The Dragon’s Appraiser: Part Two (4 page)

T
he streets emptied
out just before midnight. The elderly or the very young had long since shuffled home, while the other denizens of Bern had made their way down to the pier for the fireworks show.

After Yoren, as he’d later introduced himself, finished closing up his shop, he led Madja and the girls through a maze of residential areas. Moonlight brightened their path through the dusty streets of the working class, while bright lanterns illuminated the wide, paved roads that ran through the upscale areas.

The home they stopped at was situated on a small hill and looked to be the finest residence in the town. It was four stories high and appeared to be constructed with a combination of white rock and marble.

“Is this where you live?” Madja asked. Having grown up in a house twice its size, she was no stranger to affluence, but it was surprising to see such a nice house in a small port town like Bern.

“Perhaps in my dreams,” Yoren said. He was carrying a sleepy Ana in one arm, while Cella held onto his free hand. “This is the mayor’s house. I know for a fact that he and his staff are out right now. The whole town will be watching the fireworks from the pier, but the view from the rooftop is like nothing you’ve ever seen.”

Grinning, Madja followed him past the unlocked gate and into the yard. There was a chimneysweep’s ladder attached to the back of the house, which led all the way up to the roof. Madja was hoisting Cella up from the ladder when the first bang sounded from afar.

They took a seat near the weathervane and stared in the direction of the cove. Yoren was right, the view was spectacular. Trails of fire shot into the air, combusting into an explosion of shapes and colors. There were starbursts of red, great white rings, and spheres of azure.

For a while, Madja forgot who and where she was. It was a pleasant and much-needed escape, but as they always did, her thoughts wandered back to Sevrrn.

“This is all for him,” she whispered, eyes transfixed on the sky.

“You mean the dragon?” Yoren asked. “Do you think he’ll see them?”

Madja smiled inwardly. She knew that Sevrrn was fast asleep and even if the fireworks managed to wrest him from his coma, they would only serve to annoy him.

“I don’t know,” she said. “But I’m sure he’ll protect us, when the time comes.”

Despite the limited success she’d had at convincing him to protect the island, she truly did feel that he would come around. If not because it was the right thing to do, then because she planned on nagging him relentlessly.

“I never believed in him when I was younger,” Yoren said. “I guess I was like all kids. I just thought the dragon was something parents made up to scare us into behaving.”

“But you believe in him now?”

Yoren looked down at the girls. After seeing her fill of fireworks, Ana had nodded off in Madja’s lap. Cella was still awake, but was resting her head against her father’s arm, barely clinging to consciousness.

“I don’t have any other choice,” he said. “I can’t protect them on my own, so I have to believe that he will. Otherwise…I suppose I’d lose my mind.”

Madja cast him a sympathetic look. She knew what it was like to feel powerless to protect the people she loved.

“Do you have children?” he asked.

Not a strange question, considering she was supposed to be a widow.

“No, not yet.”

“You will make a great mother someday.”

“Thank you,” she said, feeling a twinge of remorse as she said the words.

The fireworks show was still playing across the sky when they climbed down from the rooftop. Both girls were now sound asleep and Yoren decided it would be best if they left before the fireworks ended, so as to avoid the mayor or any of his staff that returned home early.

“You must live in a neighborhood like this,” Yoren remarked as they strolled through the wealthy part of town.

“You’d be surprised,” Madja said.

She wished she could tell him—or really anyone—the truth, but she’d only make herself sound like a lunatic. Besides, it was nice being treated like a normal person, even if only for a few hours.

“I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding a good husband.”

Madja covered her mouth in a poor attempt to stifle a laugh. She could only imagine Sevrrn’s reaction to suitors coming to the lair to court her.

Misinterpreting her amusement, Yoren said, “I’m making a fool of myself aren’t I?”

“What?”

“I’m not usually so forward. It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken to a woman as beautiful as you.”

Her cheeks warmed. It had been obvious that Yoren had wanted her company for more than his daughters’ sakes. She had known that nothing could come of their time together, but she had gone with him anyway. It was a little selfish, but it wasn’t often she had the opportunity to put her own needs first, and she had desperately needed human company.

