Josh rubbed at his cheek to erase the tear track and tried to clear his head. Ugh. He was so emotional and that wasn’t good for facing Kit! Kit was known for disliking outbursts and tears and ugly displays. Josh was feeling almost sick; his face felt too tight, his stomach was rolling, and too many thoughts were making him dizzy.

Forget getting caught with his pants down - he didn’t even have any pants!

And he’d been caught by that small-brained moron of a guard. That was almost more of an insult than just getting caught.

Except, well, pants. “I can’t believe everyone saw me without clothes,” Josh muttered miserably. “I’ve been ruined.”

One of Kit’s hands reached out and stroked Josh’s cat-ear, and it took Josh a moment of purring to realize he was inspecting the nick from the rosebush. Purr, purr, purr. “That’s not supposed to feel so good,” he grumbled.

Kit chuckled. “But it works wonders for calming you down, don’t you think?” he asked. “Aren’t you feeling a bit better now?”

A moment of assessment revealed that his belly wasn’t quite as stormy and his eyes weren’t itching themselves to tears. “A bit,” he admitted. “It still wasn’t my fault.”

“No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. We all did what we were supposed to and now we have to deal with the consequences,” Kit coaxed gently. “One such consequence is that we can now communicate freely. So I need you to focus on me, darling, and not on them. They’re just resting right now. I know how shy you are, and I didn’t want you to worry.”

Instinctively Josh tried to cover up even more. The coat he was wearing was big on him, but not so big that it covered everything. Only the fact that he was hunched over and sitting helped conceal his most private parts.

Suddenly Kit shifted and Josh saw magic being written. It was too quick for him to catch, but a moment after a blanket settled on his head when the hover magic was released. “Feel better, my shy little kitten?” Kit teased.

“It’s not bad to want to be decent,” Josh huffed as he arranged the blanket across his lap.

“Decent people don’t sneak into a Duke’s mansion disguised as a cat and then snoop around the bedroom of the Duke’s son - or sleep in his bed without any clothes on. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I wasn’t snooping!” Josh protested. Except, well, he was. Ugh! This was hard. “Ok, I sort of was snooping. And you have a good point. Decent people don’t do that. But it wasn’t like I could get out of your rooms or give away information or anything like that! Honest! My eyesight’s so bad I couldn’t even read half of what was in your room, and the other half was so boring I thought I’d die reading it.”

Kit let out a low, thoughtful hum.

Josh hunkered down and bit his lip. Most nobles were so disgusted by commoners touching their things that they would burn, bury, or otherwise destroy any item touched by someone of a lower class. And beastkin were lower than commoners. Most nobles thought they were even lower than beggars, the beasts in the stables, and rats. It grated against his pride to say it - but at this point did he even have any pride left? “I apologize for dirtying your Grace’s belongings.”

“Dirtying?” Kit asked, catching a bit of Josh’s hair as the kitten tried to shy away. “Who are you that you make my things dirty?”

Josh didn’t want to answer that. He’d heard enough from Henri earlier and didn’t want to spout trash from his own mouth. “That’s a good question,” he said through gritted teeth.

“It is a good question,” Kit teased. “I’d like to know who you are. And I’d like to know why I shouldn’t just wake up that guard over there and let him have you.”

A small gasp and Josh’s heart stopped for a brief moment. The guards. He trembled when he looked over at Henri. That one was only concerned with administration, most likely, but there were others. And even the lowest of the Imperial Knights were free to kill a beastkin on sight without consequence. Sometimes they were even praised for it.

If he was turned into the guard then he would die.

“Didn’t I tell you to look at me?” Kit asked. He grabbed Josh’s chin and turned his face away from the guard. “You’re trembling,” Kit pointed out. “You’re cute even when you’re scared. I prefer you chasing after toys rather than shaking under my wardrobe, though, so why don’t you tell me who you are and why you’re here?”

In the future Kit would be a murderer. At this point he probably already was. Polaris wasn’t exactly sure when Kit started killing and had only discovered that his first confirmed kill was his sibling. “Do you have a brother?” Josh blurted, then immediately covered his mouth. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to ask that!”

Kit’s face froze for a moment and his entire body went eerily still. “Just what are you after?” Kit asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

“I’m screwing everything up,” Josh complained as he buried his nose in Kit’s knee. There wasn’t a good place to hide here and even if he did Kit would just drag him out again! It wasn’t fair! Josh was too terrified to go with the guard and die. His only other option was staying with Kit until Kit became Drakon. What would that do to the timeline? Kit was sure to figure out Josh was from the future and then drag every last secret he could from Josh’s mouth! And Josh apparently talked in his sleep! He might spill secrets too big for the future and doom his own family to a life of ruin.

He was only supposed to find out the secret of the dragon evolution. That was his mission. Things were getting blown way out of proportion and Josh couldn’t stop it. The most he could do now was limit the amount of damage he did and maybe try to make the future a little better.

Yeah, there was that. If he knew the secret to becoming a dragon maybe he could make it so Kit didn’t become Drakon. And then maybe the future would be better.

A warm breath blew on his ears and startled a yelp out of Josh. “Thought of a good lie yet?” Kit chuckled.