CHAPTER 40
Keenan
Thankfully, the rest of their journey to the smithy was uneventful. Hugh followed them the entire way, despite Keenan’s attempts to send him back to his patrol once they reached a neighborhood Keenan recognized.
“This is my duty,” Hugh said cheerfully. “You’re going to visit Geoffrey, and settling domestic disputes is in my job description.”
He winked, but Keenan could see the concern in his eyes.
“It’ll be fine.” Keenan wasn’t sure he believed the words himself, but he couldn’t walk in expecting a fight. “I just need to fetch a few tools, and then we’ll be on our way.”
“Won’t fetching tools require passing Geoffrey? He won’t let you off without some kind of conversation.”
Keenan didn’t say anything. He couldn’t slip in the back door without his key, but he needed to avoid one of their standard confrontations.
“It’s probably best if I go in alone so he doesn’t think I’m here to cause trouble.” He glanced at the dragon on his shoulder. “That includes you, Cherry. Could you wait outside with the others?”
“But isn’t this your smithy?” Cherry asked, wrinkling her nose in a fashion that looked awfully strange on her snout. “How could you be here to make trouble?”
“It’s a long story,” he said, giving her a tight smile. “Suffice it to say, he may not be happy to see me. And I’d rather not make it worse.”
When he tried to unlace his fingers from Princess Sakura’s, though, she tightened her grip. “Don’t even think about it. He won’t see me as threatening, so I’m coming.”
Keenan looked a bit helplessly to Oliver, who had been waiting outside when they arrived, but the guard only shook his head. “I have no control over the lady.” One of his eyebrows twitched up as his eyes dropped to their joined hands. “If anyone here does, would it not be you?”
“That’s obviously never been the case,” Keenan sighed. He gave another tug on his hand, but the princess held firm.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come in, Keenan?” Hugh asked. “I’m not kidding when I say he was mad the last time.”
“Having a guard at my side will only inflame the situation. But I appreciate the offer.” He shrugged, and Cherry launched herself off his shoulder to perch on Oliver instead. Then Keenan took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob.
Princess Sakura pulled him back. “Your hand may be large enough to manage it, but perhaps I should assist?”
He supposed it wouldn’t be pleasant for her to have the back of her hand smashed against the rounded metal.
The little bell over the door jingled as they stepped through. The front counter was empty, but after a moment, the door to the back crashed open as Geoffrey burst through. He had a smudge across one cheek, and his thick leather apron had several new burn marks.
“Well. I didn’t expect to see you back here.” He folded his arms across his chest and scowled. “I told you when you left that I wouldn’t hold your position.”
Keenan forced a smile, but he feared his hand was cutting off circulation in the princess’s fingers. “I’m not expecting you to. I’m just here to pick up my tools.”
“Your tools? What tools?” his foster brother scoffed. “My father owned those, and you’re not taking them.”
“The ones I made.” Keenan’s jaw tightened, but he kept his voice level. “Master Elias acknowledged that they were mine.”
Geoffrey shrugged. “I had no use for them. I sold them.”
“You—” Anger bubbled up. Keenan reflexively pushed it down. “Those were mine. You had no right to get rid of them.”
“They were taking up space.” Geoffrey smirked.
“It’s not like you have any use for them.
The guild revoked your journeyman license, so you can’t work as a smith in Daraigh anywhere but here.
And you lost your chance to work here when you decided to run off with some random young woman without even completing your obligations first.”
The princess’s hand twitched. “Obligations that he had agreed to?”
“He worked here.” Geoffrey scowled. “So that means I decide what his obligations are.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Then how is he ever to complete said obligations?”
Keenan appreciated her desire to help, but he tightened his grip on her hand to warn her off. He didn’t need one of his fights with Geoffrey right now; he needed to figure out how to break the illusion. Besides, he’d already had enough fighting for one day.
“Are you the girl?” Geoffrey’s eyes skimmed over her. “I suppose I can see why he was willing, but you don’t seem to have done him much good. He couldn’t use those tools right now even if the guild would let him.”
Keenan took a step forward, his foster brother’s words breaking through his control. “Leave her out of this, Geoffrey. My arm isn’t her fault.”
Geoffrey shrugged again. “Maybe not, but she’s still responsible for costing you your job. I hope she’s worth it.”
Keenan’s jaw clenched. He didn’t know what he was looking for. He didn’t even know if he would find it here.
And he’d had enough.
“Thanks for your help,” he said tersely. “I guess it’s good to know you haven’t changed.”
He spun on his heel and marched back to the door, dragging Princess Sakura behind him.
