“My lady,” Gentry said. He’d been sitting on the edge of the bed, but he laid down next to me. “Art thou—”

“So for a year and a day, they were together. Then the dragon’s daughter found out she was going to have a baby, and the prince got pissed off and acted like the dragon’s daughter was trying to trick him into making her a princess. Except she never wanted to be a princess, and she thought the prince was acting like a royal shitbag. In fact, she thought maybe she should just ditch the prince and keep the baby. For the record, babies are nice. Princes, not so much.

“So the prince and the dragon’s daughter had a big fight, and the prince took her . . . carriage keys away to keep her from leaving. So she hopped on the prince’s horse and rode away, and he came after her in the carriage. He rode up on her ass so close that when some other asshole swerved his carriage into her lane, she couldn’t slow down fast enough, and she got her front tire clipped and wrecked the . . . horse. Then the prince got what he wanted, because she didn’t have the baby, and he got to go home to his mommy and daddy. The dragon girl’s sister came to rescue her, and later she met a knight at physical therapy, and you know what happened next. The end.”

“But she was ne a dragon ne a princess,” Gentry said. “She was a phoenix.”

For a second I got teary-eyed, because that was exactly why I’d got the tattoo. To cover up my surgical scars and the massive stretch of road rash down my leg, but also to remind myself that I was going to rise from the ashes. I never told anybody that, and the fact that he got it seemed like the nicest thing.

“Yeah, it turned out she was a fire bird instead of a fire lizard, and she went and flew around the shitty prince’s castle and cursed him, and she was never seen there again.”

He laughed, which made me laugh. We laid there for a while not talking, until I said, “Can I touch you?”

“Yea, my lady.”

He was lying on his back, so I looked him over, trying to choose where. I picked the two scars under his chin and ran my thumb over them. Then I brought my hand back to my own space.

“That’s a dog bite, too?” I said.

“Yea.”

“So, Miranda didn’t get rid of her dogs, even after that happened?

“Nay, they weren not her dogs. She was but fifteen years old. They weren the dogs of her stepfather,” he said.

“She was only fifteen when she had you?”

“Nay, she was but twelve when I was born. I was three when the dog bit me, and she had no power to make her stepfather give up the dogs.”

“Oh my god. She was twelve?” I took back some of the horrible things I’d thought about Miranda, because that would fuck you up, having a baby when you were twelve. “Who’s your father?”

“I know not,” he said. If it bothered him to talk about it, I couldn’t tell.

“Okay, just be honest. Why did you take me to Miranda’s house that night? It was because you thought I was too white trash to take to your real house, wasn’t it? You didn’t want Charlene to meet me, did you?”

“My lady, nay. In truth, I took thee thither for the same reason I first wished to know Miranda. It granted me more freedom. If I said to my lady mother, I go out, she would say, Where will you go? Who will you see? What will you do? When will you return?

“If I said to her, I go to see Miranda, she dared not question me, for she felt it was not her place to query my right to see the woman that gave birth to me. The night I took thee to Miranda, ’twas with the same desire. That I be not questioned. That thou be not questioned. How do you know Gentry? How did you meet Gentry?

“Above all, I desired my mother not take thee aside to tell thee I am autistic. To tell thee of my voices. I longed for thee to know me ere thou heard such things.”

“Yeah, she did do that,” I said. “But I kinda get why she thinks she needs to.”

“Lady Charlene meaneth always to care for me, in the way she thinketh best.”

“So what’s up with your other family now? Is Brand in prison yet?” I meant it as a joke, but Gentry didn’t laugh.

“I know not. I saw them not after that night,” he said.

“Wait. What? You haven’t seen them since that night?”

“I could not bear it. They cared not for me, and they shamed me before thee. Thou wert wroth with me.”

“I was not ever mad at you. Things were just complicated,” I said. I held out my hand like I was going to touch him, but I waited until he nodded, before I touched the bite scars on his shoulder.

“And you’re not afraid of dogs, even though that happened?”

“Nay. I was a child and knew naught of dogs. Now I ken I must earn their respect.”

“Was that the plan tonight?” I said.

“’Twas only to make amity with the dog. And methinks him hungry.”

“Yeah, I don’t think they feed him enough. Probably some stupid bullshit about making him tougher. I wish people wouldn’t get an animal if they’re not going to take care of it.”

“’Tis why I have no dog, tho I would. I am not worthy yet.” He rolled onto his side and looked at me. My face, my mouth. I wondered if he was going to kiss me.

“What do you mean by worthy?” I said.

“Once a man earneth a dog’s devotion, ’tis nigh impossible to undo. A dog giveth his loyalty even to a man that beateth him and starveth him. I must be worthy ere I accept a dog’s trust.” He said it with a level of sincerity I didn’t think I’d ever managed about anything.

“Well, if you’re not worthy of a dog, I definitely am not worthy of a champion,” I said.

“’Tis not for thee to be worthy. ’Twas for me to become worthy. When I was a boy of fourteen, the Witch told me I would be given the honor of protecting a lady. For eight years, I waited.”

“But why me? Seriously, I have never done anything to deserve a champion.”

“When first I saw thee, thou wore a blouse of green,” he said. “Thy leg was braced and thy physic had caused thee great pain. The Witch said, There is she.”

“I think the Witch might be a little daffy. Like what if she just randomly picked me?”

“Nay. Ever she speaketh truth.”

I wasn’t sure what to think about that, because the Witch lived inside his head, and he was the only one who could hear her. She was part of Gentry, but not Gentry.

“I’m pretty sure you’re worthy of a dog,” I said.