“
Now
, I am making an ass of myself,” he muttered.

She placed a hand on his arm. “You seem like a wonderful man, Yoren, truly. You will make some woman very happy. Not me though. My life is a bit too complicated.”

He looked as though he were about to protest, but their attention was drawn to a nearby alleyway. Madja realized that they had transitioned into the more unsavory area of town. A glass bottle rolled from the alley, followed shortly thereafter by three men dressed in ragged clothing.

They were drunk to some degree. One of the men didn’t seem to be able to walk on his own and was being held up by the second, who was stumbling himself. The third man appeared to be the most lucid of the group, though as he spoke, he sounded no better off than his friends.

“Oy!” he shouted, spotting Yoren. “Thought I smelled fish.”

Yoren looked intensely uncomfortable and Madja could see why. She recognized the third man as the drunk who had been helping himself to Yoren’s fish cakes earlier that afternoon.

“Ignore them,” Yoren said, nudging Madja away from them.

The men refused to be ignored.

“Is that any way to treat a customer?” one of them bellowed.

“Business hours are over,” Yoren said tersely.

The street was narrow and the men easily cut them off. Their stench was almost overpowering.

“I remember you,” the surly man said as he closed in on Madja. “You were’n the market today. What sort of high-bred lady walks around town with a fish peddler?”

He placed a meaty hand on Madja’s shoulder. She tried to smack it away, but with limited success. As he spoke, his sour breath clung to her face.

“Unless, you’re one of ‘em
ladies of the evening
.”

She rolled her eyes. The robes she was wearing were worth more than the average prostitute’s annual wage.

“Leave her alone!” It was Cella who came to Madja’s rescue first. She shook a small fist at the man, her green eyes blazing with fury.

Until that moment, Madja had not recognized the severity of their situation. They were being cornered by three drunks on a dark street, with two vulnerable little girls in tow. She glanced at Yoren to see that this had long-since occurred to him. Beneath a mask of anger, she could tell that he was afraid.

Madja turned her attention to the surly man. “How about we let this nice man and his girls leave, and then we’ll talk business?”

The surly man appeared suspicious. “He goes and you stay?”

“No,” Yoren protested. “I’m not leaving you with them.”

Madja kept her expression neutral. “I can take care of myself. You worry about your daughters.”

On his shoulder, Ana began to whine. Yoren gave Madja a desperate look, but she shook her head. After a moment’s hesitation, he stepped away, taking his daughters with him. She couldn’t possibly fault him.

“I’ll be back,” Yoren called out. “And I’ll be bringing the guards with me.”

One of the men cackled at the threat. “Then we’ll have to be quick, won’t we?”

When Yoren and the girls were out of sight, the men began to close in around her. The situation should have been terrifying, but Madja had talked her way out of a dragon’s claws—this would be child’s play.

Holding up a hand to stop them, she said, “All right, you’ve had your fun, but I know three handsome men such as yourselves don’t go around raping women on the streets. If you want the pleasure of my company, it’s going to cost you what it costs any other man. Thirty silvers. Each.”

“Thirty silvers?” they exclaimed in unison.

“Horse shit,” the surly man said, spittle flying out to hit her face. “Ain’t no whore in Bern worth half that.”

Madja put her hands on her hips. “Fine. For all three of you together, I’ll accept twenty-five silvers each, but I won’t go a copper lower.”

They exchanged glances, grunting and grumbling at one another. Madja tapped her foot impatiently.

“Well, gentlemen? Either whip out your silvers or stop wasting my time.”

The three drunks spent the next several minutes counting out the meager contents of their purses. They were still trying to argue down her price when Yoren returned with two armed guards.

“Ma’am, are these men causing you trouble?”

Coins fell and scattered on the ground as the men scrambled to get away. The guards easily apprehended them. Madja knew that having them jailed could only cause trouble for Yoren down the line, so she decided to cover for them.

