Deven and the Dragon - Eliot Grayson Page 0,11
maiden, for one thing, unless looks are very deceiving!”
The group below drew nearer — near enough that they might notice anyone at the top of the tower, should they happen to look up. Andrei lowered his hand and crouched down behind the wall, beckoning Fiora to join him.
“You know, my lord, I was thinking about it just now, and the letter they sent never used the word maiden at all. Or, in fact, any feminine noun or pronoun of any kind. Did you notice that?”
Fiora frowned, recalling the letter as best he could. “All right,” he said slowly. “I don’t think it did either, now that you mention it. I simply assumed.” Andrei grimaced, acknowledging the same error. “That hardly matters, though, does it?”
“No, but the letter most definitely used the words innocent and pure. And like I said, my lord, I’ve seen him before.” He hesitated, and Fiora gestured at him impatiently. “Well. I’d stabled my horse at the Jolly Tankard while I was in town for the day. When I returned to retrieve her — suffice to say I got an eyeful when I looked into the wrong stall. Your sacrifice most assuredly doesn’t fit the council’s description. Unless it was his purity the stable hand was sucking, that is.”
“Oh,” Fiora gasped. “Oh. Really?” Tell me more. No, no, he was not going to ask for details, damn it all. If he needed fodder for his prurient imagination, he had plenty of books. Also, he had dignity. And it wasn’t as if he could do more than imagine it, given his circumstances. He lifted his chin and straightened his cravat. Dignity, by God. “Well, I hardly suppose it matters, does it? Since this is all a farce in the first place.”
Andrei nodded. “We knew they had an ulterior motive to begin with, so a lie like this is hardly shocking. On the other hand, if they’d really sent us a pure and innocent citizen of Ridley, we’d have some idea of their criteria for choosing that person. As it is, my lord, I’m forced to wonder — why him? He may be an accomplished thief, or perhaps have some other skill that would help him steal or spy. We need to be on our guard.”
“We were going to be on our guard anyway,” Fiora sighed. “This just means we can’t depend on putting things on high shelves to keep them out of our unwanted guest’s sight.”
Andrei narrowed his eyes. “This is hardly the time to be making jokes, my lord,” he said quellingly, and then added, under his breath, “…as if you could reach the high shelves in the first place.”
Fiora ignored that by main force, though he felt the tips of his ears burn. That bastard Andrei. Not everyone could be tall, and it wasn’t as if Andrei could turn into an enormous lethal beast with great sharp teeth, now, could he? Fiora’s dragon form was a perfectly respectable size, at least, thank you very much.
He peeked over the battlement in time to see the group from Ridley drawing to a halt on the circular carriage drive before the castle. They stood in a milling knot, clearly wondering what to do next.
“This appears to be our cue,” Fiora said, and shrugged out of his coat.
“I’ll go down to greet them and await your appearance, then,” Andrei replied, and moved off toward the stairs.
Fiora stripped quickly and then tipped his head up, basking in the sunshine for a moment. He loved the feel of sun on his skin, whether soft and human or scaly and draconic. If only he could walk in the sun with someone he loved…the sacrifice’s wicked smile and long, lean limbs flashed through his mind, and his eyes popped open again.
No. No, there was no hope for him, and certainly no joy to be found in spinning fantasies that could never be.
Instead, he called upon the magic within him and felt his body begin to waver and morph, transforming from the inside out.
At last he shook himself, stretching and flapping his wings and startling a small flock of birds out of their nests along the peaked roof of the stairwell. Their angry squawks followed him as he launched himself into the air with one push of his powerful hind legs. Up, up he shot, straight up, aiming for a puffy cloud that drifted along above the river.
He leveled out, spreading his wings to the fullest and savoring the heat of the sun, the cool