Never Deal with Dragons (15 page)

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m trying to decide whether Jia remembers that we rolled the meat she’s serving around on the floor.”

I laughed. “If she does, good for her.”

Trian grinned back at me in response, and I suddenly felt self-conscious. This man was just too easy to like. I gave myself a mental shake. Despite our kiss, we hadn’t really solved anything. He’d still lied to me and left me to clean up the wreckage. “Trian, why did you steal DRACIM’s papers?”

The smile slid off his face. But he didn’t look angry. Instead he looked almost sad. He didn’t pretend to misunderstand my question. Trian caught my fingers between his palms and kissed me once, lightly, on the forehead.

“You deserve that at least. I’ll tell you, but I’d rather it be somewhere more private. Let’s get back to the rooms. I’ll change out of this,” he gestured to his tuxedo where, without his T-shirt, the muscles of his chest were clearly visible under the fine material of the dress shirt.

“I need you to meet with Rime. After tonight’s show, I can’t trust Richard to keep a level head.”

He nodded. “After, then.”

“Okay. I need to check on Carol anyway.” The dinner party had likely left her with a head in the toilet. She wouldn’t be pleased that Richard had seen her at her worst. Carol was a girly-girl if there ever was one.

Trian was quiet for the rest of our trip, and a few minutes later he deposited me outside my friend’s bedroom. “Myrna, please, just promise me you’ll keep an open mind tonight.” His eyes were bleak, as if he had already decided understanding was out of the question.

I swallowed. His worry made me nervous. Trian wasn’t the type to overreact. I prayed he had a good reason. Just looking at him made my heart ache with longing. Despite my best efforts to forget him, Trian had been a near-constant companion since the night he left. I might have hated him, but I loved him just as passionately.

“I’ll do my best.”

He nodded, kissed my hand, and left me standing just outside Carol’s door.

Chapter Ten

I knocked lightly before slipping inside the room. Dan and Henry looked up from the game they were playing, both giving me a grin before concentrating on the cards fanned out in front of them on the table.

My friend sat, wrapped in a blanket, on the couch with her feet tucked underneath her. Richard sat beside her, his hand resting awkwardly on her knee. Her eyes were red and swollen, and the tissue in her hands had been twisted so much it was barely recognizable.

I hated myself for putting her in this situation.

“How you doing?” I gestured to the large empty bowl nestled in her lap. “Did you find something to eat?”

She laughed, blubbering a little. “Not exactly. Richard gave me this just in case my stomach wouldn’t settle. I don’t think I’ll feel like eating for a while. Even the thought of food makes me ill.”

“Yeah, sorry about the little show they put on. It was for my benefit. I think they want me to go home. The dragons I know are generally less...effusive in their blood sport.”

Carol’s face went slightly green. “I can’t believe you do this stuff for a living. On purpose.”

I shrugged. “To each his own I guess. I’d blind myself with a paper clip if I had to put up with your job all day.”

Carol smiled, collecting herself, and looked me over, no doubt searching for bite marks. Satisfied I was still in one piece—and in possession of the shoes she’d been lusting after for days—she got down to business. “What did you do to your dress? Did you find out anything about Hian-puo?”

I ignored the dress question. Carol’s heart might not be able to take it.

“No. I got the same runaround. They insisted he would be here any day now. But we ran into one of his human servants.” I deliberately left out the part about jumping Trian’s bones. “Hian-puo is stalling.”

Carol’s face went slightly pale, and she swallowed audibly. “What else happened?”

I grinned. Carol’s curiosity had always overruled her good sense. Even when a party consisted of bad-tempered dragons and bleeding goats, she still felt left out if she didn’t see it firsthand.

“Well. That was an experience. One of the dragons was afraid of me, and the others were eyeing me like I was a piece of steak. So no, not much else happened at the dinner.” I shivered involuntarily, remembering the cold, angry eyes of Rime as I laid out our plans for blackmail.

“But we managed to convince Rime that helping us would be in his best interest. I’ll get in touch tomorrow morning to reschedule the mediation session.”

I clapped my hands cheerfully. “As for food, we’ve made a contact that could keep us supplied with some vegetarian options.”

I quickly filled them in on our encounter with Jia, skipping the part about me sucking face with Trian in plain view of the world. A girl had to have some secrets.

When I looked up, Richard was watching me. “Are you okay?”

I felt my slight blush crawl from my neck to the tips of my ears. “Yeah. I’m fine. Is it a little warm in here?”

Carol also followed me with her gaze.

I plopped down on the couch. I’d been running through the reasons for Hian-puo’s actions so far, and I didn’t like how everything was adding up. His response, through Rime, to Lord Relobu’s request while at DRACIM, and now his delay of the meeting—it bordered on outright defiance. If the Chinese dragon lord continued in this vein, we’d have a dragon war on our hands.

