Deven and the Dragon - Eliot Grayson Page 0,24
been thinking, and I’m fairly sure the town council chose Deven to send to you specifically because of how…appealing he is.”
Blinding rage was Fiora’s first reaction; how dare Andrei pity him? He spun about, ready to give Andrei a piece of his mind…and then the meaning of Andrei’s words sank in.
The council had pretended their ‘sacrifice’ was pure and innocent, while Andrei had the proof of his own eyes that Deven was anything but. Was that a part of their plan? He recalled the byplay between Andrei and the councilwoman that morning. Was that what Andrei had seen that he had not?
Fiora leaned back against the sideboard, gripping the edge until his knuckles ached.
“You think Deven’s meant to seduce me?” he asked hoarsely, his throat still raw from coughing on that infernal brandy. “To — what, to get me to show him my hoard, perhaps?”
Andrei shrugged. “That’s one possibility. Or they might simply want to soften you up. Having a dragon as an ally would be a great thing for a merchant town. What bandits would dare to attack their caravans? And they could sell tickets, if nothing else.”
Fiora’s vision went red again, and he blinked rapidly to clear the flickering of ghostly flames from his vision. The tips of his fingers prickled, his claws making their presence known.
“I’m not a sideshow attraction, Andrei,” he growled. “Cursed or not. Is there no end to the indignities I must suffer?”
“Yes, my lord,” Andrei sighed. “I’m sure they must have an end at some point. Ignore the tickets. It was only a thought. I do think seduction’s intended as the means, though, whatever the goal may be. I think he may be Ridley’s — well, not to put too fine a point on it, I wonder if he has a certain reputation, and the town’s elders were happy to be rid of him? To kill two birds with one stone, as it were. They seemed unhappy enough at the prospect of his visiting whenever he liked.”
“They might have just wanted him to stay here as much as possible to accomplish whatever his job is supposed to be,” Fiora argued.
“Quite possibly both. In any case, my lord…” Andrei cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. The candlelight flickered on his bald head mesmerizingly, and cast an absurd dancing shadow of his long nose on the wall. Fiora focused on that, hoping to distract himself. He wasn’t going to like whatever Andrei wanted to say. “My lord, it would be unwise to allow yourself to like this young man. Likable as he undoubtedly is.”
“I can’t be seduced, Andrei! Do you recollect the terms of my curse? Do you?” Fiora demanded. He felt the wood of the sideboard begin to splinter under his fingers. Bloody hell, he was going to burst into full dragon form if he kept this up, and destroy everything in the room as he did.
“Yes, of course, my lord.”
“Really? Because the way you’re speaking, it doesn’t sound like you do!”
Andrei popped out of his chair, glaring at Fiora. “I assure you, my lord, I know every word of that curse as well as you do. How many days, weeks, months have I spent combing through any book we could find, seeking a way to break it? Looking for witches in three kingdoms? Have you forgotten?”
Fiora’s anger drained away like Andrei had pulled the plug on it, and he slumped back, loosening his grip. It looked like the furniture would survive another day, but despair rushed in to fill the vacancy left by rage. Andrei had worked tirelessly to help Fiora discover a way out of his predicament, and he didn’t deserve to be Fiora’s target. But…God, all that work, all that time, and still there wasn’t any way out. It was almost worse than if they’d ignored the problem.
“I haven’t forgotten. I’m sorry.” He hung his head down, unable to meet Andrei’s eyes.
“Don’t apologize to me, my lord. Just do me the favor of listening to me, for once. You are a dragon, and your lifespan will be long, but you’re still so very young. Even for a human, you’re young. Will you attend to what I say? And stop shouting about it?”
Fiora nodded, still examining the tips of his boots. He missed his mother with a sudden ferocity that made him ache. She’d give him the same lectures Andrei would, but then she’d hug him after. Could he ask Andrei for a hug? No, that was far beyond the