Page 12 of Conning Her Dragonkin Boss

I don’t want to admit it, but—damn.

It’s a good thing he left the video off on our touchbase. I don’t think I would have been half as coherent as I was.

I tap the screen, zooming in on an older event photo where he stands at Urul’s side, arms crossed, his wings visible behind him in this one, his tail thick and ridged like a weapon.

“Fully dragonkin.” Harla’s voice interrupts my thoughts, nodding to my note on whether he is a dragonkin hybrid with a gargoyle. “One hundred percent. Sorry, didn’t mean to pry.”

I look up, blinking at the welcome interruption. “No worries at all. I’ve been meaning to ask, but didn’t want to pry.”

Harla offers me a kind smile. “You do not need to worry overly much. Otherkin are proud to share their lineage and bloodlines—some a little too proud. But generally, we’ve learned to keep the epic sagas to a minimum. At least in the office setting.”

I giggle at that. “Well that’s good to know. So that means you’ve seen his shifted form?” I’ve heard that dragonkin can shift into full-blown, fire-breathing dragons.

She shakes her head. “No, thank goodness. I’m afraid he might take out this entire floor in that form, and we’ve just finished our renovations.” It takes me a full beat to realize she’s joking and smile with her. “At any rate, his dragonkin form alone is intimidating enough. Especially when he lets his wings loose.”

I make a mental note to research dragonkin morphology later. Strictly for professional reasons, of course. Totally professional. No ulterior motives whatsoever.

Harla and I go back and forth on a few more incoming tasks and debriefs me on some of the videos I’ve watched—which was her initially goal in coming to see me and not gossip about my boss. She tells me that I’m progressing nicely, and that I have nothing to worry about this Friday.

When I’m alone once more, I pull out my paper planner, my prized Hobonichi Cousin, flipping open to my monthly layout.

Everything I’ve just learned needs to be coordinated. Khanner will be dropping additional events later today, and I need to slot them into my personal system before things spiraled into chaos.

I neatly write down:

Finalize Financial Review Setup – Friday

Conference Room Prep – Thursday Night

Cross-Check Q1 Data with Royce’s Reports

Ensure Urul Has His Updated Deck (or Else)

And then—something catches my eye.

A cute chibi sticker of a dragon knight pointing to a highlighted date already marked in my planner: Wyvern’s Dawn Cosplay Convention with a list of items I still need to prepare before I leave. Actually, I need to request that date off in the calendar before I forget.

I reach for a sticky note to jot down a reminder, and end up staring at the little chibi sticker.

And then, I stare back at Khanner’s image on my screen.

…Oh no.

I have been so wrapped up in researching him that I don’t realize until now that he looks exactly like the fictional dragon-knight character from my favorite fantasy franchise.

Pulling up my book app on my phone, I swipe to the latest Wyvern’s Dawn book, and magnify the cover art. I hold it upnext to Khanner’s images, and a sinking feeling grows in my gut. Swap out the custom-tailored designer suit for some battle armor, and he would be the spitting image of the latest dragon-knight ready to unleash hell on any who would defy his warrior priestess fated mate.

The warrior priestess I plan on cosplaying because I so want to be her, and I so have a thing for the dragon-knight. Specifically, broody, dangerous, battle-worn dragon-knights who fight alongside their warrior-priestesses and always come out victorious together.

Oh, this is bad.

I close my planner, physically pushing it away as if that will guard against any workplace crushes from happening.

Nope. Not happening.

A crush on my boss is a one-way ticket to disaster.

I have better things to do.

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