Taken by the Dragon King Read Free

Shelter? An animal shelter? Really?” I ask in disbelief.
    “It’s a cover. Just go there and the council will be able to help you but you’ve got to get a move on it,” Edgar snaps at me.
    “I will let them know you’re coming!” Fee says, clapping her tiny hands excitedly. “This is what we’ve been hoping for! They will want to meet you both.”
    “If you’re wondering about your lair, Master Dragon King Sir,” Edgar pipes in, “then I hope it pleases you to know that no one has ever found it. To my knowledge anyway. We’ve been searching for centuries, too.”
    I hold my breath as Ash’s eyes flare. “How comforting,” he snarls.
    “You have a lair?” I say, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice. A lair sounds so menacing. I wonder why they would be searching for it.
    “Of course! He’s a Dragon, silly girl.” Edgar interjects. “That’s what they do. They hide stuff away. Nobody ever gets to see a Dragon’s hoard.”
    “Oh.” I look down, deflated.
    “If you keep speaking for me,” Asher replies, nostrils flaring. “I’ll rip your traitorous tongue right out of your throat.”
    Edgar squeaks, his spine stiffening for a moment until he shifts back into a cat. What a bizarre sight. I shake my head and watch as he tucks his small furry body under my sofa.
    “So are you going to your lair?” I ask nervously. I’m not sure I’m invited to go with and plus I’m not really sure I’m ready for that. What kind of stuff would he hide there?
    “After we meet this council, then we will go to my lair.” Asher bends down to kiss my cheek. “Let’s go.”
    “Wait,” I hesitate.
    “We can’t.”
    “But I’ll never be able to come back here again.”
    Asher’s brow furrows as his eyes grow darker. “I regret that you are losing your home because of me,” he murmurs.
    “It’s okay, it’s just I never realized how much it meant to me until right now. I’ve always been a little resentful that I don’t fit in enough Underground to live there.”
    I glance around the living room, noticing how few sentimental objects there are to collect. It should all fit into one of my tote bags. Asher watches me pack with a strange expression I can’t read.
    I head into the bedroom and grab the evening gown that I bought for the Renewal Day celebration. Hopefully my magic will keep working and I won’t need it, but maybe I will. Kneeling down, I reach under the bed and retrieve my stash.
    “What are those?” he asks
    “Runestones,” I reply.
    “Are they valuable?” His eyes light up as they lock onto the shiny faceted orbs.
    “They aren’t worth much down there. A dime a dozen, really.”
    “What’s a dime?”
    “A worthless coin.”
    “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would the people use a worthless coin? Is it made of silver?”
    I can’t help but smile. His dragon side is really showing. “Not even close. And paper money is more valuable than metal now.”
    “What?” he exclaims, almost outraged.
    “Money is basically just numbers.”
    “It most certainly is not,” he insists.
    “Up here, it really is. Sometimes,” I explain, pulling out my debit card as I fight the urge to laugh, “it’s all done electronically and nothing is exchanged at all.”
    “Melinda, stop trying to trick me.”
    “I’m not! And we really don’t have time for this,” I say, collecting the runestones.
    “If those aren’t worth anything down there, why are you taking them?”
    “Because I’m not supposed to have these up here. I’m in enough trouble as it is without adding contraband smuggling to the list.”
    “Why did you bring them up here in the first place?”
    “I have to pay for this place with human money, the meaningless, paper and plastic kind. I sell them to hippie gift shops up here. Once a month, I take a load of them over to Sedona and make a killing.”
    “Sedona,” he breathes, stopping in his tracks as we head for the door.
    “What about it?”
    “I was born