Page 54 of No Ordinary Drakeling
“We can get you some damn thread and needles. There are even machines that sew so you can speed shit up if you want,” Zane grumbled. The dragon was irritated once again by Chesvarin’s way of dealing with his people.
Tiri, on the other hand, was annoyed with Zane. “Two more bad words.”
“Sorry.”
A lightbulb went on in Ellery’s mind. “What if each time someone says a bad word, they add a dollar to your account? Then you would have money to pay for your fabric.”
“Yeah, we could give you a dollar when we say it even if you’re not around,” Zane threw in. “It’ll help us clean up our language, so you’d really be doing us a favor. There are a lot of dragons, so you’d have a steady stream of money rolling in for your fabrics and stuff.”
“I don’t know why I’d get money for helping you clean up your language. I could simply tell you when you say a bad word.”
“It annoys you, and it’ll probably eat up a lot of your day correcting everyone,” Zane said.
“You would be doing me a favor as well. Elves do not use foul language either, but I do not have the time to get after all the dragons,” Ellery added.
“If you think it’s okay,” Tiri hedged.
“Ellery can order it—he’s the Emperor.”
“Consider it done,” Ellery said, happy he was able to use his power for good. Tiri deserved to have everything he wanted, and Ellery understood how difficult it was to accept things without working for them. It rankled his conscience too, but he couldn’t very well disgrace Chrysander by showing up at the Main Assembly Hall in his horrible clothing.
“I’ll let Chrysander know, so the dragons will start giving you money right away,” Zane said as he polished off the last of his fruit. “I’ve got to make my calls, and then we need to head over to get Tiri’s identification card.”
“Then the fabric store,” Ellery said. He was thrilled he’d found a way to solve the problem of Tiri’s wardrobe by achieving a compromise between the newly mated pair. “I think Tiri should spend his mornings working on his sewing in the alcove with you, Costas, and Damian. In the afternoons, he can join us in my office.”
Zane smiled. “Excellent idea, Your Majesty.”
“When we reorganize after my shift, perhaps we can find space for where Tiri can store his fabrics and even a sewing machine if he would like to use one.”
“I must see this machine that can sew.”
“Finish your breakfast and we’ll head out,” Zane told him; then he disappeared into the next room.
“It’s very kind of you to make sure I can spend my days with Zane,” Tiri offered.
Ellery went with full honesty when it came to his budding friendship with Tiri. “I have little time with Chrysander, so I did not want the same for you.”
“Perhaps you could speak with Chrysander.”
“It will get better. After our mating ceremony, we will share a room. And after I shift, we are going to arrange our offices so we can be together during the day. I just wish I could learn more about him before I share his bed.”
“Zane wishes for us to know one another too. He slept on the couch last night,” Tiri confessed. “I was in such awe over the bathroom and peeing inside that I didn’t even argue.”
Ellery laughed; he too had been flummoxed by indoor plumbing at his arrival, and he’d received very little instruction. He’d only figured out what to do by watching the television. “You want to know what my biggest complaint is about this condo?”
“Yes, of course. You’re my closest friend.”
“You are mine too,” Ellery assured him. “There is not one plant in here.”
“Very odd. We’re also very high off the ground. It makes my stomach feel strange when I look out the window.”
It was amusing to Ellery that a dragon would be mated to someone who was afraid of heights, but he wouldn’t dare laugh at Tiri. “I am going to fly above it one day. The dragons in our family do not think so. They are all convinced I am going to die when I shift. No hybrid has ever survived, but I will be different.”
Tiri smiled brightly. “I believe you, Ellery.”
Zane walked back into the room and eyed Tiri warily. “What kind of arrangements are we going to have to make to get you into a pair of shoes?”
Ellery couldn’t help the laughter that burst out of him. “We also need to go to an elven boutique, so he can get his hair done.”
“Nope, not happening,” Zane snapped. “When I took you in there, you cut all yours off.”
“Come on Tiri, let’s see how crazy we can make Zane today,” Ellery said and was glad to have someone in the house who wasn’t a dragon, someone he could relate to. Of course Fate brought Tiri to them for Zane, but he was grateful to her all the same for giving him a friend.
