“He’s worried about you.”
I looked up in surprise. “He is?”
“Regardless of what you think, he cares about you, Sam. And we’re… concerned.”
“Concerned,” I repeated.
“This cornerstone business can be trying on an apprentice,” Morgan said. “Especially one of your… unique caliber. He will teach you in ways that I cannot. I’m too close to you. I’m biased and might not be able to see the full picture. And in the long run, that will cause more harm than good. For the both of us.”
“Because you love me,” I said, sounding smug.
“More like you grew on me,” he said. “Like fungus.”
“How long?” Because Randall was on the other side of Verania and I highly doubted he would be coming to me.
“A month to Castle Freesias,” he said. “Four months there. One month back.”
“Six months? Morgan, I don’t have time for—”
“You do,” he said, bringing himself to his full height. “And you will. Because this isn’t a suggestion. I am the King’s Wizard. You are my apprentice. This is an order.”
“You know, that ooh-scary-look-at-me voice might work on other people, but I’ve seen you vomit pink goo after that selkie scratched you and you told me you wanted to hug me for days. It doesn’t work on me anymore when you have demanded I snuggle with you.”
“I had a fever,” he said. “There were hallucinations!”
“Riiiight. That’s what we’re going with. And if I go, Gary and Tiggy go too.”
“Because you’re codependent and can never do anything on your own.”
“Rude. You’re just jealous because you’re not invited on the Super Awesome Road-Trip Fun-Time Extravaganza.”
He sighed. “You capitalized that, didn’t you?”
I smiled because he knew me so well. “When do we leave?”
“Five days,” he said. “It’ll give you enough time to prepare. And I’m serious, Sam. You stay on the roads. You stay out of the Dark Woods. You stay away from Dark wizards. You avoid any and all shenanigans. You get to Castle Freesias. You learn what you need to. You get back. I want no deviations to that, you understand?”
I laughed at him. “Come on. It’s me you’re talking to. What could possibly go wrong?”
MOM SAID, “You’re going where? And for how long?”
Dad said, “I’ll make sure you have plenty of yak fur to wear because you are a wuss and can’t handle the cold.”
Gary said, “You want me to walk to Castle Freeze Your Ass Off? Are you out your damn mind? I just got my hooves painted!”
Tiggy said, “You gonna get captured again. I go to keep you safe, tiny human.”
Morgan said, “Just stay out of trouble. For me. For my sanity. I beg of you.”
AND I did. I tried to stay out of trouble.
Too bad trouble found me even before we’d left for the north.
Dragons are funny like that.
“WORD ON the street is that you’re leaving,” Justin said as I left the labs.
And I’d done so well in avoiding him. Goddammit. I plastered the largest fake smile on my face and turned to look at the Prince.