Solar said absolutely nothing as he heaved another log. The jungle was swelteringly hot and a bead of sweat chased another down his spine. He’d seen it coming. As her protector, quasi guardian, and friend, he’d done everything he could to ignore it. But there was no stopping it. He’d watched Zara blossom over the last four years. He’d observed each gorgeous step in excruciating, painful detail.
And the Oracle was accusing him of not noticing? He’d wondered almost every night for the last four years why the hell he couldn’t stop noticing.
He couldn’t stop noticing because he was one sick fuck. Lusting after Zara, so many years his junior. Well, not really anymore. She was two weeks away from being mateable actually, and thus viewed in the Dragon realm as completely grown up. But still. Solar had known her since she was a child. Which was why he was one sick fuck for having the dream he’d had about her last night. And practically every night for the last four years.
He paused over the log he was about to lift. Last night’s had been particularly reprehensible. Particularly the part with her hands tied behind her back. Solar shook his head to clear the image and groaned when it shook his headache straight into life.
“Are you gonna help here? Or are you just gonna sit on your ass and gossip?” Solar growled at the Oracle. The Oracle’s laziness knew no bounds and neither did Solar’s frustration with him. As the two main leaders of the Surgere, a group of revolutionary freedom fighters seeking to depose the king, you’d think they would both be pretty motivated. But here Solar was, heaving logs in the jungle, half a mile out from their makeshift camp of 50 or so Surgeres, completely by himself.
The Oracle studied his fingernails, the clouds above, the tree he was leaning against. The heat from the surrounding jungle rose in misty curls around them. The trees were alive with the chatter of colorful birds and curious animals, but the Oracle’s words cut right through it all. “You know, I’m not really clear why you’re doing this yourself, Sol. You’re the head of the entire revolution and here you are, sorting logs. Why don’t you ask one of the younglings to do it? They’re chomping at the bit for a task. Particularly one assigned by the leader himself.”
Solar turned to the Oracle. He knew when he was being baited and Solar was pretty sure it had been happening for about the last hour. “First of all, you know you’re basically as much of a leader in this as I am, whether or not you want to face the responsibility. And I’m here, building up our camp with my own two hands because I believe in equality. Because I’m no better or higher than the youngest Surgere. Is that enough reason for you?”
“Of course that’s enough reason.” The Oracle’s eyes were clear and piercing. He was doing that spooky see-right-through-you thing that Solar hated so much. “But you’re lying. That’s not why you’re doing this and you know it.”
With that, the Oracle rose and sauntered off toward camp. “Let me know when you finally decide to face facts, bro.”
Solar turned back to the pile of logs he’d selected and heaved two over his shoulder. So what if the actual reason he was out here dragging lumber around was because once Zara became fertile and mateable she was gonna need her own private hut? And because Solar didn’t trust some young fuckhead to do it right. And because the idea of some other dragon shifter building her fertility hut for her made him want to rip the heads off of his comrades. The Surgere were his brothers and sisters. They’d been through literal battle together. They had fought and died for one another. They would sacrifice themselves for the cause of overthrowing King Dalyer and restoring peace and equality to the Dragon realm. But some of the younglings were starting to make moves toward Zara and it was making Solar want to burn their entire camp to the ground.
“Fucking Oracle.”
O had gotten Solar out of more jams than he cared to admit. In fact, he was the reason, undeniably, that the revolution against the king had even gotten this far. Everything from his day-to-day predictions and alterations to their plans, all the way down to his grand plot four years ago to topple the king’s bodyguard system to leave him unprotected. None of that would have been possible, even remotely, without the Oracle. And for that, Solar would always be deeply grateful.
The Oracle was a deeply powerful tool to have on one’s side.
But fuck if he wasn’t annoying as hell.
Solar knew, without question, that the Oracle knew what kinds of dreams and errant thoughts Solar had about Zara. Solar wasn’t quite sure how the Oracle’s gift really worked, but he had suspicions that O was even able to watch other people’s dreams. Like a play.