22
The girls went back to bed after breakfast.
Dani slept like a log until well after lunch, when Sirki burst into her room covered in globs of pancake batter.
“I made pancakes!” she announced unnecessarily, and then vanished once more.
Dani emerged, wondering if Sirki’s culinary skills were on par with her brother’s. The Dragona bustled around her kitchen. Pancake batter had been liberally applied to every surface. Perhaps a better question was whether they had maid service...
The main course itself was a little thicker than expected, and a bit gooey in the middle, but delicious when slathered with butter and syrup.
Dani poked at a reddish berry buried in batter. “What is this?” It had an interesting combination of sweet with a tart aftertaste.
“Lirkberries. They only grow in this realm. I think they are super in pancakes!”
Dani marveled at the benefits of a multi-realm existence.
True to her character, Sirki continued to chatter. “My mom has given me the day off from my duties, so I can take you on a tour of the palace. Would you like that?”
Dani perked up. A tour would be excellent. Her street survival skills hinged on knowing her exits. At the moment, if she wanted to leave the palace, leaping off a ledge was her only option.
Not conducive to walking away in one piece.
She only had Tyrez’s word for it that there were two hundred and six Dragons between her and the ground level. Had he lied? Somehow, lying didn’t seem his thing. Or maybe it wasn’t a Dragon thing. Even Sirki had a refreshing, although noisy, honesty to her.
Three hours later, Dani admitted Tyrez had underestimated the obstacles between his quarters and the front entrance. There was no way she’d be able to just walk out the door, never mind find her way through the maze of corridors and levels to it. There was a lift, but they used it mostly for freight. The rest of the time, the Dragons used a series of ramps between levels, even when in human form. She saw many in Dragon form too, but none were full-sized inside the building.
“In the palace, we stick to our first phase if we wish to be beast,” Sirki explained. “Our full-sized versions take up too much room. We’d have to redesign huge pieces of this place, and it’s thousands of years old.”
First phase. Small Dragon. Check. Dani filed facts away with care. Information was power. Right now, she had very little of it. Despite the lack of control over her circumstances, Dani was more relaxed than she’d been in a long time. She felt safe among the Dragons. It made no sense, but she did.
Rindek could never find her in here. She was well fed. Had a warm, soft bed to sleep on. The Dragons might be huge and scary, but they lived by a strict code of honor. They might decide she wasn’t worth the trouble, and kick her out. The Emperor was not her friend. But they’d never force themselves on her.
If they came after her, it would be for a good reason. And she would have deserved it.
Sirki kept up a cheerful monologue involving everything from who carved the lintels to the purposes and responsibilities of the different areas they passed. Dani picked out the relevant bits, but spent most of her time gawking at the place.
It was magnificent, and very, very old.
The carvings alone captivated her, and the tapestries that softened the long stretches of stone featured snapshots of Dragon history. Sirki grew impatient with Dani’s slow progress, but answered her questions without rancor.
Dani soon realized that although all male Dragons were large and had a certain air to them, Tyrez and his brother were bigger than many. When asked about it, Sirki shrugged.
“They’re Legion,” she said. “The Legion only takes the best into its ranks.”
“The Legion is your army?”
“To be exact, the Legion is the Emperor’s elite forces. They perform many tasks, from intelligence to peacekeeping. We don’t have an army anymore. But all Dragons are taught how to fight from a young age, so if we need to call upon them, we can.”
Two men strolled past, arms linked, heads close together. A strong scent drifted in their wake—Dani’s toes curled and her heart accelerated. She turned to Sirki.
“Are they soulbonded?”
Sirki snorted. “Only for the moment. Like I say, if we feel the itch, we scratch.”
“So... It’s not permanent?”
“Not in their case, no. Sex occurs most often between good friends. Tomorrow, they might just be coworkers again.” When Dani’s brows rose, she continued. “At this level of the palace, you see quite a few Dragonas that serve the Matriarch. But the lower levels mostly house males. So same-sex pairing for a night’s fun is common.”
