Page 44 of Here Be Dragons

“How do we know if that’s happened?”

“The Gamemaster shows up and announces the win.” He’d appeared every time I acquired one of the pieces. I imagined it would happen the same way with the final piece, but maybe with more fanfare.

We waited, but nothing happened. We portaled back to my library where Carly was waiting. She blew out her cheeks, clearly relieved, then hopped off the armrest of the chair she was perched on, hurried over, and hugged me.

“You’re alive. And you haven’t been turned into a frog!”

I had no idea why she thought that would happen.

“You were right,” I said, holding up our prize. “We have another clue. So tell me, my little detective, what should we do next?”

“Well, itisa compass,“ she said with an exaggerated eye roll. “Maybe, and I know this seems a bit farfetched, butmaybeyou should follow it.”

The little minx!

I held it out to her. “Does it tell you anything?”

She touched it. Nothing happened.

“I guess we are following it then.” I turned to Seth. “Can you transform this compass into say….a ring, without affecting the magic?”

Seth frowned. “Maybe. I’ll have to spend some time with it before I will know.”

Time to lay the cards on the table. “In case you haven’t guessed, Carly is my mate.”

Seth didn’t seem at all surprised. “I already guessed from the fact that she was covered in ash and soot when we first met but was completely unharmed.” He gracefully didn’t mention that she’d also been completely naked. “Congratulations.” He turned to Carly. “I’m glad you’re the one his dragon chose. I like you. You’ve got a brain and you know how to use it.”

Carly blushed, her cheeks going as red as her hair. “I’m still getting used to the idea. It’s not every day that a girl suddenly finds herself mated to a dragon.”

“Shifters move fast when it comes to mating. Dragons are no different.”

I growled, and Seth chortled.

“FYI, dragons hate being referred to as common shifters, even though they totally are.”

The corners of Carly’s lips lifted in amusement. After several applications of the healing salve, her injury was barely visible. Magic was truly wonderful stuff.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.

“Now that you’ve had a laugh at my expense”—I held up the compass—“I believe I know why Emmett came to the museum today, beyond making a scene.”

“He did? And you didn’t torch him? I’m surprised.”

“Usually I would, but I believe he was trying to help me with the competition.”

I hadn’t told anyone how I’d gotten my hands on the Polaroids. If Emmett was willing to risk his scales to help me win, then keeping his secret was the least I could do. Dragons and demons cheated all the time when it came to these games, but it was very bad news indeed for anyone who got caught.

“He has made a large bet on me,” I explained. “It would make him very wealthy.”

“That makes sense.”

“He can’t help me by telling me what I don’t already know or sabotaging my competitor, but he can do other things to influence decisions and choices.”

“In what way?” Seth asked.

I thought, trying to come up with an example that humans would understand. “If this were a game of darts, he would not be permitted to touch the dart or blow on the dart or in any way affect how the dart moves, but hecouldmake a loud noise right before one of the competitors threw their dart, distracting them.“ I frowned. “The comparison isn’t quite parallel, but it is close enough.”

“I see,” Carly said. “So you think he came today to…make that loud noise.”

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