Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
ODESSA
Odessa froze, caught between relief at finally having her curse acknowledged and apprehension at what it meant that this stranger was able to see what not even her closest friend had recognized.
Who is this man? What is he?
Jax continued conversationally, completely oblivious to her warring emotions. “I knew there was something different. Normally water fowl and I get along swimmingly.”
“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously. Bean, having apparently decided that Jax was no longer a threat, turned around and sidled up to her, leaning his warm body against her ankles.
“You didn’t respond to my music,” he said, as if the answer should have been obvious. His dark brown hair fell over his forehead, disheveled and just a little bit wild, but somehow suiting him perfectly. His hazel eyes, flecked with green, were bright and clear and completely focused on her.
“It was…very nice?”
“Exactly.” He waved a finger to emphasize his point. “My magic should have calmed you, but you were just as cantankerous as before.”
Odessa crossed her arms. “I was not cantankerous, I was protective. You were trying to steal Bean.”
“I can’t steal something that was mine to begin with.” He mirrored her posture. “I was the one who found his egg.”
“So?”
“So I didn’t go to all that work just to leave him behind.”
Odessa looked down at Bean, directing her thoughts at him the way she had when she was a swan. “Do you want to go with him?”
The little dragon tilted his head back and forth, as if trying to understand. When he failed to reply after several more attempts, she sighed.
I guess that only works when we’re both animals.
“Do you want to go with him?” she tried aloud.
Bean shook his head so vehemently that he nearly fell over.
She gave Jax a smug smile, her curse forgotten for the moment in her triumph. “I guess you did go to all that work just to leave him behind. You’ll have to find another dragon.”
He shoved his hands through his hair with a groan. “It’s not that simple! It took me years to find him. Dragon eggs are extremely rare; females only lay once every hundred years.”
“I’m sorry.” Odessa shrugged. “But he’s made his preferences clear.”
“For now.” Jax pulled his shoulders back confidently. “We’ll see how long that lasts. I’m a Dragon Charmer.”
She blinked, sure she had misheard him. “Dragon Charmer?”
“Dragon Charmer and Bird Catcher,” he amended, as if doing so made any more sense than before. He held up a hand. “And before you try to tell me that it’s not a real profession, let me assure you that I know what I’m about. My family has been doing this for generations.”
“Charming dragons?”
Jax shuffled his feet. “Well, catching birds, more specifically. My Uncle Avi is the only one of us with a real reputation for charming dragons, but that’s just because he’s the only one brave enough to leave the metaphorical nest.”
An impatient yowl from the direction of the enclosures reminded Odessa that she had more pressing concerns than the questionable career choices of strange men.
She shook her head. “I’ll just have to take your word for it.
If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do. If you take that path, it will lead you back to the palace.
I’m sure someone there will be able to help you on your way. ”
He might be the only other person besides Boris and Katrin who knows about the curse, but I really don’t think he’s going to be much help. And if Boris finds out that he knows…
She scooped up Bean and settled him in the pocket of her apron against her waist, then turned and began walking through the Menagerie, surprised and mildly annoyed when Jax fell into step beside her.
“What does a swan do for work?” He clasped his hands together behind his back and looked around in fascination. “I didn’t realize birds aspired to be gainfully employed.”
“Shhh!” Odessa spun and threw a hand over his mouth, while her eyes frantically searched the premises to ensure that Boris wasn’t lurking in the shadows.
He normally retreats to his library once the sun sets, but it would be just my luck that he chose tonight to change his schedule.
“Was my question offensive?” Jax mumbled against her palm.
She shook her head, giving their surroundings a final scan. Once satisfied that her father wasn’t going to pop out of the trees like an owl, she slowly dropped her hand. “No, but it isn’t safe to talk about. You never know who might be listening.”
“What’s not safe to talk about? Your job?”
Odessa looked up, surprised to find the amused half-grin on Jax’s face so close to her own. She hadn’t realized in the moment how much she had invaded his space. She cleared her throat and stepped back. “My…situation.”
The half-grin fell into a contemplative frown. “By situation I assume you mean the state you were in when we met the second time?”
“Yes.” She started walking again. “You really should go back to the palace.”
“Dmitri said he thought you could help me.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Why would he think that?”
“He said you’re the expert in strange creatures. Ignoring the fact that his intimation that I am a strange creature is completely unfounded and totally off the mark, I would assume it’s because of your ‘situation,’ as you say.”
“He doesn’t know.”
“Really?” Jax tilted his head, reminding her of Bean. “Because it’s dangerous to speak of?”
Odessa let out a bitter laugh. “No. Because it literally can’t be spoken of unless you’re already aware of its existence. You’re the first person who’s figured it out.”
“What?” He nearly tripped over his feet in surprise. “Why? That seems rather malicious.”
