Chapter 78
THOROUGH SNUGGLING, A POLITE THREAT, AND THE RESTRICTED SECTION
When the storm, like a troublesome, entitled guest of a hotel who had outstayed her welcome with her outlandish demands and general mistreatment of the staff, finally decided to shove off and go and ruin some other beach town’s peace, it didn’t go without a fuss.
The entire town was littered with flotsam. Shingles, shutters, and colorful lanterns cluttered the boardwalk like crabs while kelp and seaweed ripped up from their beds heaped the beach like sunning sea lions, though far less charming and three times as smelly.
The townsfolk added extra tidying duties to their already busy schedules, and those with young children immediately employed them for beach clean-up.
The marines would handle the bigger messes left behind by the ship broken apart at sea, and the holidayers would salvage what time they could when everyone was too busy sorting out the town than catering to their every whim.
As for Mutineer Millie, she had donned her finest outfit: the lemon dress with white lace trim, the matching broad-brimmed hat, and a sapphire sash with pearl beading.
Her hair was curled and styled with her shiv hairpin, lipstick and eyeshadow accented her features, and she smelled enchantingly of jasmine.
Her ensemble was completed with her cinquedea letter opener shoved down into her bodice and dainty gloves of white lace that didn’t quite fit her anymore after all the calluses she’d developed training to be a pirate, but she made do.
Thus armed, she marched down the sandy path to the Library of Xandria with the menfolk at her heels.
After some thorough snuggling, Dirk had made a full recovery—full in the fact that he was no longer frigid and much more flexible.
But the baby dragon was weaker than he wanted to admit to his friends.
The knowledge that he did not understand what was happening to him, and the accompanying fear, rendered him mute on the subject.
Once again presenting as a Mini Red, Dirk was perched on Bradley’s shoulder so he wouldn’t strain himself in flight.
The apprentice, clad in his spare robe with the even hem, hurried to maintain pace behind the princess. Her shorter legs were somehow propelling her forward at a fantastic rate despite the resistance provided by the voluminous petticoats.
At the iron door, Millie ignored the bell and seized the dragon-shaped knocker in her lace-covered fist and gave it a thorough pounding. Then she spritzed the last of her jasmine perfume directly onto her nostrils.
When the familiar Komodo monk opened the door, his golden face bruised brown where Bradley had punched him, she did not give him a chance to speak first.
“Good morning, Renaldo,” she said crisply. “Are you familiar with the Tisanes, the ruling family of Amberly?”
“Why, of course, my lady. Every Komodo monk knows of them.”
“And do you know, Renaldo, that they have an unparalleled friendship with the dragon community?”
He nodded. “It is well known, my lady.”
“Then a review of the hospitality and professionalism of this library by a Tisane would hold a considerable amount of weight with said community, would it not?”
Renaldo straightened, emerald eyes slitting suspiciously. “It would.”
“So much so, that said community might take disciplinary action against anyone who hindered them and theirs.”
“If such a Tisane made such a complaint, I would suspect so.”
Millie fished about in her reticule and withdrew a garish pendant strung on a gold chain studded with pearls and dragonheart amber. The oval pendant was of the same reddish amber, set in more pearl-studded gold filigree, and an embellished A curled around the front of the gem.
“Do you recognize this?” she asked.
Renaldo gulped. “That is part of the set of royal jewels worn by the ruling family of Amberly. A ring for the king, a tiara for the queen, and the pendant for the heir.”
“And my little sister Rosamund has a much smaller version of this pendant because we are a loving family and didn’t want her to feel left out.
” Millie slipped the pendant into her reticule, tightened the strings about her wrist, and clasped her hands demurely in front of her.
“So, now that you know exactly who I am, I expect you to stop filling the air with your Komodo pheromones as you’ve being doing all week in an attempt to inflame my loins with lust—”
Renaldo blushed.
“—you will inform Sage Arasimi that Bradley Donmarin, my chaperone and friend and bonded companion of the dragon Dirk the Dangerous, would be very appreciative of a moment of her time, and you will assist Dirk with this.”
She handed him a folded piece of paper.
The Komodo slipped a look and went deathly still. “Your Highness, how do you know about this?”
“I told you, we have excellent relations with the dragon community. We have tea every third Sunday of the month.”
He slipped the paper into his robe and smoothed his expression. “I will do what I can, Your Highness. But in regards to your request about Sage Arasimi, that I cannot assist you with. She was badly wounded in the storm and was forced to divert. It is unknown when she will be able to fly again.”
Bradley’s hope faltered. Dirk snuggled tighter around his shoulders, lending his support.
