Page 16 of Hoarded By the Dragon

“What do you mean, you traded?”

“He caught me—”

“He caught you?!”

“As you can see, I am alive. Where was I?”

Stella looks like she’s going to slap me, so I continue.

“Uh, well, he was going through like a heat or something, and I offered my… services.”

I shovel a huge bite of noodles into my mouth.

“Wow.” Her shock is absolute, but as it is every time I tell Stella about my exploits, there’s no judgment. She only cares about my wellbeing and knows I don’t want to do work like this anymore. “So you slept with him?”

I choke at the understatement of that but swallow before answering, “He fucked me in more positions than I know. I thought I was going to lose my voice from screaming.”

If anything, her eyes get wider. “Wow.”

“You already said that.”

She looks down at her food and starts to eat. After a few minutes of pondering in silence, she shrugs.

“Maybe I should break into a dragon’s house,” she says.

Jealousy stabs me at that, but I shake off the ridiculous feeling and force a laugh. “I don’t know of any other dragons. And I got the impression that this isn’t a normal occurrence for him.”

Stella shakes her head. “I’m not going to break into anyone’s house. I don’t have as much luck as you. I’d get eaten—in the bad way.”

“I’m not usually that lucky,” I say, serious. “Anytime I’ve gotten out of a bad situation before has been purely on skill. This was—I don’t even know what to think about it. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not going to see him again.”

“… Do you want to?” she asks.

Do I want to? Does it matter?

I shrug. It doesn’t matter. “He made sure I knew just how much he didn’t like me after all the fantastic sex.”

There must be something in my expression that Stella picks up because she softens. “After you were kind enough to help him out? What a dick.”

I cough a laugh. “What a dick indeed.”

Or dicks, rather. God, I’m going to miss that.

Stella throws a napkin at me, and I laugh. See, I don’t have to be the sniveling woman in the bathtub. I can laugh about how ridiculous this all is.

Our conversation continues, and I ask Stella about her work. She crafts charms for people. She’s very talented, and I try my hardest not to be jealous of her magical gifts. I just get weird dreams and have a skill for breaking and entering.

“I’ve got this super complicated glamour coming up for a minotaur. He’s really sweet, quiet though, real quiet.” Stella chews her lip. “I was thinking of asking him out.”

I try and imagine her with someone described as quiet and fail, but what the hell do I know about romance? “If you like him, you should.”

“Well, I won’t know if I like him until after talking with him more.” Stella shrugs. “But I feel like I have to start somewhere. It’s been forever since I’ve dated, and I’d love to get railed so hard that I lose my voice from screaming. It would really clear away the cobwebs.”

I snort. Something about the juxtaposition of Stella’s poise to her mouth always lightens my mood.

“Don’t act so shocked. You’re the one that shacked up with the dragon. I’m so curious, but I actually see him on a semi-regular basis for business and would rather not know all the details. He’s terrifying.”

“Oh?” I say, thrown off.

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