Page 9 of Always Say Yes to a Dragon

I could send the plans to Niemrin and ask for his opinion, but he’d send them right back and tell me this was my job.

I could send them to my brother, Udar, but the thought made my shoulders tighten and my fists curl. Udar would know exactly what to do. He’d give me that smug little smile as he told me, then he’d worm his way in, and a few flicks of his wings later he’d have taken Kilinis out from under me. Goodbye city, goodbye prestige, goodbye any possibility of mating Elle.

I had to figure out how to do this myself.

Before I could do more than glance through the first proposal, Niemrin called.

“Remind me why I shouldn’t murder humans.” Frustration crackled through every word.

“We’ve tried very hard to make the humansnotafraid of us, and they’re still skittish.”

“But they’resoaggravating.”

“Who’s pissing you off?” And why? Niemrin was a knowledge-sniffer and spent most of his days holed up at Kilinis University. The little interaction I’d had with other human knowledge-sniffers—no, that’s not what they called them, academics?—suggested that they were just as reclusive as Niemrin. According to him, they rarely approached him unless necessary.

“It doesn’t matter. I just need a distraction.”

I glanced around my office as if one would appear out of the depressingly bare walls. “I’m going to decorate City Hall’s treasure room.”

He snorted. “Of course you are. Probably with pure gold. Thinking about bringing anything from your library?”

I winced. “You know there’s not a lot to bring.”

“I doubt the humans would notice. One thought the fact I had a library at all was impressive,” he scoffed.

Hope fluttered in my chest. “Really?”

“Oh no, don’t tell me you think this gives you a better chance with that blonde server?”

“I don’t think it gives me aworsechance.”

Niemrin laughed. “I can’t believe she didn’t run away screaming. What the fuck were you thinking, daring her to take her own tip?”

I shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it?” Although it wasn’t ideal having to eat at Norma’s Kitchen multiple times before catching her attention, what with its cheap decor and the chair that groaned every time I shifted my weight and scratched the insides of my delicate wings.

“Did it? She probably thinks you’re a lunatic.”

“Or she thinks I’m very rich and very interested.” I’d heard humans joke about overtipping cute servers.

Of course I wanted Elle to know I was far wealthier than any other suitor, and therefore a better choice. I could provide stability and keep her in every comfort. So I’d given her more than I thought any human would.

“She’s not a dragon, Az.”

Dragons courted each other with large gifts as explicit proof that they would be good providers. I’d watched enough human television to know that although they preferred to play coy, they also gave courting gifts.

“Of course she isn’t.” She was soft and small and delicate.

“I should have bought you a book on human dating. Oh wait, you wouldn’t have read it.”

I stifled another wince. Niemrin was right. I probably wouldn’t have.

I was a first-class gold-sniffer but a barely passable knowledge-sniffer, and I rarely bothered with knowledge-gathering. Niemrin’s skill set was almost exactly the opposite of mine, which was part of why we’d teamed up to claim Kilinis. He was the only other dragon I knew whose skills were as unbalanced as mine.

When we’d first claimed Kilinis, I think my parents had hoped Niemrin and I would match on a romantic level. It would have madetheirdreams come true. But both Niemrin and I hoped claiming a city would mean finding human mates for ourselves.

“Like that book would doyouany good,” I volleyed back. Niemrin was into some human librarian he couldn’t shut up about but wouldn’t make a move on.

“If you want a human so bad, usetheircustoms instead of making one afraid she might bestealingfrom you. I know Tika sent you some courting sites when we first claimed Kilinis,” he said, papers shuffling in the background of his call.

---