“What horrible news.” There was true regret in Millie’s voice. “I will draft a sympathy letter immediately. Is there another sage coming to take her place?”
“The dragonlords are discussing that very matter, but whoever is selected to fill the role could not possibly arrive earlier than a week from now.”
Past the deadline. Bradley’s heart fluttered like a sail desperately trying to catch the wind and failing. In a single breath, his whole body went numb.
“Is there no book in that library that can help this man?” she demanded.
“That man is no longer welcome here, bonded companion or no,” Renaldo sneered at Bradley.
“Is there a book?” she repeated testily.
The Komodo monk shook his head. “Nothing so explicitly, anyway. There could be an obscure line hidden away in any number of books, but it would be impossible to find it.”
“This is the Library of Xandria!” The princess stomped her heel. “Surely—”
Of its own accord, the apprentice’s hand curled over her shoulder, squeezed lightly.
She spun, eyes bright and bottom lip trembling. She would continue to fight for him, if he needed her to.
“It’s alright.” His voice was hoarse but steady. “Let’s focus on helping Dirk. Dirk’s friend, I mean.”
Millie’s jaw tightened, unwilling to admit defeat.
“It’s okay,” he reassured her. And it was.
Already the numbness that had seized him had dissipated thanks to her and Dirk’s support.
Their belief. This was just another a failed attempt, but it did not signal defeat.
“Master Excelsior wouldn’t have left the Tianzi Toad in the tower as my only way of breaking the curse.
There must be other ways I haven’t discovered yet. ”
Nodding, Millie turned back to Renaldo. “Thank you very much for your assistance.”
The Komodo bowed lower than he ever had before. “My pleasure.”
“Yes it is,” she agreed, still sour at him for his manipulation and hindrances. Millie gave Dirk an affectionate chin scratch. “Good luck.”
He nuzzled his snout into her palm, then lifted from Bradley’s shoulders. “I’ll see you two later.”
Renaldo closed the door behind them, shutting away Dirk’s friends and the bright light of the morning for the gloom of the library’s foyer. “This way today, Master Dirk.” The Komodo swept past the basket of tonics and rounded a corner into a hallway previously unseen.
At the end of that hidden hallway, two black bookwyrms with bat wings and spaded tails perched on wooden stands on either side of another iron door, this one blacker than night and threaded with gold.
“So what is this about you trying to seduce my princess?” Dirk accused.
The Komodo wasn’t embarrassed in the least. “Can you blame me? She’s beautiful. The summer holidays bring all sorts of beautiful people to this place, and dragonkin, just like the full dragons themselves, love beautiful things.”
“Hmph.”
“The pheromones only help inflame what desire is already there. Lower inhibitions.” Renaldo chuckled lowly to himself. “I should’ve realized sooner when she didn’t throw herself at me that first day.”
“Realized what?”
“Komodo pheromones are easy to resist by those who’re already in love.”
“Millie? In love? With who?”
The look Renaldo gave him was the epitome of patronizing.
“Bradley?” Dirk flung up his paws. “No, no, no. She threatens him with a hairpin almost daily. He calls her a tula and . . .” He tapped his chin with a claw. “But he did call her pretty the other day. Not to her face, but still.”
“That’s where it starts.”
Renaldo opened the door to the restricted section, and the wicks of the candelabras snapped to life with heatless white flame.
There were no windows here, nor shelves, just a long table with each guarded book or scroll positioned on its own cushion of black velvet.
The bat-winged bookwyrms left their perches by the door and swooped in silently for new perches on either side of the table.
The Komodo referenced the slip of paper Millie had given him again, just to be sure, then offered the paper to the nearest bookwyrm.
The little creature’s razor-like teeth shredded it to bits so fine one could’ve mistaken the mess for lint.
Renaldo lifted a slim book bound in black leather and offered it to Dirk.
“This is the subject matter the princess recommended. You are free to look at the other works here, as well, but take no notes. I will leave you in private, but Noir and Akumu will remain to attend you. Fair warning, their teeth have the same effect on dragon flesh as they do on paper.”
Dirk gulped.
“Happy reading.” Renaldo closed and locked the door behind him.
“Can you two, um, turn around?” Dirk asked the bookwyrms. “I don’t like being watched.”
They shook their heads.
“Fine, fine, fine,” the Mini Red huffed. He flipped open the book to its cover page and felt his flesh tighten as if he’d been petrified by a basilisk’s stare.
WYRM.
Dirk forced a swallow and a ripple of luck from his scales. Both were pathetically weak, but they bolstered him nonetheless. Then he began to read about the curse inherent in every dragon and the fate that awaited him should it ever activate.