Book 2: Chapter 76 (1/2)

“I don’t need to be chaperoned!” Luke said and pouted.

“That’s what everyone says, and then they have a litter of bawling children running around before they know it,” Kondra said with a nod. “I want to see this lady friend of yours before you go out to see her again.”

“I thought she wanted grandkids,” Grimmy whispered to Leila. “Why’s she being so contradictory now?”

“She wants grandkids she approves of,” Leila whispered back. “Which is why you should hurry up and finish the righteous quest she gave you.”

Grimmy snorted. “I don’t need her approval.”

“But I want our child growing up in a loving family,” Leila said and nuzzled his neck. “That includes knowing her grandmother and grandfather.”

“But your mother’s a loon!” Grimmy said. He cleared his throat as Kondra turned her head to look at them. “Oh look, a balloon.” He pointed a claw towards the transparent ceiling. The other dragons raised their heads, but all they saw was the clear night sky. Grimmy clicked his tongue, drawing their attentions back onto himself. “Darn, you just missed it.”

Kondra’s gaze lingered on Grimmy before facing Leo again. “And what happened during the assembly? Did anything change?” Her brow furrowed. “I’m not only uneasy because of Leila’s mate. I feel like something’s changing in the outside world. Did something happen to my church?”

“Everything’s fine, Mom,” Leo said and waved his paw dismissively. “Nothing’s changed. The world’s great. There was a tiny scuffle between the dwarves and the fairies at the assembly, but other than that, everything’s fine. Your church is fine. The dwarves aren’t overly aggressive. The phoenix matriarch’s being the phoenix matriarch. The humans are being humans. The penguins still haven’t frozen to death. Everything’s fine.”

“The more you reassure me, the greater my unease grows,” Kondra said with a frown. “I’m going outside to check on my church.”

“No!” everyone except Grimmy and Kondra shouted at the same time.

Kondra flinched and looked around. Her mate cleared his throat and wet his lips with his tongue. “Don’t you trust Leo, honey?” he asked in a soft voice like he was trying to coax a kitten. “If he says everything’s fine, then there’s no need to doubt him, right?”

“Yeah, Mom,” Luke said. “Why’d you send Leo to the assembly if you weren’t going to believe his report anyway? You have to learn to trust your children more often. Besides, Lulu’s outside right now. If there’s anything wrong with the church, she’ll definitely fix it or report it to you if she can’t.”

“Yeah,” Leo said with a nod, his head bobbing up and down. “Don’t you trust me?”

“It’s not right to assign someone responsibilities and then not trust them,” Leila said, chiming in as well. “You should stay here and relax. Look at all the hard work you’ve done for the continent already. The land’s at peace because of you and your righteous teachings. You deserve a break. Even the most hardworking man worked six days and rested on the seventh.”

“Which man was this?” Grimmy asked.

“Mm, legends about a different world told by a famous bard,” Leila said. “You probably haven’t heard about it.”