“Yes, Your Majesty.” The horn saluted.
Then the Dragon King looked at me. “So, are you taking the job, Master Alchemist?”
“Let's discuss it somewhere else. Somewhere far from here.”
Chapter Three
“This will be dangerous work.” I stretched my shoulders to appear larger. Seated on a green velvet couch inside the living room of the royal apartments, I felt dwarfed by the masculine décor surrounding me.
The Dragon King sat in a throne-like chair across from me. Between us, a short black marble table bore a silver tray of refreshments. I had a cup of tea cupped in my hands, and my case by my feet on the floor. The room was massive for a space to merely sit in and relax. It had to be forty feet across, with windows that gave a bird's-eye view of the city. The boars that had featured predominantly in the palace décor were absent there. Instead, paintings of landscapes and a few portraits hung on the stone walls along with incredible tapestries depicting dragons in flight.
With a space that large, sections had to be formed by the arrangement of furniture. We currently occupied a parlor of sorts, near the east wall. Across from us, on the west wall, a fireplace loomed over a single high-back chair with a small table beside it. A book lay on the table, a cloth bookmark hanging out of it like a tongue. Between our section and the fireplace was a dining area hosting a rectangular table for four, its top carved with dragons and protected by a pane of glass. To the north of this section, a door also carved with dragons barred my viewof what I assumed was His Majesty's bedroom. Directly across from that was the door we had come through.
“I understand that your fee will reflect that.” The King motioned at me to get on with it. “What do you want, Master Sevarin?”
From you? Oh, so much.
“I want ten gold to begin. If I succeed, I want fifty more.”
The King's eyes widened. It was enough to buy myself a castle. Maybe not as large as his, but a castle nonetheless. But I would be working with a potentially dangerous, unknown contagion.
“I'll need a lab, fully stocked with equipment and components that I will list for you. I'll also need a budget of five silvers a week for any other equipment or ingredients I may need to purchase.”
“Anything else?” His tone indicated there had better not be.
“Full access to all infected objects and locations, and the authority to handle all rot-related situations as I see fit. I will not work with others on this, nor will I put up with any of your palace alchemists butting in.”
“But I will have the final say over your actions.”
“Of course, Your Majesty. I will come to you with my findings and discuss any actions to take first.”
“Agreed.”
I blinked. I'd expected some negotiating. It worried me that he didn't. “I'll start immediately.”
He stood up. “No, it's late. You'll need your rest. I'll show you to your room.”
“Very well.” I picked up my case and followed him out of the room.
Expecting to leave the royal apartments through the door at the end of the corridor, I hesitated when the King turned in the opposite direction and took me to a door just twenty feet down from his living room and across the hall.
“Your Majesty?” I looked from him to the door that guarded the royal apartments, down at the other end of the corridor.
The King opened the door and went inside. “Yes?”
I followed him into a sitting room done in green and gold. “I'm staying in the royal apartments?”
“It's safer for you, and easier for me to find you when I want an update.” He opened a door and waved through it. “Bedroom. There's a bathroom off it.”
I went past him into the bedroom and set my traveling case on the bench at the foot of the four-poster bed. The furnishings there were more neutral, probably made to accommodate both male and female guests. Blue silk curtains hung from the canopy, neither frilly nor too simple. The wood was amber-colored and carved with swirls instead of flowers. Even the carpet bore swirling designs that were ornate but not feminine.
“This will do,” I said.
“Your things are in the closet.” The King went to a door in the west wall and opened it to show me a dressing room, not acloset. My trunks were stacked inside. He strode past me to the sitting room. “Refresh yourself and then return to my suite. I'll have dinner brought up for us.”
“Dinner? How kind of you. I'm ravenous. I'll be right there, Your Majesty.” I watched him leave my guest suite without looking back, but I saw the tension in his shoulders and grinned. Dragon was on the menu.
Chapter Four
