Blink made a startling sound and curled around Sehun's hands, clearly not pleased about her sleep being disturbed and she slowly opened her eyes.  She let out a screech and joyfully butted him in the chest; Sehun would have been knocked flat onto his if he hadn't been expecting it and had braced himself accordingly. He laughed, the dragon's neck , Sehun tried to hold her upright but she's getting bigger and it was getting hard to hold her like he once used to. Now she's almost five times her size from when she hatched and Sehun knew, in a couple of weeks he'll have to take her somewhere because her growth was immense. She let out a rumble, head dipping in acquiescence. Sehun rewarded her with a few hard scratches under the scale-rough jaw. He darted his eyes to where Kai was stood a decent distant between them, the dwarf's eyes were very wide, mouth formed an 'O' shape as he stared at Blink with overt curiosity. Sehun stifled his laugh and obeyed Blink's unsubtle hints to move his petting to the dragon's flank. He smiled when he felt Blink shifted as she lifted her head to stare at Kai. She wiggled her body, leaping up to the air and flew around the room before she landed gracefully in front of Kai. Kai flinched, taking a few steps backward and Blink huffed, showing her irritation. But then she brought her tail and curled it around Kai's ankle. "She likes you" Sehun told Kai and the dwarf lifted his head to look at Sehun briefly before dropping his gaze back to the dragonet. A smile curved on Kai's lips and he crouched down to run a hand down down Blink's neck. Sehun let out a breath he hadn't realized he had held."She's beautiful!" He said, grinning wide at her. "How old is she?" "She hatched a day after we got married."  "Egg?" "Yes, Arkan was my mother's peer, he gave me the egg, saying it was his last offspring." "Arkan is a dragon too?" Sehun nodded and moved to where Kai was. He sat beside him and Kai sat down as well, he watched as Kai lifted Blink before settling her into his lap.Taking a deep breath, Sehun narrated everything, from when he met Arkan to how he ended up with Blink. And Kai had listened attentively without interrupting Sehun until he was done. "I am surprised how Jennie didn't sense her." Kai said almost absentmindedly and when he looked up at Sehun he added. "She has the ability to communicate with animals and control them." "Oh," Sehun suddenly remembered that time with Jennie in the kennel, how her eyes had changed to green. "So you do not know where you mother came from?" Sehun shook his head. "No" Kai had a thoughtful expression on his face. "I have a theory but I want to know something first" he looked down when Blink made pleased sound at the way he was petting her. "How were you able to keep her hidden for all those weeks?" "Uh, Jimin, he helped." Sehun said, glancing down at Blink and she had her eyes closed, probably asleep again. "Son of a–" Kai started but he stopped himself before he could finish the sentence. "He didn't tell me." "I asked him not to" Sehun said, voice low. "I didn't know you back then,I wasn't sure if he could trust you." "And do you really trust me now?" Did he really trust Kai? Yes he did somehow trust him but Sehun didn't know the extent of his trust for Kai. All he knew was that Kai made him feel things that Sehun had never felt before. "I think" he shrugged.  Kai hummed but didn't say a word, he continued to pet Blink and Sehun watched him closely, there was some kind of expression on his face that Sehun couldn't read, then he said. "Arkan protected your mind from any telepath?" Sehun nodded.  "How powerful is a dragon to be able to do that?" Sehun shrugged once again. "Honestly I do not know, but I guess they're telepath as well– i mean greater dragons." He paused, glanced at Kai before he continued. "You said you have a theory?" Kai hummed once again. "I am not sure though, but I think your mother is from Dracoland because as far as I know it is the only Kingdom that said to have dragons."  Sehun had thought of that too, but he wasn't sure because there were other Kingdoms on the other region of the world, all he knew his mother might be from any of those Kingdoms and she could be from Dracoland but he wasn't sure, if only– "Your father never told you how he met your mother?" Kai asked in a gentle voice. "I never asked" Sehun said truthfully. He never saw the need to. He thought one day he would ask his father, but after she died he couldn't bring himself to bring up the topic, he knew how much his father had loved his mother. "Sometimes we don't see a reason to ask about something important, thinking those moments are going to last." Kai spoke. Sehun stared at Kai for long moment, what he said was true, Sehun had thought his mother was going live long, see him get married and have one or two kids, but life didn't always go the way one had hoped it would. He nodded and decided to ask something that had bugged him for a while. "The king's throne, its looks like a dragon how– how did he?" Kai stood from the floor, taking Blink with him, he placed her back inside her trunk, her face for a couple of times and listened as she made happy rumbles before he turned to face Sehun. "Junmyeon claimed to slay a dragon and he presented its dead body to father in other to earn his favor." "Junmyeon? He really did?" Kai shrugged. "So he claimed. Maybe he found it dead and lied about being its Slayer or maybe he really did killed it. He also said, there was a rider on top of it– a barbarian from Dracoland, he said to have killed both its Rider and the dragon, but really that seemed unlikely."  