Page 32 of Rapunzel's Gambit (All That Glitters)
“You said you considered giving away part of your treasure to the people in need, correct?” he asked.
“Right. I just don’t know how to do that while pretending that I’m imprisoned.”
“I do something similar. I will occasionally give things to those I deem most in need, and that is what I did with the necklace.”
“Wouldn’t people be scared of you when they see you?”
“They don’t know it’s from me, and I go at night. Most people have wishing altars in their gardens. They place a small offering on it when they are in need. I take whatever they have to give and leave something in its place. I’ve been seen a few times, but who would believe them if they said a dragon was parting with its hoard?”
My heart warmed. “You’re giving away your treasure?”
“Sometimes. Other times it’s livestock. I didn’t realize that you had such a strong attachment to the necklace or I wouldn’t have given it away. I got this for it instead.” Pollox nudged a homemade doll. “I gave the necklace to a young girl and she offered it as a trade.”
I picked up the doll and stroked the coiled hair. “I’m glad you did.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t give away any of your things.”
“Please do next time. I’ll even come with you.”
“What?”
“A dragon protects its hoard,” I told Pollox. “And I’m still the crown princess. It’s my duty to take care of them, and this is a way I can.”
I laid my head against his warm side. Griffin, however well-intentioned, must have been misinformed. Pollox wasn’t a monster at all.
CHAPTER14
My tower room had never felt as lonely as it did that night. Moonlight streamed through the open window to illuminate the twinkling gemstones set into the wardrobe, but at that moment, it appeared cold and empty. I’d never appreciated the company of others until it had been stripped away. The time I’d spent with Griffin before Pollox took me back had made me hungry for more companionship. Now that it was gone, I craved it more than ever.
For several minutes, I let my mind construct images of talking and laughing with a friend, even allowing it to plaster Griffin’s face onto the daydreams, but such pale imitations of a genuine relationship still fell far short of what I needed. I could even forgo having a romantic relationship if I could just have some physical contact. I would wither away and die otherwise. Someone simply being in the same room with me would go a long way.
I stared at the wardrobe, which cracked its door open to imitate a wave. A wardrobe, even if an enchanted one, wasn’t alive enough to fulfill my need for conversation and friendship. But it did house a way to get to Pollox.
I debated. Whatever Griffin said, I’d never seen Pollox injure anyone either, and he had proved that he cared for his hoard. He also claimed that I was part of that hoard. Did his care extend to being emotionally available to me? Or did he only mean that he would provide the necessities of life? If only Griffin or a handmaiden or someone were here with me. I would even have accepted a conversation with my father. All alone at night, I couldn’t help but feel like there was no one who would care or even notice if I disappeared.
My feet swung out of bed and I was halfway to the wardrobe before I realized what I was doing. I paused with my fingers on the wardrobe’s handle. Was it worth the discomfort and pain of going through the portal to see Pollox for a few minutes then returning? What would I even say to him? Would he laugh at me for making up some excuse to have a conversation?
I decided I didn’t care. With a deep breath, I shoved the dresses aside and stepped into the wardrobe, shutting the door firmly behind myself. “To the cave, please,” I told the wardrobe, then scrunched my eyes closed.
The unsettling feeling wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered, but it was very close. My stomach still knotted and I felt like I’d been plunged into an ice bath then stabbed, but almost as soon as it started, the sensation faded. The dresses around me had vanished, and I pushed out into the cave.
Pollox lifted his head from where he’d been lying curled up like some massive, scaly cat. He’d clearly been sleeping. Would he be angry that I woke him?
“What, do you need another scheming session? I thought our next plan was already laid out. Or is there a knight I need to come drive away from the tower and I missed the enchantment’s alarm?”
I swallowed, trying to find the right words but everything I planned to say sounded stupid in my head.
Pollox tilted his large, horned head to the side. “You hate using that wardrobe. Why did you do it? Are you injured?”
I was tempted to lie. I wanted to have a valid reason for disturbing a sleeping dragon and hated the feeling that I was like a child running to a parent after a nightmare. But now that I was here, I didn’t want to lie. I wanted someone I could be honest with. “No, it’s nothing like that. I just…I just want a friend right now,” I told Pollox, staring at a point over his ridged back so I didn’t have to make eye contact. Would he laugh at my human need for companionship?
“You’re lonely?”
“You could say that.”
A full minute of silence passed. When Pollox spoke again, his voice was surprisingly soft and gentle. “I’m glad to be a friend for you anytime you wish. Are you cold?”
“Always,” I answered with a laugh, feeling as though the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders.
