Love Charms (120 page)

Our tour ended with lunch at a restaurant
featuring surprisingly modern decor with red vinyl booths and brown laminate
table tops. The menu listed all the major fast food chain offerings. Quite a
contrast to the tavern atmosphere I had expected.

Astonished, I looked at Zyllven over the
menu. “I didn't know you had all this here.”

He smiled. “Dragons love human food.
Especially junk food. We import it daily.”

A waitress came to the table, notepad and
pen at the ready and we each ordered our favorite variations of the hamburger
and French fries over the swing music blaring from a nearby jukebox. Zyllven
ordered three times as much food as we did. It was all I could do to hide a
smile at the obvious delight with which he anticipated the meal. Once the waitress
left, Zyllven excused himself to waddle off to the restroom.

Taking advantage of his absence, Jacob
leaned over to me and whispered. “He seems pretty tightly wound.”

I nodded. “That's because he stole the
gold.”

Jacob gave me a look of disbelief. “What?
Him? He doesn't seem the type.”

“I know. There's something more going on.
He's definitely the thief, I just don’t know why he did it.”

“Does he want to be king?”

“I don't know yet, but that is a possible
motive.” It would make sense if Zyllven's theft was a power play for the
throne. Isn't that what princes did? Or was it just Shakespeare's Othello?

Jacob shook his head. “And King Wyllven
seems like such a nice guy, I don't think he'll take the news well.”

“I think he'll make the right decision,
no matter what it is, for his people.” Wyllven hadn't struck me as the type to
be blind to his children's shortcomings. Or the type to shoot the messenger. At
least I hoped not.

Zyllven returned then just as the
waitress came with our meals giving Jacob and I no chance to talk further. We
dove into our food and I found myself ravenous, my mouth watering as I
unwrapped my hamburger. Considering how much running for my life I'd done that
day, I wasn't surprised at my body's sudden hunger.

In between bites of his cheeseburger,
Jacob asked, “Zyllven, where are your schools? I didn't see any on our tour.
Don't your kids go to school?”

Zyllven set his triple cheeseburger down
and looked at us with sad eyes. “We don't have any.”

“No schools?” My eyes widened at the idea.

The dragon prince shook his head. “Or
children. There have been no children born since we crossed over to Fairy.”

Jacob stopped mid-bite, an expression of
surprise on his face. “May I ask why?”

“Of course, but I'm sorry to say I don't
have an answer. It's actually a topic of special interest to me. One I've been
studying for the last century,” Zyllven paused and leaned in closer to us,
lowering his voice to a whisper. “I actually have a human biologist here
running some experiments. Most dragons spend their lives studying alchemy to
make gold, I work to make babies.”

I frowned. Well, this was an unexpected
development. “I didn't know you let human scientists work in Fairy.” As far as
I knew, human scientists were banned from conducting experiments in Fairy. The
Sidhe didn't want their magic distilled into replicable science. Not only would
it ruin their economy, but there was fear of what would happen if everyone had
access to the same magic.

“We don't, which is why I'm whispering.
He's technically here exploring business opportunities.”

“Oh, I see.” I gave a slow nod. Zyllven
was breaking all the rules it seemed.

“Would you like to meet him? You might
find it interesting”

“Sure, that would be great," I said.
It wouldn't hurt to rule the scientist out as an accomplice.

“There's a joining tonight. We'll be
doing some measurements then.” Zyllven lined up a wide stack of French fries
and wedged them all into his mouth at the same time. Impressive.

“What's a joining?” I asked.

Zyllven held up a finger while he finished
chewing. Swallowing, he said, “You would call it a wedding. There'll be a lot
of dragons there. You'll be able to continue your investigation.”

I nodded my agreement. I wasn't sure
attending a wedding would explain why Zyllven, the crown prince of the dragons,
would steal Sidhe gold and put all his people in jeopardy. Nor did I think I
would come to understand why he was breaking both human and Sidhe laws
conducting, of all things, fertility experiments, but I would give it the old
psychic try.

Chapter
Eleven

“Do you want to go to the king?” Jacob
asked settling into one of the chairs by the fireplace. Zyllven had brought us
back to our room after lunch and we had a few hours to come up with a strategy
before he returned to escort us to the joining.

“No. Not yet. There have to be other
dragons involved and I need to find them before I talk to the king.” I flopped
onto the bed, rubbing a hand across my forehead in an attempt to ward off a
headache. “I want to meet as many dragons as possible tonight. Then we'll see
about going to the king.”

“And then we tell the king his own son
betrayed him. That’s cold.”

“I know.” Telling Wyllven about his son
was not going to be fun.

Jacob yawned, stretching his arms over
his head. “Do you mind if I lie down with you? I don’t seem to have a room.”

I smiled and patted the bed. “You always
end up homeless somehow, don’t you?”

He laughed and came to lay down next to
me, the bed shifting under his weight. “It would seem so. Maybe, I just like
you.”

Jacob held out his arms and I snuggled up
against him. “I think I like you too.”

He kissed me on the forehead. “One of
these days I’ll stop finagling my way into your bed and take you out on a
proper date.”

“That would be nice.”

