“Ugh,” I groaned. “You are the absolute worst. For once I’d like to meet a celibate person and/or magical creature so I don’t have to fear for my virginity. This is getting ridiculous.”
“A virgin?” it asked, leering at me as we circled the keep. “Well, now. That certainly is unexpected. I suddenly feel the urge to despoil you completely. You know what they say, once you go dragon, all the rest is just laggin’.”
“No one says that,” I said. “Absolutely no one.”
“Six people say it,” he insisted. “I made sure of it.”
“That’s… isn’t that bestiality?”
“We’re all just animals,” he said. “Wild, sexual, writhing animals.”
“Yeah. No.”
“You say that now. Just you wait.”
“Gross.”
He landed in front of the keep. The keep itself was a large stone tower that rose from the center of the valley. It looked ancient, and there was evidence of a larger structure that had once stood around it. Large chunks of stone lay strewn around the tower as if the building had been blown apart or collapsed. I couldn’t tell what its purpose had been, be it church or a small castle, but I didn’t think it mattered.
The keep itself was large, and the entrance at the base was tall enough to accommodate the dragon. It pushed against the massive doors with its nose and they creaked open, scraping against the stone floor, grating against my ears. I gave maybe a second of thought to run screaming in the opposite direction with my hands flailing above my head, but I was able to curb that back and follow the dragon into the keep.
It’d been a church. I was sure of it now. Long gone were any pews or religious icons hanging from the walls, but the raised dais at the end and the size of the bottom floor suggested a congregation had once gathered here.
Now, though, it was a dragon’s nest.
And where it hoarded its treasure.
There was gold, of course. Massive amounts of gold in bricks and coins and nuggets. Shining jewels and goblets and scepters. That was expected.
What was not expected was the books.
Castle Lockes had a library that rivaled any in all of Verania. Scholars from all over the world came to the castle and could spend weeks getting lost in the stacks, finding scrolls and texts that hadn’t been touched in centuries.
This was bigger.
Against a far wall, stacked from floor to vaulted ceiling that I couldn’t even make out in the shadows, were books. More than I’d ever seen in my entire life. From what I could see, most were in good condition, though some looked to be in tatters or were burned.
“I thought dragons only hoarded beautiful things,” I said. “Objects that shine and glisten.”
The dragon followed my gaze to his book collection before he looked back at me. He cocked his head and for a moment, I wondered if I’d somehow committed a faux-pas, that it was insulting to discuss a dragon’s possessions with said dragon. But then it said, “There is beauty in the written word,” and I couldn’t really think of anything to say after that.
And it wasn’t until Grand Prince Justin of Verania came stomping down the stairs in the rear that I was able to find my voice again.
“Dragon,” he snapped, and I jerked at the sound of his voice. “Why do I hear voices? Who have you brought with you? I thought we were going to finish reading the—”
And his eyes widened when he saw me.
He looked good. His hair was a bit longer (which, of course, made it curlier and more devastating; when my hair got too long, I looked homeless), and he was maybe a bit leaner, but he appeared to be in good health. He wore a simple tunic and trousers. He was barefoot, and for some reason, I found that oddly disarming. The whole thing felt surreal. Normally he was poised and pinched, and here he looked like anyone else.
“Sam?” he said, voice slightly choked.
And this was the Prince of Verania, my Prince, but for some reason, instead of addressing him as such, all I could think about was how his fiancé wanted to do me, so I said, “Heeeyyy, buddy. You doing good? You look good. For being kidnapped. By a dragon. Like I just was. But I’m here to rescue you. I think. I really don’t know. I might be confused as to why I’m here.”
Justin stared at me.
“You’re very strange, pretty,” the dragon told me.
Justin’s eyes bulged as he looked up at the dragon. “You can talk again?” he demanded.