Chapter 3
Chapter three
Regulars he seems to be just passing through. He’ll move on eventually, so just bear with it a little longer.” I snorted.
I couldn’t imagine the frost dragon’s delicate stomach could take much more of the spice-rich food in Willowere—unless he did attempt to subsist on vanilla cake like Pyra had first suggested.
I, on the other hand, had been raised on my mother’s spiciest dishes, not to mention how she had used me as a guinea pig to test out new recipes. So unlike Yuri, I had developed an iron stomach to go with my seasoned palate.
After seating a new couple and checking on a few other regulars who were nursing their morning coffees, I circled back around to check on Yuri. I studied him from the corner of my eye as I wiped down a nearby table to see him typing furiously on his keyboard.
He seemed to be writing up some sort of document; I saw chunky paragraphs filled with long, complicated descriptions and dates scrolling through on his screen.
His glacial eyes hardly blinked, though his full lips occasionally pursed while he was concentrating.
He sat ramrod-straight, unlike most of the diner’s patrons, who slouched like shrimp or lounged back against the red vinyl booths.
“Can I help you with something, Mei?” Yuri intoned, with a quick glance at me.
I jumped, realizing belatedly that my hands had stopped moving while I was studying him. My cheeks reddened when I realized he’d caught me staring for the second time.
Clearing my throat, I approached his table and said, “No, it’s nothing. I was just curious about what you're always working so hard on.”
Yuri paused his typing to actually look at me. He seemed surprised by my interest. “I’m visiting Willowmere in order to research a dragon who used to live in this area, many centuries ago.”
“Really?” I slid into the booth across from him, and leaned forward excitedly, with my elbows propped on the table. He frowned at me, but before he could complain at my lack of etiquette, I pressed on. “I had no idea another dragon used to live here! What kind were they?”
“Ice dragon,” he sniffed. “Naturally.”
“It is pretty rainy and gloomy here in the spring and winter, but I didn’t think it was cold enough for one to live here permanently,” I commented.
“It’s far more surprising to see fire drakes here,” he grumbled, eyeing me like he was looking for an explanation.
I pressed my lips together.
Yuri sighed. “Anyways, there aren’t many records remaining from that time, but there’s still enough evidence to prove he had settled here at one point, before eventually moving further north.”
I nodded eagerly. “He might have exhausted the food supply if he stayed here for too long.”
Unlike modern dragons, who have mastered the art of shifting between our dragon and humanoid forms, ancient dragons were too proud for anything but their natural forms. The problem with that, other than being seen and attacked as a calamity-level threat by the ancient humans, was that they required literal tons of food to sustain themselves.
Even a small fleet of dragons would quickly exhaust the local supply of large animals.
“Precisely. After clearing out the nearby forests of bears and elk, he turned to hunting whales and sharks. When that supply also dwindled, I believe he was forced to move on.” A spark of excitement lit in his blue eyes.
“That makes the most sense.” I tsked. “If only he had set his pride aside, he might have discovered the amazing world of human cuisine—and a human-sized appetite!”
Yuri fidgeted with his bandage, suddenly looking a tad uncomfortable. “Mhmm.”
The silence stretched out awkwardly, as I tried to puzzle out the reason he had clammed up. Coming up with nothing, I instead asked, “How is your hand healing up?”
“It’s doing much better.” He ran a hand along the strip of linen, before belatedly adding, “Thanks to you and that gel. Would you mind, ummm…?”
Yuri held out his hand, looking at me from beneath his long white eyelashes. Was it an ice dragon thing or a Yuri thing to have trouble asking for help?
“Not at all.” I gently took his hand, sucking in a quiet breath as that now-familiar jolt of frost and comfort sang through me. I felt him shiver, too.
Closing my eyes, I used my senses to locate the small hint of heat that still remained in his burned skin. A normal human would not have even registered it was there, but to a being of cold and ice, it must have been incredibly uncomfortable to have even a hint of the fire element in his body.
I coaxed the warmth from his hand into mine, welcoming it home. It settled into the flames that lived eternally in my magical core, so small that it didn’t raise my high internal temperature by even half a degree.
But Yuri exhaled in relief as I opened my eyes and released his hand. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” I smiled, and saw the ghost of a smile tease the stoic dragon’s lips in response.
“You must have gotten plenty of practice doing that with your own burns when you were younger.” He smirked.
I stiffened, my smile fading. “Something like that, yeah.”
Memories of a raging, crackling fire I couldn’t control and the scent of ash flashed behind my eyes. I stood abruptly, shoving those memories back into the corner of my mind that I never touched. At least, not while I was awake.
Yuri’s brows pinched together, and he started to reach a hand out to me. “I didn’t mean—”
“I should go check on your inferno-less eggs benedict,” I mumbled.
But just as I turned to head back to the kitchen, a sharp slap rang out. I whirled towards the noise as the diner went deathly silent. What I saw brought my inner fire up to the surface, and had claws forming at my fingertips.
