Page 29 of To Catch a Prince

Talia’s jawdropped.

“Dragons are our darkness. I’d wager you’d know a little aboutthat.”

She looked away, all the whole thinking that she might, in fact, know more than hedid.

Her Shadow was destructive, and perhaps dismissive of the suffering of strangers sometimes, but, at the core of things, it was a part of her, a part that loved the same things as she did. Never would it have endangered a dear one. If the dragon had, indeed, burned his friend, it was by accident, she was sure of it. But saying that seemed ratherpresumptuous.

“I’m sorry,” was all that came out of hermouth.

Now Vincent was sullen, and somewhat cold,too.

“Come, let us talk of it. We’ve spent a few days insulting each other quite naturally, surely by now we should be able to discuss our feelings and allthat.”

“Dragons do not discussfeelings,” he replied, stifling a smile. “And shift or not, that’s still what Iam.”

“Evidently,” Talia saidautomatically.

What else could he be? He’d been born with a dragon inside him, a beast that had come to the surfaceonce.

“You certainly growl and sulk likeone.”

Vincent did manage to smile now. “I don’t see youbalking.”

“Why wouldI?”

“Because any sane woman might prefer to be courted by an actualdragon.”

“Is that what you’re doing? Courtingme.”

“If you have to ask, I’m certainly not doing it right. Perhaps I should amp itup.”

“Perhaps youshould.”

He moved closer to her, so close she inhaled a potent whiff of his heady scent. Then, he whispered against the skin of her neck, close to her ear, “Careful what you wish for,witch.”

16

The Wall

Three days later,she was awkwardly sipping a lovely tea, and wishing she coulddisappear.

“And so, you’ve decided to stay here inTelenar?”

She should have demanded that he’d let them have tea alone. Talia was feeling quite awkward, scrutinized by dimpled, bubbly Mula Vasili, observed by the woman’s husband, who was pretending to read, and with Vincent standing next to the window, looking out but all of his attention focused on the conversation at hand. She could feelit.

She shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I do owe my sister a great deal and I’ll be glad to be of help to her where I can,” she admitted. “But while her and the King’s invitation was quite genuine, I’d feel awkward here, without apurpose.”

“Purpose?” Mula asked,intrigued.

Talia shrugged. “A job, something to do. I’m an Enchantress, of course, but I don’t quite yet know what that entails. Trips away, I’m sure. But what of the rest of my time? Everyone needs something to do.” Then, she blushed, recalling that she was talking to nobles. From what she knew of nobles, particularly women, they did not, in fact, need anything to do at all to feel quite content with their position. “I mean no disrespect to your station. But I’m used to working. I prepared spells at my parents’ practice each morning and visited patients in need of magical assistance every afternoon - sometimes, I wouldn’t get back home until long after dark. Going to the capital, and then coming down to your wonderful kingdom has been different, for sure. A break, of sorts. It did me good, but I couldn’t think of any permanence without some sort ofwork.”

She bit her lip and forced herself to keep quiet now. She’d probably made thingsworse.

A silence followed. Mula glanced at her husband and then her son. Vincent was done pretending to look out the window at all; he watched her. With amusement, if she wasn’tmistaken.

“Sorry,I…”

“I’m a weapon’s master, Talia,” Mula confessed. “I met Viktor in my class. The only man I couldn’t beat in less than three minutes. I still work. Viktor may appear quite the lazy git, but he oversees his principality, down to the welfare of the lowestvillager.”

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