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It was becoming clear to Sevrrn that his human wielded a strange power over him. She was far more dangerous than he had initially surmised her to be, though he did not find this unsettling or even distasteful. It was…
Fun.
Usually.
In the past, when she had tried manipulating him, Sevrrn had always been too clever for her. This time, she had bested him. He would not fall for this again, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before she figured out another way to circumvent his superior intellect. That was…
Exciting.
As he lay back on the silks, feigning interest in whatever it was that Madja was appraising, Sevrrn contemplated all of the new things he was learning. Much like the countless trinkets within his lair, Sevrrn had a vast vocabulary at his disposal. But until he had met Madja, he had never truly considered what all of these words meant. She was his youngest possession—not even three decades old—and yet she was expanding his universe like nothing before her.
His mind, which was never entirely focused on one thing, latched on to something she said.
“If there are Mandurian traders at the port, we could probably get as much as a hundred and fifty silvers for it.”
Realizing she was holding up his golden tablet again, he scowled.
“We will not be selling that,” he informed her.
After he had taken his release in her mouth—a memory that Sevrrn would not soon forget—she had further convinced him that they needed to sell off some of his possessions in exchange for modern currency. This way, they would be able to purchase things in her precious marketplace.
“Why not?” she asked, waving the tablet in front of him. “What use could you possibly have for this?”
“You told me that there were only fifty-seven of these tablets created. It could quite well be the last one of its kind and you expect me to hand it over to some stranger in exchange for a few common pieces of silver? Do I look like a fool to you?”
He heard her sigh. That sound displeased him, but he allowed it.
“How about this, then?”
He glanced over to see that she had picked up one of the gold coins from the floor. On one side, it bore the face of a sullen prince; and on the other, a symbol that bore a likeness to a fish. There were precisely seventy-two grooves on the rim, two of which were almost completely worn away.
“You are not selling that, either.”
“Why not? You probably have a thousand of these coins lying around on the floor.”
“I have fourteen thousand, twelve hundred and two coins that are similar to that one. They bear the same shape, size, and design, though each varies in some way, however slightly.”
This time, she groaned. “I don’t know whether to be a
“Why don’t we sell that spoon you’re always carrying around?” he suggested.
What was the word for that?
Petty?
Madja’s face wilted. “I can’t sell that. I told you before, it’s all I have left of my father.”
He arched a brow—by far his favorite of human facial expressions. So much could be conveyed with such a simple gesture.
She said, “I don’t know if you remember, but eight years ago, the Allonans declared war on us. They sent out a fleet of a dozen warships to raid our capital. Everyone panicked. The nobles, primarily traders, were ordered to surrender their ships to defend the city. My father was one of the few wealthy residents of the city that didn’t own a ship and so he was ordered to surrender all of his gold so that we could make an offering to you.”
Sevrrn felt himself frown. “I do not remember an attack on the island, nor such an offering.”
“That’s because neither ever came. My father surrendered all of his gold, except for a set of golden flatware. He wanted to have something to bargain with if we were invaded. The family in charge of collecting his gold—the Kavesh—they hired mercenaries to search our estate. When they found the gold, my father was convicted of treason and sentenced to death.”
Madja paused, blinking several times before continuing. “Meanwhile, in a very bizarre twist of fate, the Allonan warships were all called back to their home port. Apparently their capital was attacked by a dragon.”
Sevrrn nodded. “I remember that.”
“You were there?”
“No, I heard about it in the other realm. It is all they ever talk about.”
His sister Valdyra had been, without a doubt, the most powerful of all the original dragons. She had also been the most impulsive, irrational, and foolhardy, which was likely the reason she was the very first of them to be killed by humans in her true form.
“The other realm?” she asked. “Where’s that?”
“The other realm is everywhere,” he explained.
“Right…”
“You did not tell me what happened to my gold.”
“You mean my father’s gold?” she asked dryly. “The day before my father’s execution, they found out that the Allonan fleet had turned back. Since there was not going to be an attack, the Kavesh didn’t see the need for an offering. They executed my father anyway and kept his gold.”
“Typical,” Sevrrn muttered.
Long past were the days that gold coins would rain down into his lair. When humans would travel continents and cross oceans to make offerings and seek his favor. Now, they only paid tribute when they wanted something from him.
Madja seemed to be saddened by this as well, because he could detect the faint smell of her tears.
“Do not worry,” he said, patting the top of her head. “They will pay for what they have done.”
She looked up at him, appearing surprised. Did she truly believe that he would let them get away with taking his gold?
2
They left the lair several hours before sunrise. Initially, Madja was relieved that they were travelling by foot. The night before, she’d had a horrifying dream of riding on Sevrrn’s back in his dragon form. It had involved a very long fall, followed by many broken bones. She could still hear Sevrrn mocking her from above: Good, now we do not have to go to the marketplace.
But after several hours of walking on rough terrain, she couldn’t have cared less about falling and would have been perfectly fine landing in the town square on a dragon. When she expressed this to Sevrrn, he explained that he couldn’t shift without his scales. He had left the robe back in the lair, presumably so that he didn’t stick out among the humans.
It was sunset when they arrived in Bern, a bustling town that had been built around a small cove. As a child, Madja had visited the town several times with her father, but it was far enough away from the capital that no one was likely to recognize her.
At the town gates, Madja identified herself and Sevrrn as foreign dignitaries, quickly elaborating that she was his translator when he refused to speak. Sevrrn may have forsaken his majestic golden scales, but in the regal silk robes he had chosen to wear, along with his vast array of gemstone-encrusted jewelry, he looked every bit the part of an affluent noble. They were granted entry without further inspection.
After a brief walk through a modest residential area, the familiar aromas of roasting meat and spices lured Madja in the direction of the marketplace.
The market was situated in the center of town, with hundreds of stalls crammed side by side on long, winding streets. The ground was only partially paved and a thin layer of dust clung to everything.
Flocks of people crammed in tightly around stalls where vendors peddled various goods. Just at a glance, she saw stalls for foreign textiles, love charms, painted pottery, seasonal flowers, steamed buns, and live chickens.