Not Your Damsel

Part 5: Jordan

In Nicholas Suddenly Becomes More Interesting

I'm not gonna lie to you, Nicholas' breakfast was good. I mean really good. I mean absolutely amazing, and I would have killed to have had something like that back in the village. If this was what his cooking normally tasted like, maybe spending a few days here wouldn't be as horrific as I'd thought it would be. But there was no way in hell that I would have told him that to his face. I was not about to give him that power over me. For now, I was content to finish off another helping of his soup. We ate in silence, though I could tell that he really wanted to say something, anything, to make up for the lack of noise. I let him try to figure out how to break the ice on his own. I certainly wasn't going to assist him.

After finishing, I leaned back in my seat with a happy sigh. Dragon Boy waved his hand, and the dirty dishes magically made their way to a basin of water. He got to his feet gracefully, brushing invisible crumbs off of his golden robe. I slowly stood up as well, shifting uncertainly and wiggling my toes against the stone floor. "I say we retire to our rooms to change into some fresh clothes," he said, "and then I can give you a tour of my home. Does that sound alright to you?" The expression on his face was back to the curious, excited puppy look I'd seen on him before breakfast. How is it possible that a guy who turns into a dragon can look so damn adorable?

I tried to be as nonchalant as possible. "Do you even have clothes in my size?" I asked him. "I mean, I guess I can wear a robe, but I think it'll drown me." He blinked at me in confusion, and I had to hold back an exasperated sigh. "Have you not noticed that I'm about a little shorter and smaller than you?" Unlike most people under a certain height point, I have no trouble admitting that I'm not as close to the clouds as some tall people are. I knew a guy who was only five feet tall, and every single time someone pointed it out he'd start trying to bash their face in. Damn little pipsqueak...wonder how he's doing now...

"You don't need to worry about that," Nicholas was saying, drawing my attention back to him. He beamed at me cheerfully, his eyes sparkling brightly. "I keep spare sets of clothing in a lot of sizes in that room. They should be in the wardrobe." He beckoned for me to follow him, and I trailed behind him as he led me out of the kitchen. "After people started arriving outside my cave," he told me, glancing over his shoulder to make sure I was still with him, "I made sure to have a large supply of clothes ready for those who were sent here."

"Sounds like you're pretty prepared for, ah, 'guests,'" I said. Nicholas slowed down a bit, and I found myself walking side by side with him. "I mean, the room I was in looked pretty well-kept. Nice and posh, better than anything I've stayed in." Nicholas raised an eyebrow at me, concern flickering in his eyes. Shit. Revealing too much. I coughed into my fist and looked ahead of us. "And now I hear you've got clothes ready? Damn, you could turn this into a functioning inn if you really wanted to."

Nicholas bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. "I wouldn't exactly call it an inn, Jordan," he said very quietly. "It's just my home. And some people are wrongfully sent here." He shot me a quick glance out of the corner of his eye. "Don't get me wrong, some of the people who come here really are criminals, and I deal with them according to their crimes. But most of the time..." He shook his head slowly, his eyes pained. "Most of them are just normal people. For example, a few months after I came here I had an entire family huddled outside the entrance. The father and his sons was trying to build a fire to keep them all warm, and the mother was trying to keep her baby from crying."

I felt a chill go down my spine. I'd heard through the grapevine that one of the king's soldiers had discovered some pretty nasty stuff about His Majesty, King Aurelium, and was going to expose it to the public. But King Asshole had found out about it, and not too long after the soldier, his wife, his 3- and 6-year-old sons, and their new baby girl, all disappeared without a trace. Everyone in Saclouse had guessed they'd been taken to the dragon, and Nicholas was confirming my suspicions. "What happened to them?" I asked, my voice just barely above a whisper.

Nicholas looked down at me and smiled again, but it looked much more melancholy than before. "I shifted back into my human form and brought them inside," he replied. "I didn't think they'd take kindly to seeing the beast they were afraid of." His smile widened a little at a sudden memory and he allowed himself a quiet chuckle. "The oldest boy tried to challenge me to a duel," he said. "He was trying to protect everyone from the nasty dragon." His eyes were distant, as if he was watching the whole scene replay in front of him. "I convinced the father that it was perfectly safe, and I brought them inside. He told me their story in private, and we both decided that it wasn't safe for them here in the south."

"What did you do then?"

"Well, we did some planning, and we both agreed that the best place for them to go was Idrisid, one of the kingdoms in the northern country." We had reached my room, but I didn't want to go inside just yet. I had to find out what had happened next. Nicholas leaned against the wall, his arms folded over his chest. "My family has friends and other connections in that kingdom. Even if Idrisid and the other northern kingdoms don't like your king, I knew that if they had my blessing they'd be allowed practically anywhere." He stared down the hallway, his eyes once more focused on a scene from the past. "A few days later, I sent them off towards the northern country with enough supplies to last for a few weeks, and a letter with my family seal on it to show anyone who asked that they had my blessing."

I was absolutely stunned. Nicholas had helped a family of five escape, with no thought of reward, into a friendlier country with his blessing. I didn't know anything about what dragon family seals meant, but I had a feeling that having a letter that said 'Hey, I'm a dragon prince and these people are under my protection, so don't kill them or else' would probably get them a lot of places. "Is that where all those people have disappeared to?" I asked him incredulously. "You've taken care of them here, and then helped them escape from King Aurelium?" Nicholas nodded, and I felt admiration stirring up inside me. "You've been shipping them all up north where they'd be safer?"

"Some of them had family in other kingdoms," Nicholas explained, "so I helped them go wherever it was they wanted to go. I gave them people to contact so they could find good living situations and ways to make money so they can live a comfortable life." His smile returned, and he winked at me playfully. "There are perks to being in the dragon royal family," he said brightly. "We have friends in a whole lot of places. Friends who wouldn't mind helping out someone in need." All I could do was stare at the golden-haired prince as a small grin started to tug at the corners of my mouth. Nicholas' cheeks turned slightly pink and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "What's that look for?" he asked, standing up straight again.

I shrugged at him. "Nothing," I replied casually. "You just got a little less scary in my eyes. And a little more...I dunno..." I cocked my head to the side and squinted at him as I searched for the right word. "...impressive, I guess." It was my turn to give him a cheeky wink, accompanied by my usual smirk. "Makes you seem kind of like a hero."

Nicholas' eyes widened, and the pink in his cheeks turned into a beautiful shade of red. I felt my own cheeks turning slightly warmer, but I pretended I couldn't feel it. "Clothes are in the wardrobe, right?" I asked. The dragon prince nodded mutely, still looking stunned. I gave him a lazy two-fingered salute before I darted inside my bedroom and hurriedly slammed the door behind me.