Page 3 of Beautiful Beast

Fade Flower

The potions containing those ingredients were few and far between. Taia didn’t need to ask what I was brewing, she knew.

Baris was already pulling on gloves to wrap the fade flower. “You know?”

“Not to touch it.” A smile touched my lips. “You taught me well.”

He nodded once, but worry lined his features. The time for worry was gone. This was happening, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. So I wouldn’t. Like every woman before me who didn’t control her own fate, I would adapt.

Taia put a bottle of ground Sikala on the table, and I couldn’t stop it. The dragon slithered out from behind my neck and leapt onto the table. It sniffed at the bottle, the rust-colored scales I saw before melting into a warmer gold.

She leapt back, holding her hands up, and Baris started muttering under his breath. Prayers or curses, I wasn’t sure which.

“Lena.”

“I practically stumbled over it in an alley. What would you have me do? Leave it there to be skewered on the guards’ swords?”

She looked at me like I’d grown scales. “And what will you do with it? Stride into the throne room with a fucking dragon on your arm, Princess?” The last word hissed in the quiet, and I winced.

“I don’t know. But I’m not going to let someone kill it. I’ll smuggle it out of the city somehow.”

On the table beneath the dragon, it still held that single gold coin clutched in its claws. It ruffled its wings and sat, tilting its head the same way as the alley. Baris stepped closer and put the carefully wrapped packet of fade flower down, slowly reaching for the small dragon.

“It’s male,” he said. “Four claws.”

My eyes dropped to the clawed toes, and yes, there were four. I’d forgotten that detail. Such was my life, trying to remember everything but not actually recall it in case someone asked me something and I responded too quickly.

“Well, then I’ll be smuggling him out of the city.” I held out my hand. “Stop scaring my friends and come back here. It’s still not safe.”

He scrambled back up into my hood and curled up against my neck again. His small warmth was oddly comforting.

Taia shook her head. “Only you, girl. Risk your life for herbs and add a dragon to the mix.”

“Risking my life for herbs seems a little dramatic, Taia.”

“Not when you have a dragon with you.”

I couldn’t argue with her there.

A small vial of the oil I needed was in her hand. Thym de Sariette. Rare and dangerous. But most importantly, permanent.

“I have to ask once more, Lena. Are you sure? There’s no going back from this.”

I’d thought about it for a long time. If we were both speaking honestly, I’d been thinking about it my whole life, and this had always been my decision. Tomorrow is what made it urgent. He made it urgent.

Locking eyes with her, I picked up the packet and bottle. “If you can honestly tell me you wouldn’t do the same, were our roles reversed, then I shall reconsider.”

Her face was grim, and she only handed me the vial. No denial.

“I’ve never wanted it, Taia. You know that. Not like this, and never in this world. I will not continue the cycle.”

She nodded as I tucked the vial away and took the list back. I wanted to linger and let the conversation take its course, as we’d done so many times before. We all knew why we couldn’t.

“Will we ever see you again?” Baris asked.

“I truly hope so. If it’s not meant to be, the two of you have been the best of friends and teachers. Thank you.”

I couldn’t wait to see their reaction to goodbye. Enough about this place would haunt me as it was, if I couldn’t return. So I turned and made my way back through the maze of the shop. My hand was on the door when Taia spoke once more. “Good luck, Katalena.”

---