Page 15 of Rapunzel's Gambit (All That Glitters)

“I told you I would.”

Everything was perfect. Each food stayed at the ideal temperature and texture, the flavors were flawless, and I almost swooned as I dug in. I’d never had such a good meal. After a few minutes, I looked up to see Pollox watching me. “I’m so sorry, do you want some?”

Pollox snorted in disgust and I leapt out of my seat to avoid the descending sparks. “No. Human food comes in much too small of quantities for me, and dragons don’t have taste buds anyway, so your finest delicacy and raw meat would all taste the same to me. But if you can spare a moment in between bites, I would like to discuss a few things before we make this a full partnership.”

“Of course,” I said, inspecting my seat to make sure it was free of any embers before I gingerly sat back down again. Even though I’d only known Pollox for less than a day, I already felt comfortable with him. Did all humans feel this way around dragons?

“If I’m to work with you, I’d like to see an example of your skill set,” Pollox told me. “Do you have an idea of how you plan to procure these riches you boasted about?”

“Would I have come here if I didn’t?”

Pollox rustled his wings. Unable to determine if that was a good sign or not, I waited patiently. “You’re human,” he finally said. “Some humans are very stupid.”

“Some dragons are too, I’m sure.”

“No, we’re not. We’re very intelligent.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’ve never met a single other dragon that you found obnoxiously dense?”

Pollox’s upper lip curled back to reveal his fang-like teeth. “I suppose I have a time or two. But you’ve evaded the question. What’s your plan?”

I straightened and set down my knife and fork, hoping he liked my plan and didn’t find me to be one of thestupid humans. “I’m going to act like I escaped and tell them you’re coming after me. I’ll tell them that you have a weakness?—”

“I don’t have any weaknesses.”

“I willlieand give them afakeweakness,” I resolutely went on. “Then we’ll see if they believe my story. I’ll tell them you’re vulnerable at your wing joint or whatever you want.”

Pollox flicked the end of his tail, listening intently.

“Then,” I continued, “you come swooping down and do some huge, dramatic battle, pretend to get injured, but grab me and fly away. That way, everyone will think that you’re wounded and will start sending knights and all sorts of people to rescue me. My father already offered my hand in marriage to anyone who can slay you, so there will be many men coming to try.”

“I fail to see how such a plan will gainmeany riches.”

“The riches come later. This trial is to prove we can trust each other, and it will make it so princes and knights and any others will come flocking to rescue me more quickly, assuming you are weakened.”

“You want me to pretend to be weak enough for ahumanto kill me?” The disgust was evident in his voice.

“We have to dosomethingto make sure my rescuers know where I am. Which do you care more about, your pride or amassing more wealth?”

“My pride.”

“Well, swallow your pride then. We’ll be filthy rich this way.”

“I’m already filthy rich, as were you, before you ran away.”

I frowned, annoyed. “If you don’t care about riches, why would you agree to my proposal in the first place? You could have said no.”

Pollox tapped one of his talons on the cave’s stone floor so a softtink tinkechoed through the cavern. “I have my reasons. I get to bring you back here to stay after I pretend to be wounded?”

“Naturally. I live here now, remember?”

His forked tongue shot out like a lizard’s. “Then I’m willing to try it.”

A wave of relief relaxed my shoulders. If he had refused, I wasn’t sure how else I could persuade Pollox to keep me around. Was he simply lonely and wanted company?

“Aren’t you worried about the knights?” I asked. “They’ll start coming soon. Do we need to think of a defense strategy?”

Pollox threw his head back in laughter. “It never fails to entertain me that humans assume they can best a dragon when it takes themdaysto travel a distance that I can traverse within an hour and their arrows and spears bounce off my hide, so no, I’m not at all worried. Would you fear for your life around an ant?”

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