And that was something that could wipe out humanity faster than we could blink. We’d be nothing more than collateral damage. The stakes were much higher than I was comfortable with. This wasn’t just a discrete negotiation assignment anymore.

“So what’s next?”

Richard touched a hand to my head. “You get some rest. Trian and I will spend this evening getting to know some of Hian-puo’s other generals. And I’d like to visit Dreru, see if he’s heard any talk about what Hian-puo has planned.”

“Trian won’t be able to join you.” I filled Richard in on my talk with Rime, and how Trian was meeting with the general now.

He nodded. “I’m sure I can manage on my own.”

“You’ll be careful?” The thought of Trian and Richard traipsing around the halls without a guard made me uncomfortable.”

“Of course. Trian isn’t the only one who knows how to handle dragons.”

I looked to my roommate, who was staring at the far wall with a shell-shocked expression. After her experience tonight, I didn’t want to leave her alone. But I’d promised Trian I’d meet him after his visit with Rime.

“Could you hold off on your explorations for an hour or so? I have something I need to do.”

Richard followed my gaze to Carol. “Sure.”

“Fine.” I stood. “If either of you need me, I’ll be in my room.” I murmured my goodbyes to Carol, promising I’d be back later this evening. I toed off my heels, hooked them over my index finger, and started for the door.

Dan stood, but I gestured for him to return to his seat. “No need. My room is right across the hall. You can leave Carol’s door open until you’ve verified I haven’t been eaten by a beastie.”

“At least let one of us check your room?” Richard set down his glass and stood.

“Sure. Thank you.” My tone was less than effusive. I wasn’t deaf; I’d heard Carol hiss instructions in his ear to discover why I was suddenly hot-flash prone. But one look at Richard convinced me he felt more uncomfortable with the thought of prying than I did.

I figured it wouldn’t be any trouble to avoid the half-veiled questions he tossed in my direction while he pretended to inspect my room for monsters. I might even be inclined to share a little. Anything to keep Carol’s mind off dinner.

Surprisingly, Richard actually did search my room. Neither of us spoke. He seemed to be deep in thought, and I was simply too exhausted to come up with small talk. I sat on the bed and waited until he was satisfied I was danger-free.

“Carol told me your mom died when you were younger, and you were raised in the house of a dragon.”

Startled, I searched his face in the dim light. This was an interesting segue into “let’s talk about your sex life.” I paused to gather my thoughts. His voice told me my answer was important.

“Well, sort of. I lived in a house next door to a dragon.”

“How was it?”

I shrugged. “Normal I guess. Well, as normal as you can imagine. My foster parents worked in Moreth’s household.” Moreth was one of Relobu’s subjects, and Richard nodded, indicating he was familiar with the dragon. “My foster mom cleaned the house, and my foster dad worked with his livestock. He was nice enough. They worked hard, but he paid well. Why do you ask?”

“How did they bear it? Working around them day in and day out?”

“You mean how did they manage the dragons? It was mostly treated as a business arrangement. When we met in the halls, pleasantries were exchanged, but it’s not like we sat at the dinner table with him, sharing the exciting bits of our day. They did the work, and Moreth paid them. Sure, he had a temper like all dragons do, but he wasn’t unreasonable. I expect it was similar to your experience with Lord Relobu.”

Richard gave me an odd look before nodding.

“I’ll be back in an hour. To Carol’s.” I didn’t tell him Trian would be by later, I figured our discussion fell more under the personal than professional umbrella.

He blinked twice before he gave me a distracted smile. Something was definitely on his mind. “Okay.”

I watched as he turned and headed back to Carol’s room. I had to smile. He was a good match for Carol, and I appreciated his concern. “Hey, Richard? Tell Carol the dinner party turned into a dragon orgy, I was the main attraction—she’ll heard all about it in a little while.” She’d be disappointed if Richard didn’t bring her something to mull over.

It was his turn to look startled, but a second later he smiled in understanding. “Will do.” Hands in his pockets, he pivoted on his heel and disappeared behind the door to Carol’s bedroom.

The room I had been assigned was enormous, and almost identical to Carol’s. And just like the room across the hall the furniture appeared to have been purchased straight out of the pages of a catalog. I half expected to find price tags on everything.

I rubbed my stomach absently as I walked toward the window. I certainly hoped Jia would show up with some food soon. Before long I might be tempted to try raw meat.

I moved to pull the curtains on the window closed, but stopped with a gasp of surprise. It was a black dragon! His wings were spread wide but relaxed as he circled the midnight sky above Hian-puo’s palace, the faint glow from the security lighting the only thing keeping him visible. That was two black dragons in a one-month period. I was beginning to think I’d been mistaken about their rarity.

