Page 85 of Dragon’s Ending

“Oh, excellent,” I said. “Barely any of my organs exploded.”

She looked horrified enough that I relented immediately. “I’m joking. Just bruised.”

Her shoulders loosened slightly. “First round’s on me.”

“Megan,” I said, deeply offended, “I would never exploit your guilt for free alcohol.”

“You absolutely would,” Josh informed me.

Fair point. Megan already knew my order, and she turned to Ben. He hesitated, looking over the beers on offer.

“The Old Teaser’s good,” I told him. “Try mine first, if you want.”

“Yeah, okay,” he said. “I don’t know any of the others.”

We ended up on the battered bench seat, and when Megan returned with my pint, I pushed it towards him.

He took a cautious sip, blinked once, then took another much larger one.

“I can already taste the hangover,” he informed me. “But by God, it’ll be worth it.”

Laughter rolled around the table, easy and warm. Megan, bless her, fetched me another pint, seeing I wasn’t getting this one back.

Slowly, without me really noticing it happen, the remaining tension from the night before eased away. Not entirely. Megan still watched me sometimes when she thought I wouldn’t notice, checking I wasn’t secretly bleeding to death. Dafydd had also decided I was no longer allowed out of his sight for prolonged periods, judging by the frequency with which his attention snapped back towards me during conversations.

But mostly, things felt normal. Or as normal as they ever got around here.

I drank more slowly than usual, sticking firmly to my second pint while the others drifted cheerfully onward. Nobody commented, but I caught the tiny flickers of surprise all the same.

Usually I’d have been in the midst of everything by now, provoking arguments, winding Josh up until everyone laughed, throwing out just enough chaos to keep the conversation alive whenever it started to dip.

Tonight, though, I found myself sitting back more, letting the others carry conversations without needing me to constantly throw sparks into the room to keep things going. Turned out they managed perfectly well on their own.

And God, it was good watching Ben settle into the group. I hadn’t thought about the fact he hadn’t really mixed with the rest of the family, Teddy aside. He was quiet but happy to join in rather than hovering awkwardly.

At one point Rhys asked casually, “So why don’t we know about your family, then?”

Ben hesitated before saying, “I’m not really able to tell you that.”

And instantly everyone read the subtext—Rhodri’s orders—and moved on. We’d all learned to expect information to be withheld and not to ask questions, and that automatic obedience made me uneasy.

Before I could dwell on it too much, Josh launched into a rant about the guy who’d dropped a cabbage on his foot in Tesco, and I almost forgot my unease. Especially when he finally accepted my point that he had no reason to be in Tesco, seeing as Glenys did all the cooking, and he had to confess he’d been buying chocolates for one of the Gruffydds.

Ben was laughing openly now, cheeks faintly flushed from beer and amusement, and I was absurdly pleased that he was here.

BEN

Everyone in the pub seemed to know one another, with the landlord, Gareth, stopping by for a chat as he cleared glasses at one point. But then the door opened and it was vaguely hilarious how out of place the newcomers looked. Humans, not dragons, dressed for a night out in the city.

Everything went very quiet for a moment as people in the pub stopped to look, then resumed their conversations, and the three newcomers made their way to the bar.

“This week’s Airbnb pickings,” Rhys said. He nudged Josh. “Guess you’re out of the running now you’ve got a girlfriend.”

“Are you five years old?” Josh shot back.

“Airbnb?” I asked Dominic.

“Some minor influencer stayed there—”