Sehun swallowed, a Rider? If that was true, then it meant Junmyeon had killed a dragon and its peer, a cold shiver ran down his spine at the thought of himself and Blink meeting such fate. Or if one of them survived, he didn't even want to think of a life where Blink was not in it or dying and leaving Blink to fend for herself. If what Junmyeon said was true, he did really killed that dragon, then Sehun really should be careful, he knew warlocks were powerful but he never expected one to be able to kill a mighty and powerful beast such as a dragon . He wondered what Junmyeon's other abilities were– he didn't even want to know. "We should go to bed, it's late" Kai said and Sehun blinked out of his thought, looking up to see Kai watching him carefully. "There will be a celebration next week." "Celebration?" "The Queen's birthday." Sehun hummed and stood up to change into his night cloth, Kai flicked his fingers and dressed them both in a pair of sleeping robes. He laid in his usual spot, next to his husband. Kai whispered a soft goodnight to Sehun before he turned to face the other side. Sehun whispered back and he listened quietly as Kai's breaths even and he was certain the dwarf was already fast asleep. He wasn't sure how long he had been laying and rolling restlessly in the bed. He knew minutes have passed or probably hours, when he heard Kai talking in his sleep. He was giggling, squirming and then he was calling "Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo. I love you so much." Sehun felt a sudden pang, his chest tightened and he felt his eyes watered. Kai loved some else, he was in love with another person. The way he spoke the name Kyungsoo with so much love and affection Sehun never heard him spoke like that to anyone. Kai sounded so much in love with this person. Sehun could never be anything more to Kai, he would never be in Kai's heart the way Kyungsoo was and it hurt, it hurt so much he had to place a hand on his aching chest and looked sideway to where Kai laid. Now the dwarf had tears rolling down the sides of his face. "Soo, don't leave me, I love you– please come back to me"  Sehun's heart clenched but for a different reason this time. He felt hurt because Kai was hurting, he felt sad because Kai seemed sad. Rolling up his sleeves to his elbows in a futile effort to get comfortable, the bandage he had wrapped around his left wrist caught his eye.  Sehun unwound the thin silk binding, running a thumb over the healed, smooth scar of the wedded union rune on his wrist in the dark, the mark which bound him to the man who was his and yet wasn't, a husband only in name. There was no point pretending that he would be getting any sleep tonight. He gave himself a shake and replaced the bandage, then rose and sought to drown the clamouring in his head with exercise, pushing himself until his head spun and his body ached. When that didn't help, he decided to get some air and he quietly made his way out. The night was cooler than he'd anticipated, a light breeze skipping over the roof and around the parapets. The sky above was clear and black and speckled with stars, the waning moon shining like a beacon. Sehun leaned against one of the parapets, gazing out over the palace grounds and the surrounding city. There were a few lantern lights, but most everything was dark and quiet, except for the rustle of the fading winter breeze. "What are you doing up here?" Sehun startled at the sharp voice and spun to see the queen standing behind him. He froze, one hand on a parapet, suddenly feeling like an interloper. "I didn't know anyone else was up here," he said stupidly, and he could practically feel Joo-hyun's hand upside the back of his head. "Your majesty!" He greeted with a polite bow. This was the first time he was seeing the queen properly since the wedding. He had seen her sat beside the king, she seemed to be a reserved person. That much he could tell. The queen nodded, hands clasped in front of her, face pale and resolute in the moonlight. She looked like a bowstring drawn too taut, like she might snap at the slightest pressure. He was intruding. He should leave, let her be. Sehun stepped away from the parapet and bowed once again. "I'm sorry. Truly. I didn't mean to intrude. I'll just—" He laughed bitterly.