The Faire (Harrow Faire #5) - Kathryn Ann Kingsley Page 0,95

been brushed. “Shut up, Puppeteer.”

Simon sipped his wine with wry smile. He’d barely eaten that night—no one warned him that as the groom he would not have time to eat—but there was certainly enough booze to go around. He might be a little drunk. He wasn’t quite sure. “Elena?”

“Elena.”

Simon snickered. He lifted his glass of wine to the Zookeeper, who lifted his beer in answer. “To feisty women. May you find your own someday, old dog.”

Rudy walked away grumbling. He made it ten paces before stopping and turning back to him. “Congratulations on your wedding night.”

“And here I thought I was the one with the bad manners.” Simon grinned. “Now, shoo and go change before you burst into flames in that outfit.”

Rudy’s relief was palpable. “Thank you."

“Is it…you didn’t. How?” Cora held the egg in her hands. Black with little white speckles like a robin egg, it would look like a typical bird egg, if it weren’t the size of a softball.

It was also moving.

Whatever was alive inside of it was eager to get out. She sat down on the edge of the bed in her boxcar-turned-truck and held it in her lap. Maybe the warmth of her hands would help the little critter.

“You wanted a dragon.” Rudy grunted by the door. “It isn’t a dragon. But it’s the best I could manage. Consider it a very late wedding gift.”

“If it breathes fire and singes my clothing, I’m going to be terribly annoyed,” Simon muttered from where he stood, leaning up against the kitchenette counter.

Rudy huffed a single laugh. “Enjoy, Cora.”

“Thank you, Rudy!”

“Yeah,” came the simple reply.

“B—” She looked up. Rudy was already gone. “—ye.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. She scooted back on the bed a little farther and held the egg carefully in her lap. There were cracks starting to form. “He did it. He really did it.”

“It had better not breathe fire,” Simon grumbled as he approached. He was acting annoyed but was smiling all the same.

Cora watched in awe as little claws broke through the egg. Then a nose. Then the blink of a lizard-like eye. Soon, a little head poked out of the hole. It was a lizard…with feathers. It looked more like a dinosaur that she had seen in a museum than a dragon, but—hey—Rudy did the best with what he had to work with. Cora wasn’t going to quibble.

It let out a small “Scree!” as it looked up at her. It was the color of onyx. Even the tongue that flicked out of its mouth was jet black. Its eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, and they were keenly watching her.

“Hi, there, little buddy,” she whispered to the creature, reaching out to gently stroke its head. “I’m Cora. Welcome to the world.”

It leaned into her fingers, chirping and cooing, wrapping the claws of one of its wings around her finger and chewing experimentally on her. It had sharp little teeth, but it wasn’t biting down hard.

“Are you going to name it Simon?” the Puppeteer asked with a playful grin.

“No.” She was still smiling down at the little feathered and winged lizard. It was slowly breaking out of more of its shell, and a long tail was now curled around her wrist. It crawled into her palm. Its wings were also its front legs. It stretched, yawned, and chirped up at her again.

Cora was instantly in love. She couldn’t stop smiling.

“I think I’ll name it Shadow.”

It was the second week in December when Louis flew into Cora’s boxcar with a laptop tucked under his arm. They still called them boxcars, even if they weren’t technically that anymore. The word was too engrained in everyone’s heads.

Of everyone there to adopt to new technology, Bruce and Louis were tied for first place. She omitted herself from the race since she only had six years to catch up on. “Cora!”

“Knock next time?” She laughed. At least she was dressed. Shadow, who was now the size of a large macaw parrot, was perched on her shoulder, his long tail curled around her neck to help keep him steady. He chirped a hello at Louis. Her “dragon” had become instantly fond of Magician the moment the smart man had made a habit of feeding him bits of raw meat at dinner.

Louis ignored her and was talking at a mile a minute. “Cora, I—I know you said Texas next, but I talked to Elena, and she understands. We have to go to Wisconsin. We have to go now!”