Page 34 of Consort's Dragon
“No one will know.I promise to be discreet.”
“Will you bring the book?”
“Yes.Along with some answers to your questions.”
“Very well.”
With their assignation decided, Avera soon excused herself, but when Prielli would have assisted in changing her evening outfit to a sleeping gown, Avera shook her head.“I’d rather remain dressed for the moment.”
“What for?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
Prielli nodded.
“I’m expecting a visitor.”
Her maid’s eyes widened in horror.“If the emperor were to find out...”
“It’s the emperor visiting me.”
“Oh,” Prielli stated, only to smile knowingly and add another, “Ohhh…”
The misassumption had Avera shaking her head and blushing.“No, it’s not like that.He wishes to discuss some things with me in private.Nothing more.”
“Should I return later to help you undress?”
“I think I can manage for one night.But thank you.”
“Should you change your mind, just ring for me.”Prielli left and Avera paced.
Why had she agreed?Why was she so nervous?After all, they’d been alone before in his office, but in her quarters, it felt more personal, more… She couldn’t explain the difference, only that it had her agitated.
There was no knock, no opening of her door, and yet suddenly her nape prickled, warning her she was no longer alone.
She whirled in time to see Titus closing a door by the hearth that she’d never guessed existed.“You have secret tunnels?”
“Doesn’t everyone?”he countered with a grin.He dropped a basket on the table and from it pulled a book.
“You brought it.”
“I told you I would.”He held out the book.“Take a glance while I pour us some wine.”
He pulled a bottle and a pair of glasses from the basket.While he uncorked the bottle, she studied the tome.It was bound in a strange material, leatherlike, a dark gray, scaled in texture, the surface of it glinting silver as she turned it around in the lamplight.
“What’s it covered in?”she asked.
“Dragon skin.”
She almost dropped it.“I guess that would make sense given the contents.”Upon opening it, she frowned.She didn’t recognize the shape of the letters.“What language is this?”
“An ancient one no longer commonly used, but I learned and so can you.In the meantime, I can translate it for you.As well, I think you’ll find the images interesting.”He held out a glass of wine.
As she flipped through the pages, she noticed the drawings, the first being of a dragon done in color, only it was a shade of green, not black hinting of red like the one in Verlora.“They come in different hues?”
“Yes.Like us, they have varying characteristics, color being the most visible.They can also differ in size and temperament.”
“The one in Verlora was huge.Basil claimed it and many of the creatures on the continent were exposed to some kind of growth serum that made them larger.”
