Page 44 of Red Dragon’s Flame

“Shocking,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not doing anything to mess you up, though. I’m just trying to tap into the dark web without anyone backtracing me, so I can get to my data caches. It’s hard because I’m not sure where I am. I mean, you said we were going to another dimension but we can’t have really. There’s internet.”

“Of course there is. How do you think I play Realms?” She narrowed her eyes at him, and he relented. “We have a permanent magical portal to the lair of some of our dragon allies. I don’t have all the technical specs off the top of my head, but essentially we piggyback off their wi-fi, and all the traffic is spoofed to look like it originates from our company’s corporate headquarters on earth.”

“Wait.” Her eyebrows went up, and a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Are you telling me you have an entire country stealing wi-fi by routing it through a dragon’s lair and a magical portal?”

He couldn’t tell if she was impressed, or laughing at him. “Yes?” he ventured.

“That’s some pretty epic hacking, disguising those IP addresses.”

“Well, to be fair,” he said, “it’s a very small country.” That made her laugh, which he loved. “And Thorne Greystone—the dragon whose lair it is—helped build the internet and probably owns half of it, so…”

“How is that even possible? He must be ancient.”

“Mmm,” Mikah said. “Around five hundred, I think.”

“Years old?”

“He’s a dragon,” Mikah repeated.

“Wow.” She still looked like she didn’t quite believe any of this. She was silent for a minute, and then comprehension dawned in her eyes. “Wait. Is this Thorne guy how you found me?”

“Guilty.”

She took the breakfast sandwich, heated it, and began eating. Mikah sipped his coffee, giving her time.

Finally she said, “I’m glad you did.”

They ate in silence for a bit, Mikah wondering how to at least lure her out of the server room, even if she didn’t want to meet anyone. He knew one way, possibly, but it wasn’t something he’d planned on doing right away. It was too… intimate—although she probably wouldn’t know that.

He said, “Just because you don’t want to meet people doesn’t mean you have to stay here. I can take you to the place where I go, when I want to be alone.”

She gave a little snort. “I didn’t think you were ever alone.”

“Not as much as I’d sometimes like to be,” he admitted. “That’s why I made this place I’m talking about. Nobody else has ever seen it. Want to?” He didn’t look at her—he hadn’t meant to tell her she was the first to see it. He sounded like Emon’s daughter Kendra when she’d drawn a new picture.

But Devon looked pleased. “Okay,” she said. “Sure. I’d like to.”

Chapter 20

They dropped off the rest of the food in Mikah’s room, and then he led Devon through the back corridors of the castle, down to the dungeons.

Devon was still quiet, and Mikah fought the urge to babble about nothing. Patience, he reminded himself. She spends most of her time alone. She’s not used to small talk.

But it turned out she had something on her mind. After a bit she said, “I hope I didn’t get you in trouble with Emon, last night. You know, bringing me here.”

He glanced over at her. He hated that she was so worried about being a danger and a burden. He wanted, with everything inside him, to fix that.

“It’s fine,” he reassured her. “What Emon said was true—his dragon may be a monster, but deep down he’s a good person with a soft spot for people in trouble.”

“True story—I did not see many soft spots.”

Mikah laughed. “Wait until you see him with his little girl. Putty.”

“I’ll believe that when I do see it. And anyway, I’m not a cute little dragon princess. I’m a deadly nuisance. Who set his desk on fire.”

“Everyone in the clan is pretty much a deadly nuisance. Emon’s used to it. He’s also used to his possessions getting suddenly flamed. Hell, for the first year after the clan was formed, we couldn’t even get through Sunday dinner without someone setting the table on fire.”

That made her laugh again. Wait until she realized it was the literal truth. Sometimes it still happened. Mikah said, “Don’t worry. I won’t let him kick you out. He owes me.”