“Where are you going?” she whisper-hissed, resisting. “We still need—”
“We’ll have to look someplace else,” he grumbled back. “There must be another way out besides dealing with him.”
“Don’t go to my house after this,” his foster brother called after him. “You’re no longer welcome there. My mother has prayed for your safety every day since you left, so I’ll let her know you made it back in one piece. But she doesn’t need to see you just to lose you again.”
Was he serious? “I’ll visit Miss Beatrice if I want to,” Keenan growled back. He grabbed the doorknob, ignoring the princess’s grimace. “And if I’m feeling generous, I won’t tell her you tried to warn me off.”
The slam of the door alleviated his feelings a little, but not much.
“How did it go?” Hugh asked, looking up from his kneeling position next to Cherry. She was on the ground now with her long neck stretched up toward him. “Did you get what you came for?”
“He sold them.” Shaking himself free of the princess’s hand, Keenan stomped off a few paces before returning. “He sold my specialized tools, insulted the—Sakura, forbade me from seeing the woman who raised me. I can’t believe he’s Master Elias and Miss Beatrice’s son.”
“Would you like me to roast him?” Cherry asked.
A surprised chuckle broke through his anger. “Thanks for the offer, Cherry, but no. Even if you could breathe fire, that wouldn’t be necessary.”
“What do you mean if?” the little dragon replied, pulling her head back with an affronted expression. “All dragons can breathe fire!”
He stopped pacing and stared at her. “If you can breathe fire, why didn’t you when you were being kidnapped?”
Her shoulders rippled in a shrug. “Adult dragons can whenever they want, but I haven’t grown all the way into it yet. So I couldn’t then.” Her green eyes glowed like a pair of emeralds reflecting the sunlight. “But I could if you command me to.”
He eyed her uneasily. “As in, give you an order? To hurt someone?”
The dragon continued to stare him down. “It’s no different than Oliver giving Hugh an order, is it? Why do you hesitate?”
“They’re both in the guard, and Oliver holds a higher rank.” Keenan frowned. “Giving you an order would be…”
He couldn’t put it into words. But something about the way she said it felt much different than a superior instructing those in their charge.
She tilted her head. “Don’t you wish to claim the tinderbox?”
What did that have to do with anything?
“It doesn’t matter, Cherry,” he sighed, putting his hand on his hip. “I may be mad at him, but I won’t ask someone to hurt him. Besides, the real problem is the guild.”
“Then shall I intimidate them?” she pressed, creeping closer while her eyes stayed fixed on him. “If you think I am not frightening enough, my mother will help. She is larger than your workplace, and her fire comes at will.”
“Even if I thought that would work, this is only an illusion of Hartford. What good would it do?”
“I can fly.” Her wings unfurled, but she didn’t launch herself into the air.
“If you command it, my mother and I will travel to the real Hartford and convince the guild to reconsider. And my friend Rokku and his older brother will come, too – they’re gryphons, and the magic under their wings will carry us there faster. ”
Keenan glanced around at his friends. Surely, someone else found this as disturbing as he did? But Hugh was glaring at the smithy, Oliver’s face was carefully neutral, and Princess Sakura was watching the dragon with a thoughtful expression.
He focused back on Cherry. “I appreciate the offer, but that’s not the right way to handle it.
I’ll submit an appeal when I get home, and if they refuse, I’ll find something else.
” He gave her a half smile. “But the next time I’m fighting off a group of bandits, you’re welcome to help.
Maybe after I give the tinderbox to Queen Arisa and she tells us where to find Miss Liesl, you can help Oliver and me rescue her. ”
The princess’s eyes jerked to him. “You said that like those two things are related.”
“I told you I didn’t undertake this quest for you, Princess.” He shrugged. “The queen knows where Miss Liesl is, but she won’t tell me until I give her the tinderbox.”
The tinderbox that had dragons guarding it. And possibly gryphons and who knew what else.
Princess Sakura’s eyebrows pulled together. Looking away, she gazed over the roofs of the nearby buildings toward the setting sun in the west.
“So you refuse to let us intimidate the guild members for you?” Cherry said. Her head drooped toward the ground. “And you won’t even give me the chance to breathe fire on the illusion of that man who treated you so poorly?”
“Sorry, Cherry.” He chuckled a little at her forlorn expression and crouched down in front of her. “If someone else tries to kidnap you, yell, and I’ll tell you to roast them. Deal?”
“Deal,” she agreed, giving him her dragon grin. Then swiveling her head around to Hugh, she said, “How did he do, Mother? Did he pass?”