“Yeah, it would.”

Silence fell between us. I drifted off to
sleep, the sound of Jacob’s heart thudding reassuringly in my ears. In my
dreams, dragons soared into a midnight sky only to turn to gold and drop,
lifeless to the ground.

* * *

The joining, or dragon wedding, took
place in a large field outside of Wyvrndell just as the sun slipped past the
horizon. From the crush of dragons in human form milling about, it seemed the
whole village had turned out for the occasion. Zyllven escorted us with his
usual cheerful smile, keeping up a nonstop stream of inane banter as we made
our way to a wooden dais on the far end of the field, opposite the city walls.

“This is the king's pavilion,” He
indicated the dais with a sweep of his hand. "You can watch from
here."

“Will the king be joining us?” I asked walking
over to a wood chair carved with what I recognized as Wyllven’s coat of arms; a
shield depicting fire, gold in the form of coins, and a flying dragon. A few
chairs over, sat a man with sparse brown hair and so thin he was all sharp
angles. His fingers danced across the keys on the laptop in front of him, his
knee bouncing up and down with nervous energy.

“No, all the dragons will be over there.”
Zyllven pointed to where two dragons in their original form, one turquoise, the
other crimson, stood side by side, their tails caressing each other in such a
way that I had no doubt they were bride and groom. I’d never seen such
an...erotic use of tails before. It made me blush.

“You’ll be able to see everything from
here. Not to mention you can talk to my good friend, Randall. He’s the
scientist who’s been working with me.” The dragon prince gestured to the lanky
man.

Randall looked up at the mention of his
name. “Oh, hello Prince Zyllven. Didn’t see you there.”

“Good even, Randall. I’ve brought Sofia
and her associate, Jacob to keep you company. They’re doing some work for the
king. All set for tonight?”

Randall hesitated, looking at us.

“It’s all right, I’ve told them what
you’re doing,” Zyllven said. “I want you to explain everything to them for me,
so they understand.”

“Very well then. Everything’s ready.
After tonight I should have all the data I need.” He reached into his pocket
and pulled out two small cylinders strung on nylon rope. “If you could have
Iriyana and Callvyn wear these for me.”

Zyllven accepted the cylinders.
“Excellent.” A trumpet sounded and Zyllven turned to look out on to the field.
“They’re about to start. I have to go change or I’ll be late.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his choice
of words. Only in Fairy could changing mean assuming a whole new shape and not
putting on a different outfit.

Zyllven ran off toward the field, his
purple robe billowing out behind him enough that I suspected it actually slowed
him down. Randall turned his attention back to his laptop and largely ignored
us. So much for explanations.

I shifted a few chairs over so as to be
next to Randall and did my best to peer over his shoulder at his computer
screen. I needed to find a casual way to touch him and read what he knew of
Zyllven’s activities. Jacob changed seats as well, sitting on the other side of
Randall, flanking him. We both watched Randall fiddle with a large spreadsheet
full of numbers as if he was unaware of our presence.

When it became clear Randall would never
acknowledge us, I cleared my throat and said, “So Zyllven told me you’re trying
to help him find out why the dragons can’t have children.” I brushed my fingers
across his shoulder, an innocent social gesture used to get his attention and
provide the contact I needed to read him. He knew nothing. His mind was full of
numbers and calculations, but no theft.

“Dragonlets.”

“Excuse me?” I had been too focused on
sifting through Randall's thoughts to pay attention to his answer.

“Their children are called
dragonlets," Randall said, a tone of superiority in his voice.

“Oh.” When he didn’t elaborate, I said,
“Why can’t the dragons have dragonlets?”

He sighed and looked up at the sky. From
our brief contact, I knew he found our presence an annoyance. “It’s the
atmosphere. There’s not enough oxygen here in Fairy. At least that’s what we
think.”

I blinked, surprised. I knew Fairy was
different from the human plane, but I hadn’t realized those differences
extended to the amount of oxygen in the air. Even so, I didn’t understand what
that had to do with dragon fertility.

“Isn’t air just...well, air?” I asked
with a wave of my hand.

“Not to a dragon. Are you familiar with
the fire triangle?”

I shook my head, but Jacob nodded,
saying, “For a fire to burn there has to be oxygen, heat, and fuel, right?” At
my surprised look, he shrugged. “The fire marshal explained it to me after my
brother’s house blew up.”

“Correct. Dragons are like living
incarnations of flame. They're used to earth’s atmosphere and their biology is
dependent on certain oxygen levels in order to reproduce.”

I whistled. “That’s amazing. I had no
idea it was so complex.”

“Nor did we," said a female dragon
stepping up onto the dais. She towered over us, but her slender frame gave her
a frail air. Lavender scales traced over her translucent skin, outlining
delicate features and magnifying her violet eyes.

Randall stood and bowed, an expression of
longing on his face. “Princess Vieranna.”

The princess gave a regal nod. “Randall.
How are you?”

“Very well, thank you and ready to
conduct our last experiment.”

She smiled and moved to look at the
computer screen. “Your work comes to an end then.”

“I believe so.”