“No, no. They celebrated a little too hard and seemed to have gotten lost. All they’re in need of is a good night’s rest.”

Yoren went to Madja’s side as the guards ushered the drunkards away.

“I’m so sorry to leave you like that, Madja.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine. Where are the girls?”

“I left them at the guard post,” he told her. “Are you all right?”

“I told you, I’m fine,” she said, smiling. Admittedly, it was a little nice to have someone worry over her. “My father was an appraiser. I spent half my life down by docks. I know how to handle a few drunks.”

Yoren refused to be pacified. “They could have hurt you. I shouldn’t have left.”

She put a hand on his bearded cheek. “My father used to tell me that the most noble thing a person can do is everything that they can. You protected your daughters and you came back for me. Don’t put yourself down.”

Not when there are beings with far greater power that choose not to use it
.

A
s much as
she had wanted to get away, stepping back into her room at the inn felt like coming home. The room smelled like Sevrrn—a scent as indefinable as bottled sunlight, yet sometimes reminded her of rare incense from antique lands. It was a scent that simultaneously enveloped her and permeated her, settling somewhere in the marrow of her being.

One season—that was how long she had known him, but she already felt bound to him on a level that felt almost spiritual. It was as though he had created a whole new chamber of her heart, but it could only beat for him. Somehow, he had become the most essential and necessary thing in her world.

It was terrifying.

Undressing to her bedclothes, Madja tied her hair into a long braid. She drew the cotton blankets back on her side of the bed, but paused. Then, she padded around to Sevrrn’s side, sitting down on the small space that remained on the side of the bed.

The bed was by no means small, but Sevrrn’s large body still took up most of the space. While in his dragon form, he tended to curl into himself; in human form Sevrrn sprawled out, arms and limbs in every which direction.

Scant beams of moonlight filtered through the curtains, casting a blue-grey glow on his face. It softened his features, making him look placid and almost gentle—a cruel trick of the light.

His nostrils flared and in the next instant, his face hardened and his garnet eyes snapped open.

“Where have you been?” It was more a demand than a question.

“A lot of places,” she said, a little breathless. She had never known him to wake before dawn, no matter how much noise she made or how much she moved around. “I had quite the adventure tonight.”

“I have not been sleeping long enough for you to have any adventures.” He sat up, his eyes narrowing. “Why do you smell like men?”

Madja stood, preparing to return to her side of the bed. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it tom—”

Without warning, his hand closed around one of her wrists. With too much force, he jerked her back, all but throwing her onto the bed. In one swift, predatory motion, he was on top of her, his large body caging her in.

“You will tell me now.”

She sighed, trying not to let on how much his display of aggression unnerved her. “I saw two little girls wandering around by the docks. I took them back to their father and the four of us went to watch fireworks. On the way back, a group of drunks mistook me for a prostitute. Nothing bad happened. It was actually kind of funny.”

Sevrrn didn’t seem to find any part of that funny. He tilted his head, his eyes becoming shadowed. When he spoke, his voice was harsh.

“They touched you.”

She squirmed uncomfortably. “It was nothing I couldn’t handle.”

His head lowered to sniff her neck, and then, her breasts. Madja stiffened.

“What are you—it wasn’t like
that
. Those men couldn’t have raped me if they wanted to.”

‘Raped’ had been a poor choice of words. The moment it left her lips, his grip tightened to the point of pain. It wasn’t the hurts-so-good type of pain she normally associated with the dragon, but a level of pain that threatened injury.

“You will not leave my sight again.” A warning.

“Will you let go of me?” she asked, but even in her wholly subdued state, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. “And technically, I didn’t leave your sight. You were sleeping.”

Sevrrn swiftly countered, “You are never to go where I am not.”

Never
. The word cut her to the bone.

“What am I, your
slave
?”

“You are
mine
.”

With her free hand, she grabbed his wrist, squeezing as tightly as she could. Her nails bit into his flesh in a vain attempt to cause him pain, because there was nothing she could say to hurt him as much as he was hurting her.