I watched him—I assumed it was male based on his size—dip and climb an imaginary obstacle course in midair. If there were other dragons around, they ignored him completely, and he didn’t go out of his way to make his presence known. He circled the house once, twice, before I lost sight of him. I sighed. How wonderful to know how to fly.

I checked the shiny clock mounted to my wall. It was half past eight. Trian should be here any minute. I’d barely had the thought when I heard a soft knock at my door.

But my visitor wasn’t Trian.

I opened the door to find a small girl with dark eyes leaning against the frame. She was dressed in a navy blue smock with ragged lace trim, well-worn and at least a size too small for her twig-like arms. “My mom told me to bring this to you.” She held up a tray that had to weigh more than she did, loaded with an assortment of crackers, fruit and cheese. I hastily took it from her hands and set it on the low table near the couch before she collapsed under the weight—or fainted in exhaustion in her exuberance.

She was extremely excited to be here. I watched as her gaze roamed around the room with an expression close to awe. “Pretty big, isn’t it?” I asked, curious to know how accurate my guess was about the newness of our decor.

She grinned, her dark eyes glinting in excitement. “I asked my mom if I could come see it. Huge. Our rooms look nothing like—” I saw panic flash in her eyes. “I’m not supposed to talk about it.”

“Okay.” I forced my lips into a smile. Like her mother, this girl was obviously terrified of her dragon employers. I held out my hand. “My name is Myrna. Your mom is Jia?”

“Yeah. I’m Cai.” She grinned again, her momentary fear swept aside by curiosity. Her fingers were rough against my palm as our hands clasped.

“Cai, very nice to meet you. How old are you?”

“I turned eight last week. That’s how I got the shirt. Mom says I’m big enough to wear a uniform now. I’m a dragonspeaker too! That means when I get older, I can work here at the castle. Only dragonspeakers are allowed in the castle. All the other humans have to stay outside.”

Cai smelled of cleanser and smoke, and I had a feeling birthdays led to more work instead of presents in this household. She did a quick pirouette to model the outfit, and I noticed a patchwork of scabs running along her calves.

“That’s a really pretty dress. Hey, guess what? I’m a dragonspeaker too.”

“That’s what my mom told me. She said you were here to talk to Hian-puo. He’s really scary.”

I smiled. “Oh, he can’t be that bad.” I wasn’t sure I believed what I was saying, but as I’d yet to meet the Chinese dragon lord, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“What happened to your legs? Did you fall down outside?”

“I dropped a tray.” Her smile was gone as she noticed the direction of my gaze. “Zi Xek was very upset.”

“Zi Xek is a dragon?”

Cai nodded and looked away.

I swallowed in an attempt to control my anger. How dare anyone, even a dragon, injure a child in such a way! “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

“It’s alright. Normally I’m fast enough to get away. My English is pretty good, huh? Mom says we should always practice just in case we ever get to go to North America. She says everyone in Lord Relobu’s territory speaks English.”

“Almost. Some people speak Spanish, too. The place I work, DRACIM? We have a lot of people who speak English, Spanish and dragonspeak. That way, we always know what people are saying.”

Cai nodded distractedly. She’d finished soaking up the decor, and now focused on the tray of food.

Anxious to take her—and my—mind off the actions of a self-important bully, I gestured to the food. “This is way too much for me to finish on my own. Would you like to join me?” It was obvious Hian-Puo’s servants were not provided the same standard of accommodation we had been offered. I guessed the food on the tray had been purchased for the same reasons our rooms were newly furnished—to maintain the appearance that we were guests. Cai eyed the food as if she’d never seen anything like it.

I checked the clock. Trian was late.

“Really?” Her face lit up like I’d offered her a pony.

“Really.”

It was all the encouragement the girl needed, and soon we were wrist deep in cheese and cracker crumbs. As delicately as I was able, I quizzed Cai about her life here in China, and with each answer I became more convinced I should have asked Trian to slice Rime to bits. These humans were not paid servants: they were slaves. Barely tolerated, always misused, they were treated worse than cattle being raised for slaughter.

No wonder the Chinese DRACIM office was so short-staffed. Hian-puo forcibly recruited anyone with the skill.

Jia and her daughter had been subject to a systematic life of poverty, torture and fear from birth. As I cut slices from an apple, I vowed to find some way to help these people. Lord Relobu must be made aware of Hian-puo’s treatment of humans.

As her stomach filled, Cai’s conversation slowed, and within minutes she was curled asleep on the couch, her frail legs tucked protectively against her stomach.

And Trian was nowhere to be found. I moved to the desk and scratched out a quick note. If he came looking for me, I’d be in Carol’s room. I couldn’t wait anymore for him to show up. I grabbed one of the lighter blankets and laid it over Cai’s sleeping form, and then lifted her into my arms.

I managed to open the door of my room without waking the child, and when I reached Carol’s room, I kicked the door lightly with my foot. Moments later, Richard’s face appeared.