06-25-2017, 11:25 AM
I half expected her to glare and duck out of the hug, so I’m pleasantly surprised when she relaxes against me and actually hugs me back. Ah hell, it’s been...too damn long since anyone’s done that, or at least anyone but one of my kids. And they’re biased, even if they’re right that I’m fantastic and extremely huggable, solid iron or no. Hell, almost forgot what it was like. She came from a solid line of huggers, though, her dad notwithstanding. And even he’d come around to the idea, though sure as fuck not with me. I can’t quite help the smirk on my face at the thought, but lucky for me my face is out of sight when it happens.
“The island wasn’t my idea, not at first, but that was one of the reasons I wanted to stay, yeah. The kids and I can all walk across it, but there’s only a few hours a day when the tide’s low enough for your average miscreant to show up and make trouble. And if they’re not careful, they can get stuck here for hours and hours.” My grin’s just a little sharp-edged, just a little toothy. “Plenty of time to catch their scent, if we’re keeping up on our rounds. And why wouldn’t we, when it’s such a nice walk around the island? Sea air, waves lapping at our feet, sun shining down on us. Makes the work a hell of a lot less like work, yeah?”
I tilt my head a bit, eying the water. “Of course, there’s more and more magic coming back every day. There’s always a chance. But we aren’t entirely defenseless. After all, there’s me.” I puff up my chest, all smug smirk and aren’t-I-fabulous posturing, but maybe a teeeny bit of amusement sneaks into my eyes. I mean, I’m not wrong. I can take on a lot of what this world has to throw at a person. Not all of it, of course. I haven’t forgotten the iron corpse of my grandfather that stood in Silver Cove until there was no Silver Cove, a dragon eye carved into his shoulder as a reminder that even the ironborn were fallible. But it took...well, her grandmother’s own special brand of magic-not-magic to rend his soul from his body and leave the Cove without his leadership.
“And there’s a dead sexy dragon floating about somewhere who’s at least probably got our back unless he’s still a little put out with me over some tiiiiny grudge he might be holding, long story.” Not so long, really, but sometimes it’s more fun to leave things up to people’s clever imaginations, yeah? I grin and nod forward and start walking. Might as well start the tour as I talk, right? After all, talking’s my specialty. Well. One of many.
“My dad actually showed up and took over, the fucker, and I moved the lot of us to this gorgeous lake up in the mountains for a bit. Almost as defensible, what with surrounded by all giant fucking rocks, right? Still had water for the kids to race across, clear all the way through to the bottom even in the deepest parts. We still go to visit sometimes, but dear old dad I guess got bored once there was no one to lord his victory over but the one guy who’d thrown in with him. Or something, who even knows with him? When I saw it was clear and just waiting for us to come home, well. How could I resist? Ea, the woman who was in charge before, I think she wanted a break from the drama, you know? So she handed things over to me and my buddy Reilly, the one Kali calls her papa? He’s got a thing for her mom, and he’s been around since before the twins were even born, basically her second dad.”
He’s a good man, Reilly. A good role model for the kids, and okay so I maybe secretly still hope he and Lacey will get together. She deserves some happy, and so does he. And as delicious and utterly fuckable as Lacey is, I know myself well enough to know I’m not the type to make her happy. Just to break things more the way I do every time I try. The last thing I want is to hurt her more than I already have.
“Anyhow. Welcome to Ischia. This is the main island, and mostly it’s just me and mine living here right now. Ea and her family, including sexy dragon man, seem to have settled on one of the smaller islands, and we mostly leave them to themselves unless they want to come out and play, yeah? The water’s gorgeous, perfect for a swim. Or a stroll, if you’ve got the right feet for it. Or a handy chariot like yours truly to carry you. You know, either way. It’s even prettier at night, believe it or not. The water does this cool glowing thing, and lights up when you step on it. I don’t know if it’s some weird kind of magic that’s just the island’s or what, but it’s cool as fuck and you have to see it. Inland we’ve got a fair few freshwater springs, excellent for a nice soak, a drink. It gets a bit hilly toward the center, some lovely mountainy bits with some shallow caves that are nice shelter when the rain gets to be a bit much. Jungle through and through though, and full of these rainbow birds the kids love. Not a whole lot by way of wildlife aside from that, at least not the big kind. Bugs and shit, you know, it’s a jungle after all. Where do you want to start?”
