Lord of Destiny (The Dragon Demigods #6) - Charlene Hartnady Page 0,18

He looks my way. “I think there’s a bottle of whiskey as well.” He winces. “That’s about it, I’m afraid. I can stock up.” He raises his brows.

“Don’t go to any extra trouble,” Maddox says, speaking for all of us.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble. I don’t mind,” Stephan says as he walks down a hallway. “I’ll show you one of the guest bedrooms,” he says, looking back over his shoulder at no one in particular.

We walk down the hall after him. “This is my office.” He looks sheepish.

Sheesh! My eyes pop out. To one side, there are several desktop PCs and a laptop. Everything looks top-of-the-line. On the other side of the spacious room is a gamer’s paradise. There are gaming chairs and all the latest gaming tech, including what looks like virtual reality equipment. The screen is obscenely big. There’s also a single bed. The covers are ruffled. I see a whole bank of cupboards on the far side, and a door. I’m assuming it’s a bathroom.

“I’m a software developer. I’ve also invented a couple of apps along the way.” He shrugs.

I’ve heard of people making small fortunes developing apps. I think I might be looking at one of them. I’m duly impressed.

“In case you didn’t notice, I’m an avid gamer.” He smiles. “I’m somewhat of a homebody. It’s tough having my kind of ability. I avoid people…crowded places. This is how I socialize most of the time.” He makes a face. “Sad, I know, but what can you do?” He gives a one-shouldered shrug.

“Raven is the same,” Maddox pipes up. “We can’t get her to go anywhere crowded. Anywhere fun.”

“I’m sure.” Stephan locks eyes with me for a moment but quickly looks away. “I would prefer it if you stayed clear of this room,” he says. “I have various systems running. If you accidentally touched something, or…” He pushes out a breath. “I could lose hours of work…days even.”

“No problem,” Barrett says. “We’re not really into tech. We don’t have anything like this where we come from.”

“Oh?” Stephan looks interested. “No gaming? No computers?” He frowns.

“None of that stuff,” Barrett says. “We were completely off the grid. We farmed and hunted. Lived off the land. Kept to ourselves.”

Stephan looks taken aback. “That’s a little…strange.”

“It was…different,” Maddox adds. “There was no mingling with humans.”

“Really?” Stephan looks shocked. “Not at all?”

He shakes his head. “We kept to ourselves. Leaving was an adjustment.” I sense that Stephan wants to say or ask something else, but Maddox leaves the room before he can. We still need to be careful about what we divulge. “What’s down here?” he asks, speaking up so that we can hear him from the hallway.

We all follow. “It’s the bedroom I was talking about,” Stephan says. “This is the smaller of the three I have available.” The bedroom is bigger than the motel rooms we’ve been sharing. It’s nicely decorated. Warm and appealing. Maddox and I shared one bedroom, and the other three shared another one. They’ve taken turns sleeping on a fold-out bed on the floor. Thankfully you can generally choose a double bed or two singles. We’ve mostly been okay. This is like heaven in comparison. A big queen-size bed. A cozy wingback chair in the corner. There’s a lovely view of the gardens. I can smell lavender and roses.

“There are enough rooms for each of you to have your own space. They all have an en suite.” The bathroom attached to this bedroom is decorated in white and gray. It’s almost as big as one of the motel bedrooms, as in the whole room, including the bathroom. It’s gorgeous.

“I’ll take this one,” I say.

“Are you sure?” Maddox asks, frowning. “You might prefer one of the others.”

“One of the spare rooms upstairs has an en suite with both a bath and a shower,” Stephan says. “It has a balcony overlooking the gardens. It’s really beautiful. In fact, both bedrooms upstairs are nicer than this one.”

I shake my head and shrug. “Thanks, but I don’t need anything fancy.” In my opinion, this is seriously fancy. “I’ll let you two fight over who gets the bigger bedroom.” I smile at my brother and Barrett.

“I hope you’re not a light sleeper?” Stephan asks me.

I shake my head, frowning. “No. Why is that?”

He smiles and, holy hotness, but I take note. “Good, because I often work late or start really early. I work all hours. I’m busy with a huge project right now. I wouldn’t want to disturb you.” He