She patted him on the shoulder and turned
to us, missing the smile that blossomed on Randall's face at her touch. But I
didn't. Apparently, the scientist had a bit of a crush on the Princess. Could
humans and dragons even...no, I didn't want to contemplate it.

“You must be Sofia and Jacob. I am
Vieranna, Zyllven’s wife.”

“Hello, nice to meet you." I held
out a hand and she placed hers in mine, pressing with light pressure for just a
second before moving on to greet Jacob. Even though the touch was fleeting, I
was still able to determine she knew nothing of her husband’s double life as a
thief. How had Zyllven managed to avoid detection? All the people closest to
him didn't seem to have a clue as to what he'd done.

Jacob nodded toward the field where a sea
of dragons flowed on the green grass. “Aren’t you going to join your husband?”

Vieranna shook her head and fingered a
large pearl hanging around her neck. “No, I can’t fly tonight.”

Watching Vieranna’s slim fingers caress
the pearl, I said, “That’s a beautiful necklace. I didn’t know pearls could get
that big.”

She wrapped her hand around it,
concealing it. “It’s not a pearl.”

“Is it some kind of Fairy jewel?” I
asked, curious. I'd heard Fairy had some unusual gems, but hadn't ever seen
any.

Vieranna frowned and dropped the necklace
inside her robe looking to Randall who nodded in what I took to be
encouragement. “No. It’s my egg.”

“The one you hatched from?” It looked
kind of small to me--not much bigger than a robin’s egg--to hatch an animal as
large as a dragon. Then again, what did I know about dragon reproduction?

“No, the one I laid just a few weeks ago.
One that failed to thrive and grow.” She closed her eyes, her hand over where
the necklace rested under her robe. “It’s the reason I’m here instead of out
there, I’m considered bad luck.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said with genuine
regret. I wouldn’t wish that kind of loss on anyone.

Her eyes flickered open to look at me, so
full of despair, I wanted to cry and then closed them again. “Thank you.”

Randall cleared his throat in the silence
that stretched between us. “That egg was the first dragon’s egg ever laid in
Fairy.”

“Wow.” Jacob said.

Randall continued as if he hadn’t heard,
“But it never had a chance because of the low oxygen levels here.”

“How low is low? We," I gestured to
Jacob and myself, “can breathe just fine. Surely there can’t be that much of a
difference?”

“Yes, there is. Not so much on the ground,
but the higher up you go the composition of air changes quite a bit. Oxygen
thins much faster with altitude here than in our plane. Dragons need a certain
level of oxygen and altitude in order for their eggs to fertilize.”

Jacob looked at Randall, his eyes wide.
“You mean they have sex in the air?”

Randall shook his head. “No, that would
be physically impossible. The atmosphere affects their hormone levels, which is
the final step in the dragon’s reproductive process.”

“We believe our flame must reach a
certain temperature and intensity that we cannot achieve in Fairy,"
Vieranna said.

“So you have a solution to this?” I asked
Randall.

“No. I’ve just helped to identify the
problem. Although, I suspect the answer is for the dragons to come to our plane
where oxygen levels are higher. After all, they reproduced just fine on earth
in the past.”

“But that is not an option under current
human law. We are not allowed to cross over into your plane and the Sidhe have
crafted magic to prevent us from leaving.” Vieranna said. “We have to find
another solution.”

Jacob and I exchanged looks. Current
human law would mean little if the Sidhe evicted the dragons from Fairy. A loud
burst of trumpets accompanied with the heavy throb of a bass drum cut off
further conversation and we all turned our attention to where both the
turquoise and crimson dragons advanced to the center of the field.

The rest of the dragons circled around
them, swaying in time with the drums, their dark wings fluttering as they sang
in a baritone harmony. I scanned the crowd searching for Zyllven, but didn’t
recognize him in his dragon form. Leaning over to Vieranna, I asked, “Where is
your husband?”

She pointed with a long finger to a pale
sage dragon. “There, that’s him.”

“And the dragons next to him?”

“The silver one, that’s the King,
Wyllven. The indigo dragon on the other side is Jocyllen. He’s a good friend of
Zyllven’s.”

Jacob raised his eyebrows at Vieranna’s
response and I nodded in answer to his unasked question. Jocyllen was going to
be first on the interview list. I remembered how he didn't shake my hand when
we first met, something I chalked up to dragon customs, but now I knew better.
He’d been avoiding me.

“Why are you all such different colors?”
Jacob asked.

Vieranna laughed. “The ancient humans
believed we came from rainbows because of our colors, but the truth is not as
interesting. Our colors reflect our age.”

“So how old is Wyllven?” I knew from the
way he carried himself, he wasn’t young, but I couldn’t tell if he was old by
dragon standards or not.

“We don’t really think about age the way
you do. We stop counting the years after a while and actually go more by color.
The older dragons are silver. The younger dragons are the primary colors, like
Jocyllen or the couple joining tonight.” She gestured to herself, “Pale colors
are similar to a human’s middle years. Zyllven and I are in the middle of our
life span.”

I raised my eyebrows, impressed. “How
young is young?”

“Our youngest were a little over five
hundred when we came to Fairy a thousand centuries ago.”