Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
In private wasn’t said but rather inferred.
That was fine. Gregori was not in the habit of answering questions honestly, clearly, as he’d fucking collapsed before admitting anything was wrong. If stepping away let him answer Sora’s questions truthfully while getting checked out, so be it.
Salem had no intention of leaving Gregori’s line of sight right now. It would surely trigger a relapse. But he could give the illusion of privacy.
He stepped about twenty feet away, finding a rocky outcropping to perch on top of. This way he stayed in line of sight with Gregori—a reassurance for both of them.
Sora performed diagnostic spells, from the look of it. From the way Sora moved about, checking every angle, he was being very thorough in his examination. Salem appreciated it. He wanted to make sure Gregori was on the mend.
The more he sat there—looking out over the dragons, the beach, feeling the humidity in the air—the more he felt like an asshole. It was beautiful here. The sense of community, of family, was incredibly strong. Anyone would give their right arm to live in such a place—except him, who had argued vehemently against it. Argued against it to the point Gregori couldn’t be honest with him. Couldn’t openly express when he hurt.
Salem sank his head into both hands, eyes closed, kicking himself repeatedly. He’d have to do so, so much groveling to make this up to Gregori. Salem wasn’t even sure where to begin.
Over the sound of water lapping at the shoreline, he could hear footsteps shuffling over the sand. He didn’t look up. Intuition alone told him who approached.
“You okay, bro?”
“No,” he answered on a long sigh. “Sam, I’m an asshole.”
“This fact is well established, but normally you’re okay with that?”
“I’m not okay with it when it damn near killed my boyfriend.”
Sam sucked in a startled breath. “Wow. You’re admitting to your relationship?”
Now he did look up to pin Sam with a glare. “Duh.”
“No, no, this is huge for you. I mean, you were denying it even three days ago.”
“Yes, well, having Gregori collapse right in front of me put things sharply into perspective.”
“Ah.” Sam nodded, like this suddenly made a lot more sense. “Crisis will do that. Kinda had a similar moment with Dimitri, so I know where you’re coming from. Um, so, don’t fret? Gregori will forgive you for this.”
“Gregori was never mad to begin with. I wish he would get mad at me. I prefer being yelled at over feeling like this.”
Sam came in closer, slinging an arm around his shoulders in a supportive hug. “I promise you’ll be fine. Dragons are easy, trust me; give them lots of love and attention, admire their hoard, all things are forgiven.”
Snorting a laugh, Salem grumbled darkly, “Hopefully that works here. Will you help me, though?”
“Do what?”
“Pack up and move down here.”
Sam actually jumped a little in surprise. “Shit! You’re serious?”
“It’s not worth it. My job and shoebox apartment are not worth trading his life for. I spent the whole flight down here thinking about it, and honestly speaking, trying to maintain my lifestyle isn’t worth his life. Nothing’s worth that. I do need to have a proper sit down with someone to figure out the logistics. It’s only the finances that worry me. But if I’m a doctor of the Valerii Clan, I get paid just the same, and it’s cheaper to live down here, so I think it’ll work out.” He glanced at Sam only to find his twin looking at him with this proud expression. “What?”
“You really have grown up. Putting his needs above your wants.”
“Are you deliberately getting on my last nerve?”
Sam threw an arm around his shoulders again. “I’m praising you! This is huge for you and I’m so proud.”
“Yes, well, as I said. I spent the entire flight down here thinking. I promised I’d meet him halfway and I’m going to do my damnedest to live up to my promise.”
Uncomfortable, Salem tried to shrug Sam off, but he only clung harder.
“I will absolutely help you pack up everything and ship it down here. I know you don’t want to leave him right now. For that matter, I feel like it’s a good call. Gregori needs you and his clan for a while before he’s back to normal.”
“Yeah. Exactly.” Relieved his brother was so willing to help, he relaxed a little. “I’ll make a list of all that needs to happen. I, uh, I know we talked about this briefly earlier, but are there seriously no pediatric surgeons at all?”
“Think about it. Up until last year, we didn’t have kids in the clans.”
Oh. Fuck, right. Only the Sodalicium did.
Sam shrugged and kept talking. “We’ve got a lot of kids incoming—all the clans are going to be having quite the baby boom—so a pediatric surgeon on hand will be super helpful. You know kids get into crap. It gets worse when said kids have wings and the ability to blow elements.”