Page 13

Damian

I paused in the middle of the walkway, forcing others to go around us to reach the intersection just ahead.

“Why are we stopping?” Aurora looked around, her hair dancing in the warm afternoon sunlight.

For just an instant, I allowed myself to follow the flowing locks as they cascaded down around her shoulders, the rays causing her natural waves to glimmer. She caught me looking and smiled.

Then I was back in control, shoving my dragon to the side and ignoring the things it was telling me to do.

“Because,” I explained, “I have someone I need to talk to, and I can’t bring you with me.”

“You’re trying to get rid of me?” She pouted.

“Don’t.” I waved a finger. “You knew this was why I came out here.”

“I know, but—”

“No buts.” Now, I smiled, showing her I had a secret. “Trust me, you have no reason to be upset.”

“I can think of a lot of reasons to be upset,” she countered.

“My comment was referring to our current situation,” I grumbled. “Now, let me explain because I’m trying to be nice to you. I found the best way to keep you busy while I go do what I need to do.”

“And that would be?” Aurora asked, playing her part properly when I didn’t immediately expand.

Turning at the waist, I waved a hand at the storefront. “Shopping. Clothes shopping, in fact.”

Dropping my hand, I waited for her reaction.

The expected outburst of excitement didn’t materialize. Instead of smiling broadly and proclaiming happiness, her face closed off entirely. Eyebrows knitting together, Aurora looked at the storefront. Then she slowly swung her head back my direction.

“What?”

“You thought you’d get rid of me by sending me to look at clothes?”

“I like to think of it more as temporarily detaining you to keep you out of my way while presenting you with a selection of the finest garments on the island.”

Her facade cracking, she smiled. “I didn’t bring my wallet, Damian. This is a big tease.”

“I’m going to tell them to charge me,” I said. “I’m not an idiot. I know you don’t have anything to use. Give me some credit for thinking the idea through.”

“Blame Janus. He hasn’t exactly given me a glowing impression when it comes to dragons giving a crap about others.”

“You’ll find that most of us are nothing like that fool.”

Aurora gave me a little curious look, but that was all.

After getting her set up on an account with me in both the clothing store and the “lifestyle” boutique across the street, I headed to the intersection and ducked down an alleyway. Just before the crossing, I paused at a nondescript wooden door and banged on it three times in quick succession, then waited.

“We’re not open,” a voice said as the door eased open a hair. “Come back later.”

“Not here to drink your beer,” I said, my fingers already wrapping around the door and pulling it open. “I need to talk to Peter.”

“Hey!” The owner of the voice cried out in surprise as I yanked the door open and stepped in. “Who do you think you are, barging in here like that?”

“I’m the magistrate,” I said, hitting the young man with the hardest glare I could summon. “That’s who.”

There was an audible gulp , and the young dragon backed off, wiping his hands on his apron. “Sorry, sir. I, uh, I didn’t know.”

Feeling like a jerk for lording my position over someone just trying to do their job, I took pity on him. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I just don’t have time to waste with Peter’s usual antics. He’s in his office, I presume?”

I was already walking before the man started talking. The layout of Peter’s Pub was more than familiar to me. The large establishment was on the corner of two of the busiest crossways in the entire market district and was the favorite watering hole for many a dragon.

Including those who often didn’t agree with the sovereign. Peter was a known opponent of the position of the sovereign as monarchal ruler of the Dragon Isles. As such, many of those who felt the same could often be found drinking his ales.

Which was why I made it a frequent habit of mine to raid the pub, looking for any signs of outright sedition or treason. Of course, I never did because Peter was one of my best informants and had been since before he took it over from his father, who was long an informant for my predecessor. That continued all the way up the line, where several generations in the murky past, Peter the original was brother to the sovereign.

It was a convenient cover, and one I hoped would again pay dividends. The Scepter of Anaris had to be recovered, no matter the cost, and soon. If whoever had stolen it figured out its magic and brought down the shield …

I shuddered to think about it.

“Open up, Peter, I know you’re in there! Don’t think you can hide from me!” I hollered, fist thundering against the door. “I’ve got you this time!”

“Go away!” Peter called back.

“I’ll be back in two hours,” I growled and then opened the door anyway.

“Don’t you ever get tired of that?” Peter asked from where he sat behind his desk, running a hand over his graying hair.

He wore a poorly knitted red sweater and comfortable, well-worn black slacks with a similarly colored pair of bar shoes. With one ankle crossed over the knee, he leaned back in his chair, tilting the front two legs off the ground while waiting for a response.

“Never,” I assured him, leaning in to shake his beefy hairless hand. Too many hours over the stove had long since singed away the dark black hair that covered much of the rest of his body.

“A shame. It bores me.”

I shrugged. “Next time, I could bring a couple of guards with me, lock the place down on a Saturday night, and make you sit there while we ‘officially’ go through all your records. Would you prefer that?”

All I got in return was an upraised middle finger. Peter chuckled at the thought, knowing I would never do that. Neither of us wanted to be there for that long.

“What do you need?” the bar owner asked, levering himself to his feet.

While not fat, which was extremely hard to be with the metabolism our other form demanded, Peter was one of the thickest dragons I knew.

“I need to know if you’ve heard anything new. More than idle chatter.”

Peter’s brown eyes flashed with a hint of copper-gold. “Must be pretty serious to have you barge in without fucking with my doorman.”

“Have you heard anything or not?” I growled, not appreciating his attempt at deflecting while digging for more information.

Scratching his stubbly face, he pretended to think. I clenched my jaw. Peter saw.

“Very serious indeed,” he mused, shaking his head. “Unfortunately, I have nothing for you. Nothing new you don’t already know. If you give me more, maybe I could help you …”

Peter might be my informant, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t also selling gossip to the highest bidder either. Many a member of the ruling council frequented his bar. They would pay very well for news of something that had me rattled.

I needed to keep it together. Keep people from prying too deeply and figuring out something was wrong.

“You would know if you’d heard,” I said, turning to go. “Let me know if that changes.”

I stomped out of his office with just the right amount of frustration for another failed raid. The young man working behind the bar was studiously polishing the top until it practically glowed.

Ducking outside, I paused to take a breath and decide where I wanted to go next or if it even mattered. If Peter hadn’t heard a thing, it was unlikely anyone else had. Not of something of this magnitude.

However, trying to silence my mind only brought to fore the shouting coming from the street.

Confused and curious about what could cause such a vehement confrontation, I wandered close enough I could make out the words.

“ We don’t want your kind here!”

“Get out! Go away! You don’t belong!”

“Filthy humans, diluting our greatness!”

The last was spewed by an older dragon, his face red with the effort of screaming his hate.

On the other side, Aurora stood stock still, surrounded by faces, many of whom who were shrieking yet more vitriol at her.

I cursed at myself for leaving her alone, thinking my people could be trusted not to behave this way.

Then the gray-haired dragon stepped closer to her and raised a hand.

Aurora flinched back in fear, and a haze of red dropped over my world as I started forward, shouldering aside anyone in my way.

“ We don’t want your kind here!” the older dragon screamed again.

I was going to kill him. My knuckles cracked and popped as I made a path toward him.

But before I could, Aurora stepped forward. I moved faster, fearing she was going to hit the dragon, but instead, she raised her own finger and began screaming back, standing her ground.