The (Not) Satisfied Dragon - Colette Rhodes Page 0,82

the pillows, attempting to look alert.

“I could be wrong.” Shira shrugged. “Better to get a second opinion though, right?”

“Right,” Oren agreed. The sound of his voice still made me jump.

“Okay. Oren and I will take breakfast duty while the four of you…”

“Wash the stench of alcohol off our skin?” I suggested around a yawn when Shira trailed off awkwardly.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” she laughed. It was a rare sound, and suddenly the stabbing sensation in my temple didn’t seem so miserable.

✽✽✽

“Have you taken a knock to the head?” The Alchemist asked, gaping at Shira from behind the counter of her dingy little shop. “Dragons don't take passengers.”

“They don't?” Shira asked, looking startled at The Alchemist’s outright rejection of her suggestion to fly her up to the Records Keep. “I've ridden on the backs of dragons lots of times.”

“Your mates,” I said softly. “Or family, right?”

Shira nodded slowly. I hated explaining things like this to her. Not because it bothered me to do so, but I knew it upset her to learn things that she should just know. It was frustrating to her that she lacked knowledge that was learned through life experience. Life experience which she'd been so cruelly denied, though to what extent we still didn’t know.

“Well, how is she supposed to get up there?” Shira asked, throwing up her hands in exasperation.

“Griffin?” The Alchemist suggested.

Ezra shook his head. “The Keep is too high for a griffin to fly to. One of us will have to take you. Not on our backs, though. We'll make a sling and I'll carry you with my claws.”

“Ezra,” Shira gasped. “You can't just haul her around like a sack of potatoes.”

“Sorry, my love. Dragon scales are valuable to potion masters, and I don't trust her,” Ezra explained calmly, not looking sorry in the least. Shira looked taken aback, crossing her arms as she glared at him.

She seemed to forget sometimes that just because Ezra was nice to her didn't mean he was nice. He was actually a raging asshole most of the time.

“You can ride on my back,” Shira announced to The Alchemist, turning to face her while we all made noises of protest.

The Alchemist looked at her warily. “Have you ever taken a passenger before?”

Shira frowned. “Well, no-”

“I'll take the sling,” The Alchemist said decisively to a victorious looking Ezra.

“Suit yourself,” Shira sniffed, flipping her hair back.

“Don't be offended, little dragon. I just value my life is all,” The Alchemist cackled, rummaging around the counter and emerging with a piece of canvas she could barely lift. Seff gallantly went to her aid, taking the material from her.

“Meet me in the grove to the east of town,” The Alchemist instructed. “It's not good for my reputation to be seen with you.”

The Alchemist was remarkably calm about being bundled up in a heavy square of canvas, clutching her bag of potions to her chest and surveying the landscape. She didn’t make a peep when Ezra’s enormous black dragon hauled her into the air.

The swinging sensation the entire flight to the Records Keep didn’t seem to bother her either. The altitude, however, was her downfall. We landed on the platform outside the entrance to the Keep, and our normally grayish goblin was looking noticeably greenish.

“Never again,” The Alchemist chanted under her breath as she stumbled after us into the Records Keep. “Goblins aren't meant to be up this high.” She dug around in her bag of supplies, pulling out three separate vials and downing them all in a row.

“Are you going to be alright?” Shira asked worriedly.

“Of course I am,” The Alchemist snapped. “I am a genius. A little height is hardly going to defeat me.”

“Of course not,” Shira agreed solemnly. “Come on then, this way to the patient.”

I knew my uncles were visiting the Scribe today, keeping him comfortable, but I hadn’t expected my little sisters to be here too.

“What are they doing here?” I snapped, my voice coming out harsher than I’d intended. I hated them leaving the safety of the den.

Which may have been a smidge hypocritical.

Shira half turned to look at me, her eyebrows raising slowly, arms crossed. I shifted uncomfortably, not used to being on the receiving end of her disapproval. Usually that spot was reserved for Ezra or Hiram. Even the whole virginity issue had been more jealousy than ire.

“We’re here because we wanted to help,” Elora said, her face almost a mirror image of my mate’s disapproval. “He’d starve if you left this lot in charge of feeding