Page 8 of Her Dragon Defender

Blaze folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not going as a gargoyle." He'd had enough of gargoyles at the school gates. Worse, he'd stick out like a sore thumb, which was the last thing he wanted to do at Tremotino Castle. "Do you have anything a little more discreet? Something fairytale-ish, so I won't look out of place, but normal enough that I won't stand out, either?"

She sighed, letting the gargoyle costume droop to the floor. "Well, I suppose you could always go as Prince Charming. We have those in a whole range of sizes and colours, to accommodate the really last minute customers. But you'd be wasting your time attending the ball at all in one of those. The girls at Mirror Academy won't look twice at some generic Prince Charming. Those girls are smart and talented and educated. They want a bit of danger, or at least adventure, and they won't wait around for some prince to save them. For a start, they all picked out their costumes months ago. If you're looking to attract one of those girls, you need to stand out. Ooh, I have the perfect costume for you. How about Tarzan?" She yanked out a hanger adorned with nothing but a brown scarf or shawl – a small one, at that.

"Where's the rest of it?" Blaze asked.

She laughed. "That's all he wears, silly. He was brought up by gorillas and he wears his old baby clothes as a sort of loincloth. You should try it on. All the Academy girls won't be able to keep their eyes off you if you wear that."

"I don't want to catch the eyes of all the girls at the ball. Just one," Blaze protested.

The woman smiled. "Of course, of course. You're after the one, your fated mate, or your soul mate. The one whose eyes meet yours across a crowded ballroom and in that instant, you just know...it's so romantic, just like in the movies. But what the movies don't show is that there will be a lot of people at the ball, and to get your eyes to meet, first she has to notice you. That's where having the perfect costume comes in. If you have all the goods on display, she can't help but look at you, and once she'd done checking out the goods, then you'll have all the eye contact you need to seal the deal. Tarzan's your man, I promise you." She shook the brown loincloth. "At least try it on."

Blaze sighed. He wasn't going to get out of here with a costume unless he cooperated with this strange woman. The things he did for his sister. Though he had to admit, wearing a nappy loincloth would be a new low for him. Diana would laugh her head off when he told her. All the more reason to wear something more dignified. "All right, but I want to try on the Prince Charming one, too. And I'll need a mask. It's a masquerade, after all."

NINE

When the night of the Fairytale Ball arrived, there was still no sign of Diana. If it weren't for her violet gown in Eden's wardrobe, she'd almost wonder if she'd only imagined her.

Eden gazed in the mirror and sighed. She didn't look a thing like Rapunzel, even if Diana's ball gown fitted her just as perfectly as she'd promised. No matter what Diana had said, Eden knew her hair was absolutely wrong.

Even the headmistress had commented on it, when Eden had gone to ask her about Diana. Headmistress Laima had spun the same story as Lily – that Diana had met a man at the ball, fallen in love, and married him, that very night. If Eden wanted to follow her example, she'd added, she should take more care with her appearance. Apparently, young ladies who wanted to find good husbands had lovely, luscious locks.

She'd even suggested Eden wear a wig, if she wanted to have any hope of catching the eye of the King whose birthday ball this was.

Eden hadn't been able to get out of her office fast enough after that.

She didn't want to catch a husband, good or otherwise, let alone a royal one, who'd require her to look perfect in between popping out royal heirs. But she did want to go to the ball, and she didn't want to antagonise the headmistress into revoking the scholarship that allowed her to study at Mirror Academy.

She'd always wondered about her parents. What kind of parents would willingly surrender their child to the foster system as a newborn? When she was younger, she'd toyed with the idea that maybe she'd been stolen from her parents, who'd spent their whole lives looking for her. But as the years passed, she'd grown more cynical. More likely her parents hadn't been able to take care of themselves, let alone a child, and she'd been forcibly taken from them while they lay in an alcohol or other drug-induced stupor.

The foster system was far from perfect, but maybe it was better than what she would have known if she'd been stuck with her real parents. At least, that's what she'd told herself during her final years of high school, as she'd scraped up good enough grades to gain her entrance to a decent university...if she could only find a way to afford the fees and a place to live while studying, because once she turned eighteen, she'd be turfed out of her last foster home, and expected to fend for herself.

When the enigmatic letter from Mirror Academy arrived, by ordinary post instead of with the assistance of owls, giants or magic, desperation had almost set in. The only offer of work or accommodation she'd had was a live-in cleaning contract aboard a budget cruise ship that was currently short staffed because of repeated norovirus outbreaks.

If the letter had told her she was a wizard, it couldn't have surprised her more than Mirror Academy offering her a scholarship with full board for the duration of her degree. From the moment she'd arrived, her life had been like a fairytale.

With the added bonus of never having to wear a uniform, or clean vomit off a ship's deck.

Her foster family hadn't believed it was real, either – she'd seen it in their eyes – but they'd sent her off with half-hearted congratulations and a quick wave goodbye now she wasn't their responsibility any more.

That was the moment Eden had been determined to make her own way, no matter what Mirror Academy threw at her. If it had truly been terrible, she could still have boarded the spew cruise.

When she'd first arrived at the castle that housed the Academy, Eden had almost turned back – there'd been a sign in town, saying the local dog shelter was looking for a live-in caretaker, which she knew she could do with her eyes closed – but then she'd met Diana, who'd cautioned her against going anywhere near the shelter, as their last two caretakers had disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Town gossip said they'd been savaged by the dogs they cared for, and because no bodies had ever been found, no one knew which dogs had done the deed, so the killers were still living in the shelter.

"Some animals can be saved, and those that can, should be saved, even if they spend the rest of their lives in captivity instead of returning to the wild, but for some, it would be a kindness to end their suffering," Diana had said, shaking her head.

In the lively discussion that had followed – for Eden could not agree that any animal should be killed for simply behaving in accordance with their nature – Diana had revealed her dream to open an animal shelter of her own, and Eden had insisted on joining her, if only to make sure Diana didn't give up on hopeless cases too soon.

Because her life in the foster system had taught her that sometimes everyone needed a second or a third or sometimes even a whole heap of chances, before they could stand on their own feet, even if it was four feet instead of two.

Diana had also told her that while the Academy administration wasn't super particular about who they offered scholarships to, as long asyou were mildly attractive and willing to put the time and effort into bettering yourself, with the hope of one day finding a suitable husband, you were pretty much guaranteed to keep your place. Making agreeable noises and nodding whenever the headmistress mentioned husband hunting helped, too.

Eden still wasn't convinced that even Mirror Academy could find her a husband, suitable or otherwise, or whether she'd ever want one, but meeting Diana had been the kind of destiny that didn't come along very often, especially for a foster, so she was happy to go along with whatever Headmistress Laima said, for the moment.

But Diana's opinion on husbands and marriage mirrored her own. Which was why it was so hard to believe Diana had not only met her match, but married him and disappeared.

Eden sighed again. The men at the ball wouldn't even deign to speak to her looking like this. Even in Diana's elegant purple ballgown, Eden still didn't look right. It was the hair. She'd made a half-hearted attempt to let it grow out of her preferred fun and flirty pixie cut, but there was no changing the fact that it was still dark and drab. Nothing like Diana's shining silver mane.

There was nothing else for it. She'd have to wear the wig, flowers and all.

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