Page 16 of Rapunzel's Gambit (All That Glitters)

“What, so humans are like ants to you?”

“No…more like pets that occasionally amuse me.”

“That feels offensive.”

“Good. It was intended to be.”

Once again, I wasn’t sure if it was his sense of humor or a threat. Deciding that a sense of humor was the safer option, I laughed and stood from the table, full to bursting. Instantly, everything at the table vanished, leaving it perfectly clean once more.

“Shall we do this trial swindle tonight, then?” I asked.

Pollox cast a critical eye over me. “You need to look like you escaped.” With that, he blew out a blast of air so hot that the ends of my hair began to curl up, singed beyond repair.

“Hey!” I protested, darting away. “I don’t actually want to be roasted alive, you giant, fire-breathing lizard!” I pulled my hair over my shoulder to examine the scorched ends. “See what you did!” I scolded.

“The comb in your wardrobe can fix it,” Pollox said, wholly unconcerned that he’d nearly torched my head.

I sighed in resignation. He was right. If I was going to sell the story that I’d escaped from a dragon, I needed to look the part. “All right then, roast me a little more, but not my face, okay? You might need to shred my dress a little too.”

For the next fifteen minutes, Pollox took great delight in destroying my gown, sometimes charring it and other times using his razor-sharp talons to rip the fabric, but never once scratching me.

“As admirable as your precision is, shouldn’t I be bleeding?” I asked, inspecting the damage in the full-length mirror.

“Dragons don’t maim their prey.”

“What would you do to prey, then?”

He grinned wickedly. “Swallow them whole. Don’t you think it would be fun to feel your food wriggle all the way down your throat to your stomach? It makes up for the lack of taste buds.”

I gagged. “That’s disgusting.”

Pollox’s grating laughter rang through the cavern. “Just think of it as a massage from the inside.”

“Bleh. You’re joking.”

“I am not.”

I shuddered. “Well, I need to believe you are joking, otherwise I’ll be disturbed. I’ll get nightmares.”

“What’s that?”

“You know, a bad dream.” Did dragons never have nightmares? Then again, what would they have to fear?

His head cocked to the side, and his tongue flicked out like a snake tasting the air. “What do humans dream about?”

“Well, a lot of things. Like escaping or falling sometimes. I get chased in my dreams, but some dreams are good.”

“Describe one.”

“Uh…” I hadn’t expected to describe my most secret dreams to a dragon within a few hours of meeting one. A vision of Griffin sweeping me into his arms burst to mind, but I wasn’t eager to share that private of a thought with Pollox, not yet anyway. “It’s…a-a?—”

“Got an ox in your throat?” Pollox quipped.

I burst out laughing, relieved I didn’t have to continue. “The phrase isgot a frog in your throat?”

“An ox sounds better.”

“Maybe to a dragon.”

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