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I fiddle with the mug. “On Lysander?”

“Nah. He has a nymph sub for the close-up demos. It’s safer.” Orion arches a shadowy brow. “You’re spending a lot of time with His Highness. Guess you don’t need to worry the way the rest of us do.”

“Is he… uh, do you know anything about his…” I falter. Orion’s eyebrow climbs higher.Fuck, this was a bad idea.I valiantly try to pull it together. “Has he ever…?”

Orion grins,waytoo knowing for my liking. “Well, Ez, I can’t say one way or another if he, uh, ever.”

“Fuck off.” I flick the hot water button on the machine.

“Uhuh.” He chuckles.

“If you asked me to guess, he hasn’t. Poor guy’s been hidden away from the world for who knows how long. If anyone’s gotten close enough to him it’d be Bear, but he’s for sure not Bear’s type. Plus, y’know, I don’t know how it’d work with the gloves and all. Although I hear Bear’s a master of —”

“Okay! I get it.” I slump against the counter, my gut churning and sweat dampening my back. Am I relieved, scared out of my wits, or coming down with some kind of flu?

“He’s really taken to you,” Orion says, as if it’s a totally normal, casual statement and doesn’t make me spiral harder.

“I know,” I mutter.

I’m half a second from deciding I’m gonna be normal and go home when the door opens and Bear looms, looking annoyed. Up close he’s even more intimidating — he’s at least a foot taller than me, twice as broad, and his skin looks like armor, a deep grayish-blue all down his shoulders and the backs of his arms. It still boggles my mind that he’s a dragon. Not the big, lizard-y, flying kind, obviously, but still…

His silver eyes flick over me coolly. “Human. Lysander’s asking for you.”

I straighten, my whole body suddenly on alert. “Yeah?”

“Red room, five minutes. Bring whatever that is,” Bear grunts, jerking his chin at my mug. Then he’s gone as silently as he arrived.

I shoot a look at Orion. “Is he mad?”

“That’s just Bear. Better do what he says, though.”

I hurriedly mix honey into the tea — lots of it, knowing Lysander’s sweet tooth. I feel silly carrying a mug of tea across the busy club floor, past a St. Andrew’s Cross where a naga is squealing as he’s flogged, but no one gives me a second look. One of the red rooms is closed, with the sign flipped to ‘Occupied’. I knock.

Bear opens the door. “He’s still under. Takes him time to come up, especially when I can’t touch him.”

He steps aside to let me in.

“Under?”

“He’s a submissive. He drops when someone Doms him. Lately he drops hard.”

Oh.“What can I do?”

I catch a glance of Lysander on the couch, but Bear steps in front of me, drawing my eyes back to him. “He needs aftercare. Hold him, if he wants that — he probably will. Talk to him but don’t ask questions. Tell him he did good.”

Ohhh.

The back of my neck heats. That seems… incredibly easy. A privilege, even.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” I ask.

Bear gives me a dark look. “He’s an adult. He asked for what he wanted.”

“Ez?” Lysander’s voice comes from behind us, and this time Bear steps aside. I hurry to his side. He’s wrapped in a deep blue velvety blanket and shivering faintly. “You came.”

“Course I did.” I put the mug down and crouch in front of him, pulling the blanket tighter. “You look amazing up there. I love watching you.”

His eyes flicker away. “You do?”