Page 92 of Wickedly Ever After
“What happens, darling?” Amber asked.
“Wicked gas for one thing,” Alistair said, grinning. “But the acid in our stomachs generally deactivates anything our venom doesn’t.”
“I’m sure your venom isn’t good for Amber, either,” Ida said with a snort.
Alistair burst out laughing. When he collected himself in spasms of fire and smoke, he said, “Putthaton your list of questions to ask Hector about dragons.”
“Should I also ask him about how to get a dragon to be reasonable?” Ida said. “You say you care about your people, and you want to marry a human? How is that thinking about your people and their traditions?”
With a roar, Alistair loomed in front of her, glaring down from his considerable height, smoking at the ears. “You think I haven’t been thinking about tradition since I met Amber? I could’ve kept her at my lair and hidden her from everyone, kept her for myself. Instead, I brought her here to meet my parents, to get to know my people because she’s my mate!”
“And that’s going so well.” Ida scoffed, although she felt like her heart was in her throat and not back in the box at home. “Is that why you bit your father?”
The smoke drifted away. He gazed down at her with more respect. “You aren’t short on courage, Witch. But I didn’t bite my father out of anger. I challenged him as our tradition demanded. I won. Now I am king.” He turned his back on Ida and went back to Amber, taking her by the shoulders and pressing his nose against her neck.
“And I’m your queen,” Amber said, nuzzling him back.
“I suggest you both take some time to think about what I’ve said,” Ida said. “Because from where I stand, I don’t see a king and a queen. I see two children making the biggest mistake of their lives because of my magic, and I’m no kind of good witch if I let that happen.”
Alistair wrapped his arms around Amber. “Maybe you’re no kind of good witch if you can’t see what it means to love someone so much you’ll do anything to be with them forever. I think you’d better leave now.”
His voice was soft and nonthreatening, but Ida backed out of the door, far more terrified than she’d been when he blew up in her face.
41
Hector
Queen Annabeth petitions Witches’ Council to remove His Wickedness, Hector West, formerly Hector Prim, and Her Goodness, Ida North, formerly Ida Moonshadow, from their positions as Cardinal Witches! No word yet on how King Rupert has responded. Sources say the king is in the counting house, counting all his money to repair his botched nose job, which keeps regrowing as a sausage.
Queen Annabeth has also filed to have Crown Prince Archibald’s marriage to Captain of the Guard Caedan Cay annulled on the grounds it was performed by a drunk centaur. Sources say the centaur told the queen to take advantage of her husband’s sausage and shut up about everyone else’s.
—The Sorcerer’s Star
Hector found the Flamelord in dragon form, lounging in a hot mineral bath. He appeared in good spirits for a man whose own son had taken a large bite out of his foreleg and back. The wounds were contracting, black and green in the center. Alistair hadn’t restrained his venom. He’d meant business.
“Hello, Hector!” Adair submerged briefly and grinned as herose above the surface, showing all of his sharp, red teeth. “How kind of you to come visit me in my dotage.” He chuckled.
“I’m sorry.” Hector stared stricken at Adair’s arm. “Morga told me about the…mating.”
“Arrrrragh,” Adair sighed. “I’ve mixed feelings about it. On one claw, it’s utterly absurd, even for Alistair. On the other claw, it’s the first time that boy has ever attacked me. I was wondering if I’d have to jump him to get him to claim the kingship.”
“You’re not upset?” Adair had always been protective of his position, almost to the point of arrogance, but here he was, lounging in the bath, looking positively amused by the situation.
“It was bound to happen sooner or later. I’d quite enjoy rolling over and letting him take over the responsibility if it weren’t for the girl who’s made a lizard out of him. He won’t even take dragon form with us now, apart from the day he chewed me up and spit me out, and I don’t think he’d have done it if I hadn’t challenged him to combat with the girl there. Amber, I believe?”
“That’s right.”
“She’s made of stern stuff for a human,” Adair said. “But no dragon in these mountains will stand for it. Sooner or later, he must take her back where she belongs. I hoped the prince would turn up demanding his bride and one or the other of them would come to their senses, but I’ve given up on that fantasy. Even if Alistair refused to fight, Amber would pick up a sword and go after the poor man. She’s utterly smitten with my son. Some sort of fetish, I suppose. I’ve heard human women go for shapeshifters.”
“Those wounds look infected.”
“Pshaw. I had worse when I got drunk and flew into a manticore’s nest, but to hear Morga talk, you’d think I was dying.” Heheaved himself out of the bath, and with a grunt, he contracted down into his human form, naked and proud, and strolled over to a shelf of rock for his robe. The wounds looked even worse on human flesh, and from the way Adair moved, they bothered him more than he let on.
“Tinbit will be here soon with the pack pony and wound balm. I’d let him tend those,” Hector said. “In the meantime, can you tell me about what happened when your son flew home with the princess? I asked Morga, but she was…understandably upset.”
Adair shook his head. “He is our only egg after all. I doubt even a high-dragon from the ancient Silver Mountains of the north would’ve met with her approval. But then again, I doubt she’d ever expected to get in the middle of a dragon fight with a human by her side.”
“She said Amber tried to stop Alistair.”
