Page 22 of Dragons & Dumplings
We approached the large nest that sat at the back of the cave, since neither of us spotted anything out of the ordinary near the entrance or along the walls—other than the traps, of course. More crossbows lined them at varying heights, all loaded with wooden stakes.
“See anything?” I asked after we had clambered up into the nest. All I saw were a tangled bunch of branches, their leaves long gone, and a few silver platters and goblets that the vampires had probably given up looking for long ago.
Yuri shook his head, his disappointment clear in the slump of his shoulders. “Nothing that could prove it was Glacius who was here, and not any other dragon of the last millenia.”
“Can you put up an ice wall around the nest? A thick one?” I glanced at Yuri.
He looked confused, but he did as I asked. Once it was in place, I concentrated, and summoned a small flame in the center of the nest. Immediately, I heard a series of cracks as a barrage of stakes came flying at us, but Yuri’s wall held.
Now that we had more light, we could see what the shadows had hidden even from our dragonsight.
“Could this be…?” Yuri breathed, crouching to pick up a pearlescent, teardrop-shaped scale that was wedged in between two big branches.
“Is that one of his scales?” It had the same color and sheen that Yuri’s did. I squinted at the area where he had found it, and noticed a handful of other scales. Some were as wide as my hand, while others were as small as a thumbnail. A trace of frosty magic clung to them, like a magical finger print unique to the owner.
“I think so.” A smile slowly brightened his face. “Do you know what this means?”
“Tell me.”
“I can finally, beyond a shadow of a doubt, prove that Glacius stopped here during his journey. I can prove to my fleet that I was right all along!”
It seemed I wasn’t the only one who wanted to make my parents proud.
Chapter ten
Doubt & Disapproval
Yuri
“Whatdoyouthinkof this one?” Mei asked with a mischievous smile. A dimple flashed in her cheek, and I was so distracted by it that I nearly forgot to look at the dish she’d placed in front of me.
A luscious slice of what smelled like pumpkin pie sat on a golden, crumbly crust, and was topped with a scoop of half-melted ice cream.
“Did the fire sylph get too close to the ice cream?” I asked half-jokingly, as Mei slid into the booth across from me.
I pushed my laptop aside.
The dimple disappeared, and I winced internally when I realized she didn’t think I was joking. Oops. “No, Pyra went home at closing. I told her I was going to do some more recipe testing before going home for the day.”
“Ah, so that’s why you asked me to go hide in the restroom for ten minutes,” I said wryly. “Like some dirty secret boyfriend.”
Mei’s cheeks flamed. “Pyra wouldn’t have left me alone with a man at night. But you’re not dirty, and I trust you.”
I stared at her as I tried to wrap my head around that absolute maelstrom of a statement. My thoughts and emotions swirled faster than a snowflake caught in a cyclone. She hadn’t denied that I was her boyfriend. And she trusted me? Me, the failure of an ice dragon? Me, her fleet’s ancient enemy?
“You trust me?” The words came out lower than I expected.
“You threw yourself between me and those bolts yesterday, in the cave,” she said shyly, glancing down. When she looked back up, her golden eyes were practically radiant. “Of course I trust you.”
Before I even realized it, I had leaned across the table, hand braced next to the pie, and kissed her. Mei’s eyes widened in surprise, but they closed as she ran her fingers through my hair. I reveled in the heady sensation of her warmth, her fingers leaving a trail of pleasant embers in their wake.
I had never imagined I would ever feel this way about anyone, let alone a fire drake. I was supposed to stay away from her dangerous fire, but its warmth soothed my soul in a way my own native ice never had.
She was as forbidden to me as I was to her, and yet I kept coming back.
I should have left the moment I laid eyes on her. Skies knew there were plenty of other places I could have worked on my book without the noise of a busy diner. But none of the other places hadher.
So even though it was loud, and crowded, and insufferably hot, I kept coming back. Until I no longer felt like I could live without this heat.
