Page 64 of Wickedly Ever After
“No, it’s the terrain. We want to reach the hostel before dark.”
“You stay at a hostel when you visit the dragons?” Ida sounded surprised. “I thought we were taking a giant.”
“I’ve been thinking. Every dragon in the mountains will know we’re coming if we take a giant. If Alistair acts like a proper dragon, he’d simply move his princess to another cave and we’ll not find him. The key to finding his lair is secrecy. Also, I need to talk to his parents.”
“He has parents?”
Hector laughed. “Well, of course, he does. Did you think dragons hatched out of eggs alone?”
Ida’s eyes widened. “They hatch out of eggs but they are…men?”
“Not men, but yes, they hatch from an egg. Alistair is the only egg of his mother and father, and he’s very special. Not every egg can grow to be a Flamelord.”
“Are you saying Alistair isn’t just a dragon, he’s a prince of dragons?”
“Yes,” Hector said.
Ida’s face paled to cream.
“What?”
“I didn’t know he was a prince!”
“He’s not a human prince—”
“For your information, I don’t explicitly state ‘human prince’ when I compose the set-up spell,” Ida said. “You never told me. All these years, you’ve been sending me dragon princes?”
“I didn’t think it mattered. After all, the dragons have their own traditions in this matter.”
“Well, it would’ve been nice if you’d said something!” Ida folded her arms over her chest. “I stipulated the prince should fall in love at first sight with the princess, and damn it, if yourdragon prince didn’t arrive first on the scene. This could really complicate things if they’ve accidentally fallen in love.”
“It wasn’t my fault! Your princess should’ve been out on the field with her prince long before Alistair got there.”
“Oh, for magic’s sake—”
“Please don’t shout,” Hari said in a dead, dull voice from his corner. “My head hurts.”
Cear emerged from the firepot as a salamander. They perched on the edge of the pot, staring at Hector with a curious expression.
Hector composed himself. “Do you have a question, Cear?”
“Yes,” they hissed from the flames. “Is it customary for creatures in love to fight as you and Ida are fighting?”
A horrid flush warmed his cheeks. “You mean, as part of the setup when the spell is prepared?”
“Yes.”
Ida pursed her lips and nodded. “I see what you are getting at, Cear. You want to know if their argument at the beginning increased their initial attraction?”
“Yes.”
Hector tried not to breathe a sigh of relief. Who ever heard of people falling in love when they quarreled? “That kind of thing doesn’t happen in real life, Cear. Only in books.”
“You might be surprised,” Ida said, eyeing him over her glasses. “But no, I didn’t set the spell for initial animosity. Not on purpose, anyway.”
“Not on purpose?”
She looked uncomfortable. “When the kingdom had families who didn’t like each other very much, it wasn’t uncommon for a princess or prince to deeply despise the person—”