“Normally curses aren’t cast out of good will.” She could feel Bean’s growl of displeasure rumble against her stomach.
“It’s a curse?”
“Well, I certainly didn’t wake up one morning and wish to be a swan during the daylight hours,” she drawled.
They had arrived at Katrin and Sonya’s enclosure.
Odessa pulled out her keys and turned the lock.
The gate swung open with a squeak, and she gestured him through.
“Fair warning—Sonya can be a little enthusiastic when meeting new people.”
Jax turned around in a full circle, studying the habitat with the curious excitement that she was beginning to suspect was a trademark of his personality. “Who’s Sonya?”
A loud, high-pitched squeal erupted from a dense thicket to their right, and Sonya came charging out, eyes wide and nostrils flaring.
Jax yelped and quickly grabbed her, throwing himself heroically in front of her while Bean growled as ferociously as a newborn lion and scrabbled his way out of her apron pocket.
Odessa’s quick reflexes, honed by years of experience wrangling spirited creatures, were the only reason she managed to keep the little dragon from leaping to the ground and getting himself tangled in Sonya’s hooves.
Sonya skidded to a stop, her tusks just narrowly missing Jax’s middle. She stared at him in challenge.
“This is Sonya.” Odessa clutched Bean to her chest as she stepped around Jax, intending to insert herself between him and the unpredictable boar.
The dragon seemed to settle, but the moment she relaxed her grip, he dug his tiny claws into her arms and pushed off, leaping to the ground with the grace and ease of a cat.
Before she could react, he bounded over to Sonya, spreading his wings wide, puffing his chest, and blowing out two tendrils of smoke from his nostrils.
“Bean!” He looked like a kitten hissing at a large dog, and Odessa was certain this interaction would end just as disastrously. She lunged forward to scoop him up, but Jax’s arm whipped in front of her, stopping her. She held her breath as the boar’s attention shifted from Jax to Bean.
Sonya’s eyes turned from angry to curious, and she snorted as she dropped her snout to get a closer look. Bean trilled as he tilted his head back and forth, then tucked his wings behind him and sat, curling his tail around his feet.
Sonya grunted, then jumped backwards as if inviting Bean to play. A few moments later, the two of them were romping through the tall grass, taking turns chasing one another.
“Huh.” Jax shook his head slowly as he let his arm drop. “That’s not something you see every day.”
A flash of silver in Odessa’s periphery pulled her attention from the odd sight. “Katrin.” She greeted the silver doe with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry I’m late. There were some unexpected developments.”
Jax lifted his brows as he turned, his eyes bouncing back and forth between them. He crossed his arms. “Is that all I am to you? A development? I’m wounded.”
Odessa rolled her eyes but otherwise ignored him. “The first being, we have a dragon now. His name is Bean.”
“I have a dragon,” he corrected. “And you’re not going to introduce me? I’m even more wounded.”
“You’ve already met.” She leaned into Katrin’s shoulders as she watched Bean hide himself in a patch of tall grass, then pounce on Sonya’s hind legs as she passed. “Katrin helped me carry you to Dmitri after I pulled you out of the lake.”
“Katrin, is it?” Jax surprised her by holding a hand over his heart and bowing. “I’m honored.” He waited a beat, and Odessa could see the moment the mischief entered his eyes. “She didn’t also kiss me, did she?”
Odessa’s jaw dropped—something she didn’t realize it was quite so capable of doing until she met this infuriating man. “I didn’t kiss you!”
Katrin let out a huff of air that was the closest imitation of a laugh a deer could make, and Odessa directed a glare her way. “Don’t encourage him.”
“Do you always speak to your animals as if they can understand you?” Jax reached a hand toward Katrin’s neck, but she shied away from his touch, and he shoved his hands in his pockets instead.
They were hardly her animals, but it wasn’t a point worth arguing over. She smiled fondly at where both Sonya and Bean had sprawled, momentarily exhausted, in a pool of moonlight. “They’re excellent listeners.”
“I can imagine. Though wouldn’t the other swans be more sympathetic to your plight?”
Katrin stilled suddenly, as if she had just spotted a predator in the wild. She turned wide eyes to Odessa, who simply nodded, wishing she could speak with Katrin the way she could with Bean.
Jax narrowed his eyes. “I feel as if I am missing some important context here.”
Odessa opened her mouth to answer and was not in the least surprised when the words she was searching for simply wouldn’t come out.
Well, it was worth a shot, anyway. But I suppose that just proves that the two aren’t tied together.
She closed her mouth again and swallowed thickly before forcing herself to smile brightly, as if a spark of hope had not just completed an entire life cycle in her chest. “No. Katrin and Sonya are much more understanding than the swans will ever be.”