The (Not) Satisfied Dragon - Colette Rhodes Page 0,76
Seff excused himself to the kitchen to put on tea while Ezra got a fire going in the grate and the rest of us got comfortable in the parlor. As soon as Seff returned, Ezra shifted into command mode. He stood in front of the fireplace, a domineering presence over all of us except Oren, who was in his usual spot leaning against the wall.
“What is your plan, Shira?” he asked, turning to face me fully.
“My plan?” I stammered, taken by surprise.
“We assumed you had one,” Hiram added, pouring me a cup of peppermint tea. “You were asking all those questions.”
“Pointless questions,” I mocked, repeating Nerio’s words as I rolled my eyes.
“Nothing you do is pointless. What did you have in mind?” Ezra asked, remarkably calm as he waited for me to issue instructions. The absolute faith he had in me these days never failed to throw me for a loop.
The absolute faith they all seemed to have as they waited patiently for me to formulate an answer.
“Queen’s Fever isn't a death sentence,” I hedged, looking among them. “We don't need to find a new Scribe, we can heal the current one. In fact, we're going to heal the current one, regardless, because it's the right thing to do. He's flightless, he probably doesn't have anyone trying to help him get better.”
“That's sort of the problem though, isn't it?” Hiram mused. “He's flightless. He doesn't have a gold to heal him.”
“There’s no guarantee a gold could heal him anyway,” Levi interjected. “It’s an illness, not an injury.”
“And there are other methods of treating illness than magic,” I countered. It was just like dragons to assume that if their gold couldn’t fix whatever the issue was, then it wasn’t fixable. “Tonic of the Forest is what both fae and goblins use to treat Queen’s Fever.”
“I've never heard of it,” Seff admitted, looking a little put out to not know something.
“It requires both blood saffron and bark from a dusk oak tree, both of which are rare ingredients. Plus, the ratios have to be exact when it’s brewed for it to work.”
“And you think that’s our best option?” Hiram asked dubiously. “How are we going to get all that stuff? Who's going to make it?”
Ezra made a strained noise, turning on his heel and pacing back and forth in front of the fire. “Shira’s friends, I’m guessing.”
“The Edans are excellent at finding rare items. And The Alchemist is the perfect candidate to brew the tonic,” I shot back defensively.
Oren’s eyes followed his cousin silently; his mouth turned down in disapproval. I couldn’t tell whether it was because of my plan or Ezra’s obvious disapproval.
“You don't like my idea,” I stated flatly, watching Ezra wrestle with his thoughts.
“I don’t think it’s the idea he’s struggling with so much as the accomplices you want to work with,” Levi sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I’m having a little trouble with it myself, beautiful. They aren’t exactly on the right side of the law.”
Hello. Assassin, right here.
“Is this why you’re always so tense around Xander? Because you think he’s a criminal.”
“We know he’s a criminal,” Hiram said, shrugging.
“It’s very easy for you to judge, coming from your wealthy families in this safe, lovely area, with your enormous den,” I ranted, waving my hand around the room. “Not every flight has what we have. Sometimes they have to do things we think are unsavory to get by. How fortunate for us that we don’t have to make those kinds of choices.”
Ezra's lips twitched as he took me in. My chest was heaving and I could feel my face heating as I'd talked. I loved, — er, liked — my mates, but they truly didn't have a clue how most other dragons lived.
“Do you intend on challenging all of our long-held beliefs about the world, or just the ones you disagree with?” Ezra asked mildly.
“All of them,” I retorted primly. “Someone has to. You’ve all gone unchecked for too long, and you think you're right about everything.”
My eyes flicked to Oren who hadn't moved from his spot against the wall, but was staring intently at me with the smallest half smile on his face. It was adorable. I wanted to lick it.
I wanted to lick all of him. The urge to claim him was making my head spin.
I turned my gaze on my other silent mates around the room, ready to aim my ire towards them if I needed to. Ezra had always borne the brunt