The dragon glanced in his direction and tilted his head curiously, and then turned back to face Fiella.
The tension in the room was begging to be shattered. Even the sprites seemed to hold their breath.
My fingertips buzzed with restrained magic. It pressed on my fingernails, tightened my veins until it was almost painful. I curled my fingers into my palms to relieve the sensation.
Tandor’s eyebrow furrowed in concentration. After what felt like ages, his fingers finally made contact with the tiny dragon, stroking feather lightly down the middle of the creature’s back.
The dragon tensed for a moment, bared its razor-sharp teeth. His scales rose like hackles. And then he laid down, allowing Tandor to pet him for a few long moments.
“Kizzi,” Tandor whispered. “Are you seeing this?”
“I see it,” I whispered back. “Are you scared?”
“Shitless.”
“Is he soft?”
“No, it's like tiny, paper-thin stones laying on top of each other.”
“No way.”
He nodded encouragingly. “Come feel.”
I had held the dragon earlier, but that had been more like wrangling a sleeping beast than stroking a cute critter. I looked at Fiella pointedly. “You first.”
“Me?” she croaked. “No way!”
“He’s looking at you. He wants you to pet him.”
The dragon was actually now peering around the room. He didn’t look murderous, though. If anything, he looked noble and reverent.
“Come on,” I urged. “It’s your dragon.”
The vampire’s eyes bulged. “Oh, fuck. I forgot about that part. It feels wrong—he feels too powerful.”
“You better get used to him. Go on. Pet.”
She steeled herself. Then, slowly, she knelt next to Tandor, who was now happily petting the dragon without a care in the world.Silly, sweet man.
Redd hovered close, prepared to intervene at any moment if things went south.
A tiny voice shouted from somewhere behind my shoulder. “It’s going well, Godsblood!”
I jumped. I had almost forgotten about the sprites.
Fiella stifled a laugh. “Yeah,Godsblood.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled to her. To Dropp, the water sprite, I said a little louder, “Kizzi. Just Kizzi. We’ve been over this.”
“Yes, Godsblood. I can’t help it,” Dropp said solemnly.
I huffed out a sigh.
It was a miracle that things hadn’t gone catastrophically wrong. Somehow, Tandor and Fiella were happily (if timidly) petting the baby dragon, and all of their fingers were still attached.
The sprites were watching from perches all over the room, but none of them were brave enough to get close.
Redd’s eyes were glued to the side of Fiella’s face, and a small smile tugged at the corner of his usually hard mouth.