“The island wasn’t my idea, not at first, but that was one of the reasons I wanted to stay, yeah. The kids and I can all walk across it, but there’s only a few hours a day when the tide’s low enough for your average miscreant to show up and make trouble. And if they’re not careful, they can get stuck here for hours and hours.” My grin’s just a little sharp-edged, just a little toothy. “Plenty of time to catch their scent, if we’re keeping up on our rounds. And why wouldn’t we, when it’s such a nice walk around the island? Sea air, waves lapping at our feet, sun shining down on us. Makes the work a hell of a lot less like work, yeah?”
I tilt my head a bit, eying the water. “Of course, there’s more and more magic coming back every day. There’s always a chance. But we aren’t entirely defenseless. After all, there’s me.” I puff up my chest, all smug smirk and aren’t-I-fabulous posturing, but maybe a teeeny bit of amusement sneaks into my eyes. I mean, I’m not wrong. I can take on a lot of what this world has to throw at a person. Not all of it, of course. I haven’t forgotten the iron corpse of my grandfather that stood in Silver Cove until there was no Silver Cove, a dragon eye carved into his shoulder as a reminder that even the ironborn were fallible. But it took...well, her grandmother’s own special brand of magic-not-magic to rend his soul from his body and leave the Cove without his leadership.
“And there’s a dead sexy dragon floating about somewhere who’s at least probably got our back unless he’s still a little put out with me over some tiiiiny grudge he might be holding, long story.” Not so long, really, but sometimes it’s more fun to leave things up to people’s clever imaginations, yeah? I grin and nod forward and start walking. Might as well start the tour as I talk, right? After all, talking’s my specialty. Well. One of many.
“My dad actually showed up and took over, the fucker, and I moved the lot of us to this gorgeous lake up in the mountains for a bit. Almost as defensible, what with surrounded by all giant fucking rocks, right? Still had water for the kids to race across, clear all the way through to the bottom even in the deepest parts. We still go to visit sometimes, but dear old dad I guess got bored once there was no one to lord his victory over but the one guy who’d thrown in with him. Or something, who even knows with him? When I saw it was clear and just waiting for us to come home, well. How could I resist? Ea, the woman who was in charge before, I think she wanted a break from the drama, you know? So she handed things over to me and my buddy Reilly, the one Kali calls her papa? He’s got a thing for her mom, and he’s been around since before the twins were even born, basically her second dad.”
He’s a good man, Reilly. A good role model for the kids, and okay so I maybe secretly still hope he and Lacey will get together. She deserves some happy, and so does he. And as delicious and utterly fuckable as Lacey is, I know myself well enough to know I’m not the type to make her happy. Just to break things more the way I do every time I try. The last thing I want is to hurt her more than I already have.
“Anyhow. Welcome to Ischia. This is the main island, and mostly it’s just me and mine living here right now. Ea and her family, including sexy dragon man, seem to have settled on one of the smaller islands, and we mostly leave them to themselves unless they want to come out and play, yeah? The water’s gorgeous, perfect for a swim. Or a stroll, if you’ve got the right feet for it. Or a handy chariot like yours truly to carry you. You know, either way. It’s even prettier at night, believe it or not. The water does this cool glowing thing, and lights up when you step on it. I don’t know if it’s some weird kind of magic that’s just the island’s or what, but it’s cool as fuck and you have to see it. Inland we’ve got a fair few freshwater springs, excellent for a nice soak, a drink. It gets a bit hilly toward the center, some lovely mountainy bits with some shallow caves that are nice shelter when the rain gets to be a bit much. Jungle through and through though, and full of these rainbow birds the kids love. Not a whole lot by way of wildlife aside from that, at least not the big kind. Bugs and shit, you know, it’s a jungle after all. Where do you want to start?”