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So long as they didn’t mix with too many other people, he might just get some time with the whelp after all, if only as his babysitter.
Bo squeaked with joy and grabbed at Jhon’s beard with his chubby hands.
Something squeezed his heart, and he closed his eyes against it.
You can’t love him. You’re here on a mission.
“He’s so nice to hold, isn’t he?” Ella asked.
She was watching him with a knowing smile. The cloak was fastened around her shoulders, but she made no move to take the whelp.
“He enjoys being held,” Jhon said, nodding and wondering if she would notice the slight change in what she was implying.
“Sure does,” Ella said. “So, we’ll be home later today?”
“Sooner we start, the sooner we get there,” he told her.
“I was thinking,” she said. “Why don’t you just turn into a dragon and fly us there?”
Again, he thought she must be joking, but then remembered that she really didn’t know much about his kind.
“It doesn’t work like that,” he explained. “An Invicta warrior can only shift to protect his homeland. Any misuse of our dragon forms is a very serious transgression. It can lead to dismissal from service.”
“Oh,” she said simply.
She took the boy, and they headed out into a bright and frigid day.
As a dragon, he didn’t really feel the cold, and the babies from Imber were very adaptable to almost any climate. But he couldn’t help noticing the woman shivering, in spite of her cloak. He was eager to get her into the sleigh where she could sink into the furs again.
“Here you are, sir,” the stable droid told him. “He ate well, enjoyed his grooming, and then slept in a fresh stall before eating and being groomed again.”
The lichen-stag looked very content. His dusky, brown-gray fur was velvety soft from grooming, and his belly was full.
“I also took the liberty of cleaning your sleigh,” the droid added.
Sure enough, the sleigh was shining, polished so thoroughly that it almost looked like it had had a fresh coat of paint. The blades gleamed with a fresh coat of lubricant. That would definitely shorten their journey.
Jhon handed the droid a couple of paper credits, which it snatched up with what he would have described as glee, if it had been a biological creature.
He couldn’t imagine the droid had much use for money, since it didn’t eat or drink, and couldn’t technically own anything. But he knew that most systems allowed droids to use earned gratuities for upgrades and non-essential maintenance, like oil baths and fashionable cover plates, which seemed to please them, as far as such a thing was possible.
“My greatest thanks, sir,” the droid said. “It was an honor and a privilege to care for your beloved animal and conveyance.”
“You went above and beyond,” Jhon told it. “They’re lucky to have you here.”
The droid turned and rushed back into the stables, as if its programming weren’t equal to the gratitude it felt.
Jhon offered Ella his hand and she took it this time.
He braced himself, but touching her still sent his senses racing with pleasure.
She swung herself into the sleigh and let go of him immediately, her speed telling him in no uncertain terms that she felt it too.
“So, you tip droids?” she asked casually as she pulled a big fur around herself and the baby.
She closed her eyes and luxuriated for a moment, and he was transfixed at the sight.
“Uh, yeah,” he told her. “When I need something special, or when they do a good job.”