A girl who looked to be a few years younger than me stood staring at her boyfriend in shock. She slowly raised a trembling hand to her red cheek as he scowled at her, clearly furious.
“How dare you?!” he roared into the silence. “How dare you look at another man right in front of me!”
“I… I wasn’t looking.” The girl’s voice trembled nearly as much as her hands.
“Like hell you weren’t looking! I saw you sneak a look at that icy bastard!” He clenched his hands into fists.
The temperature around Yuri plummeted, so much so that I saw a thin sheen of ice creep across the floor. A few murmurs broke out as the girl shook her head vehemently in denial, green eyes wide. Her fear caused her to lose her grip on her magic, and her black tail and cat ears appeared.
She took a step back, looking around the diner for help.
But most of the diners were older, and though they frowned in disapproval, none stood up to defend her.
I caught a glance of Pyra’s and Nalini’s furious faces peering out from the kitchen, so with a sigh, I began to stalk forward.
If I let those two handle this, the diner would either be burned to the ground, or that foolish man wouldn’t be leaving with all of his limbs intact.
Neither option was good for business.
“Sir, I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave.” I kept my tone calm and level as I approached the pair.
“Who would want to eat in this dump, anyways?” He lifted his lip as he raked his gaze over me, and my temper flared at the insult. “Come on, Kiki. We’re leaving.”
He grabbed the cat girl’s wrist and yanked. She stumbled after him, but when she turned to look at me, her slitted eyes were lined with tears, and she mouthed, “Help me.”
My hand shot out, and I grasped the man’s wrist in talon-tipped fingers. My thin control was slipping, but I tried not to burn him. “Kiki stays.”
“Excuse me?!” He stopped abruptly, his eyebrows inching towards his hairline.
“You heard me.” I tilted my chin up, refusing to back down from the challenge in his stare. I increased the pressure on his wrist until the bone creaked, and he finally released his hold on Kiki with a curse.
The man rubbed his wrist vigorously as he glared daggers at me. “Fine, have it your way, you little brute.”
He turned to leave, so I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, even though what I really wanted to do was breathe a fireball at his back, and focused my attention on Kiki.
“Are you alright?” I asked her gently, scanning her for any injuries besides her cheek, which had started to swell.
She nodded mutely. I glanced up over her shoulder to see Pyra and Nalini give me a nod and a thumbs-up. I sighed in relief, glad to have averted that disaster. After all, while my parents were away, it was up to me to take care of the diner—and each one of its patrons.
“Good. Now, why don’t you take a seat at one of our cozy corner tables, and I’ll get you something warm to—”
Kiki’s eyes widened at the same moment I realized I had yet to hear the bell over the door chime. Which could only mean…
A shadow fell over me, and I whirled to see the man towering over me, claws extended and aimed at my chest. I silently cursed as I raised my arms, attempting to form the scales that could protect me. But I wasn’t going to be fast enough.
And then my view was blocked by a broad back as Yuri practically materialized in front of me. His scaled, clawed hand shot out, and claws screeched against scale with a sound that reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. A few strips of fabric fluttered to the floor at Yuri’s feet.
He had protected me with his burned hand.
“What part of leave did you not understand?” Yuri’s voice was unbearably cold and flat.
“Stay out of it!” he roared. “This has nothing to do with you!”
“Apparently, it has everything to do with me.”
With a yell, the man charged. I felt the temperature plummet an instant before Yuri’s breath froze the man in place. A layer of frost covered him, but to my relief, I could still sense the warmth of his heart beating deep within—tiny and shriveled though it may be.
Yuri turned to me, as the scales that had momentarily coated his throat melted back into skin. Without meeting my gaze, he explained almost hesitantly, “He’s still alive. Just encased in a thin layer of ice.”
I felt a wave of relief sweep through the other patrons.
I smiled shakily. “I know.”
He blinked, snowflakes falling from his eyelashes, as if he were surprised that I was not angry with him. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a snowstorm, but his eyes warmed when they finally met mine, catching me off-guard.
“Thank you. I shouldn’t have let my guard down like that.” I grimaced, feeling foolish. But…I didn’t feel as angry as I normally would have. Having someone get angry on my behalf was…new.
But not entirely unpleasant.
“No, you shouldn’t have.” Though the air around him was warming back up, his tone remained cold.
Good feelings gone.
“I know.” That stung.
“Always keep your scale armor on, until you’re certain the threat is neutralized. I might not be here next time.” Yuri barely glanced at Kiki before he returned to his booth and got right back to typing.
Conversations slowly resumed as I stared at the new statue that was currently cemented to the middle of the floor. What in the blazes was I supposed to do with him now?
Nalini slithered over with some cardboard in her hands. Using a piece of string, she hung it around the statue’s neck and grinned.
It read: Abuser.
“I think we ssshould leave him like that for a few hoursss before we call the sssheriff.” There was a definite sway in her hips as she returned to waiting tables.
“Agreed.”