not be mocked for it. Oh, the dragons that they knew on the other side of the house, the Rocky Mountain clutch, had never mocked them. Neither had the people in their village down in Lunastra. But he knew they were something of a novelty.

Hawk just seemed as though he accepted Cosmo for what he was, and that was strange. It caused all sorts of feelings in his chest, and he didn’t know how to deal with them.

All of this was new. This whole bonding was nuts, and he just…felt like he really was, well, he was gonna explode. Maybe. Who knew?

Just when he thought he was going to get up and run laps around the house, Corbin came downstairs, hunting something in the kitchen. So Cosmo got up and wandered along behindhim. Maybe he’d have a Coke, or maybe he wouldn’t. He didn’t know.