“We do not lend original copies of any of our assets; yours is merely a copy in a format that is suitable for you. When it is no longer useful to you, merely tell the assets to return to us. We will harvest the raw materials and repurpose them for the next client. Does this conclude our business today?”
“Uh, yes, you’ve been very helpful.”
32
“So, how do the doggies find love?” Flea asked Natty as we sat around our room, trying to wade through the texts on canid mating rituals.
“I don’t mix with the mucky mucks on a regular basis, but I think they know who their mate is on sight. Has caused problems in the past, princes falling for chambermaids, or, even worse, an herbivore. There's a bunch of highly romantic tales about star-crossed lovers and all that, but not sure how often that happens in real life,” Natty said with a shrug.
“It says here that scent is essential, that canids mostly find their mates through love at first smell rather than sight,” I said.
“We can skip over the descriptions of sex, right?” Flea asked, flicking pages rapidly, his nose wrinkling.
“Yeah . . .” I glanced up at the knock on the door. We all looked at each other and grabbed th
e books. Flea opened it to see Mellors, the smug prick, standing there.
“I am to escort you to His Highness’s chambers,” he said.
“We know,” Flea said in a low growl, brushing past the wolf-man, his face getting in the canid’s, a universal sign of male aggression. Mellors merely sighed and looked pointedly at me.
“Try it again,” I said.
“I fail to see how this is going to help . . .,” the prince said, holding a copy of Moonlight on Sable in his hand, an arm placed awkwardly around Flea’s shoulders. Flea was not doing the greatest job of pretending to be the female lead, Sage McKenzie. He was straining his back trying to put as much space between himself and the prince as possible.
“Moonlight on Sable was on the bestseller lists everywhere. The romantic male lead, Brock, was a huge hit with the ladies. The actor who played him in a movie had to go into hiding for a while as all the crazy chicks were stalking him. Anyway, if you want a blueprint for what makes a human girl’s heart flutter, he’s a good place to start.”
“I would be more likely to be able to ape this . . . Brock’s behaviours if I had a female to practice on,” the prince said with a pout.
“Then bring one in from somewhere, because the only way you’re touching me is if I have a weapon in my hand, about to be plunged into your heart,” I said from where I was perched on a spindly chair.
“Your persistence in holding grudges is most vexing. You walk around my apartments unharmed, so where is the gratitude?”
“Now, you see there, it’s that kind of attitude that gets you in trouble. You think everyone owes you. No one owes you; I don’t care about whatever theory of divine rule you’ve got going on, if you want to succeed at getting rid of the curse you’ll have to at least pretend that the girl’s thoughts, feelings and dreams are more important than yours.”
“That’s impossible . . .,” he muttered to himself.
“For you, it is, hence the curse. Eye on the prize, your royalness, eye on the prize.”
The prince’s eyes narrowed at my words, but he mastered himself, turning to Mellors, “Fetch one of the maids for me. The pretty one with the white pelt will do nicely.”
“Celerity? Very good, sire, I’ll be back presently. I’ll leave Fenris and Rufus in here to keep an eye on the . . . humans.”
“Yes, yes, very good.” The prince turned to me. “Have you signed the contract yet?”
“Not until Gabe is returned to me. I told you that.”
“And what is to stop you from just up and leaving once he is back? At this point, I’m inclined to keep him until you have fulfilled your part of the bargain.”
“I have to stay, anyway,” I said. “Just like you, I’m waiting to see if Tess wants to go or remain here because she’s fallen in love with you.”
“Which you will try to stop,” he said, slitting his eyes.
“And try to help you achieve. A quick trip to the librarian will confirm the popularity of this book with human women. It also features a romantic lead that shifts from human to wolf form, so you can’t say I didn’t tailor this to your situation. Look, the mental gymnastics are killing me, but the worry about Gabe is making it near impossible to do. Bring him back and I’ll work on this for as long as you like with you.”
“Celerity, sire,” Mellors said, arriving back with a beautiful canid in tow. Like most of the beast people here, she looked like an Earthen animal that had evolved to be two-legged, not four. She had long slender limbs covered in silky, white fur and bright blue eyes that right now were flicking around the room, looking for a way to escape.
“Let’s try something new,” I said. “I think this will be an easy place to start. Celerity, have a seat, you, too, Your Highness. Now, your task is to find out more about Celerity. Who is she? What does she like? What moves her heart?”