Page 10 of Consort's Dragon
Her brow wrinkled at the term.“Is that what they’re called?”
“It is the term used for objects that can be animated.”
“Are they common in Merisu?”
“Somewhat.We use them for mundane tasks like cleaning sewers or extracting ore from mines filled with poisonous gas.”
“The ones I encountered were after blood,” she revealed with a grimace.
“But you prevailed.”His light reminder.
“I did.The whole magic thing is intriguing to me.I don’t suppose I could meet with your viziers to learn more about it?”
“You shall most definitely be introduced, although it might be a few days.They’re currently out of the city, but will return shortly.Unlike my last vizier, they trust me to run things in their absence,” he said with a wry grin.
As dessert came, she mustered the nerve to ask him about his gift.“I received your note.I’ll admit to being surprised you left the Dracova stones in my care, what with your insistence on finding them.”
“Consider it an apology and my way of showing you that I want us to be allied in what must be done.While it was imperative they be retrieved, I never meant for you to come to harm.”
“I find that difficult to believe since everyone knows how dangerous Verlora is,” was her dry reply.
“It is, but I had it on good authority you’d succeed.”
She arched a brow.“Your viziers, I take it?”
He nodded.“Kachezi has the gift of seeing bits of the future.She was the one who told me you had to be the one to fetch them.”
“And now that they’re here, what is the plan?”
He leaned away from the table and the frothy dessert in front of him.“Before I answer that, tell me, what do you know of the stones?That is, other than the fact that they’re dangerous in the wrong hands and were used as part of an enchantment to imprison Zhos.”
“I could ask the same.”She wasn’t about to reveal what she’d learned.
His lips curved.“You don’t trust me.”
“Why should I?”No point in being coy.
“Alright, I’ll share,” he said with a shrug.“A book came into my possession a few years ago that revealed the truth of the Dracova stones.They are not mere rocks, but eggs.Dragon eggs.”
Avera almost let out the breath she’d been holding.
Before she could speak, he continued.“Before you reply, you should know that I am aware one of them was hatched in Verlora.Those I’ve sent exploring have seen it.Been hunted by it.Died.”
“Despite that, you kept sending people.”
He shrugged.“Not one of my finer decisions, but I had reason.With how advanced the Verlorians were, I couldn’t leave their inventions to rot.So yes, I sent out expeditions to explore and bring back what they could scavenge.Without those search parties, I would have never known about the dragon.”
“I still don’t understand why you’d want the eggs, knowing what happened.One dragon killed an entire continent.It would be foolish to allow another the chance to hatch.They should be returned to guard against the evil within Fraegus Spire.”
Rather than immediately reply, Titus drummed his fingers on the table before softly saying, “The Verlorian scientists didn’t know what the stones were.They unleashed the dragon without understanding the beast.”
“Let me guess, you think you do.”
Once more his lips curved.“I know I can work with them, and so can you.”
Avera frowned.“I assure you, I can’t control a dragon.I barely escaped the one in Verlora.It is a savage beast, one with a fiery breath that burns like acid.”
“It didn’t harm you.”
