Steelhands - Jaida Jones [231]
For once, I could tell I’d gotten the better of them, since both Raphael and Luvander looked equally shocked. I supposed that sealed it.
“I hope you know this is entirely your fault,” Raphael informed Luvander, after a long pause.
“She does have hands, at least, after a fashion,” Luvander reasoned. “We’ll just have to make sure she understands her namesake. Since no one else will be singing it to her.”
The familiar sound of Ghislain coming back up the stairs heralded his return; he was followed closely by Adamo, and I realized there were no further boxes left. We were finished, with relatively little incident, and I had never been more happy to bid final farewell to a place as I was then.
“Just one more thing we need to do before we’re done,” Ghislain said, which brought me up short.
“There is?” I asked, wondering if I’d forgotten a room.
“Adamo tells me you’ve been having some trouble with those upstairs neighbors,” Ghislain explained, jerking his thumb upward. “Figured I could give ’em a few good-byes of my own.”
I stared at him for a moment, speechless. Then I couldn’t help but toss my head back and laugh, the others joining in, despite us all knowing Ghislain was dead serious.
“Go right ahead,” I told him. “Whoever moves in next will never know what a true hero you really are.”
“I’m fine with that,” Ghislain said, and started for the door.
With all of us together, it felt as much like old times as I’d needed. Just like the first time we’d been brought together by the dragons—though now I was armed with the knowledge that there were other, more resilient ties between us. I wasn’t going to forget it, and I didn’t plan on allowing the others to, either. It was a far cry from the timidity I’d exhibited in their presence once, but I liked to think I’d grown—perhaps into the kind of man worthy of a song or two in his honor.
I was a new man, and though certain parts of me were steel in name only, I would have no qualms about displaying my newfound resilience among my comrades. Somehow I felt as though I was the one who’d been rebuilt alongside these new dragons, and I wasn’t about to let the opportunity at a second chance pass me by.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
JAIDA JONES and DANIELLE BENNETT wrote their first novel together, Havemercy, over the Internet—Jones in New York, and Bennett in British Columbia. They now shuttle between apartments in Brooklyn and Victoria, B.C., which makes their collaboration much easier. They are also the authors of Shadow Magic and Dragon Soul.