Prince of Dragons

Chapter Fourteen

Wait, wait, wait. Hold on here. This dragon, who had access to literal magic, needed my help? For what?

I drunkenly tilted my head, causing my hair—which was messy from when Cayden tossed me on the bed. "But why though? I-I'm jus'...you know, a boring guy with no magic stuff. What could I possibly do to help you?" Other than, you know, letting him have his way with me? After all, he was incredibly good-looking and I wouldn't mind a drunken...sweaty distraction.

Oh yeah...what was he talking about again?

That's right, he needed my help for...something.

The dragon stepped towards me while reaching into the pocket of his coat. He then pulled out what looked like a large, folded piece of paper and held it up. "After I helped your lot escape, I investigated Alton's study room in hopes of finding any clues that could possibly lead me to back to my people. At first, I couldn't find even the smallest of breadcrumbs, but then," he waved the paper he held, "I found a map hidden between the pages of a book. One that might lead me to my people."

I stumbled towards him and made a move to grab said map, but he held it over his head—the tall bastard—and my drunk self thought it would be a good idea to try and jump for it. Obviously, you know where this is going. I ended up tripping over my horrible attempt, and that flounder caused me to crash against the other dragon's chest.

"So, how come you need me, w-when you have a map?" I wondered, as I placed a hand on his chest and slightly pushed away so I could see the look on his face. "You not only have...well, that paper-map-thingie, but you have crazy magical powers, so why do you even need me?"

The man in front of me opened his mouth, no doubt ready to answer my question...but of course my inebriated brain decided that was the moment to finally remember the guy's name. "Alaban!" I exclaimed, poking his chest.

Alaban's brows furrowed and those amber eyes flickered briefly to my finger. "What?"

"Oh, uh, I remembered your name. I was trying to remember it, but, you know, alcohol makes the memories all..." I blew air out of my mouth and furrowed my brows, "wonky. Yeah, wonky."

Alaban blinked, seemingly both perplexed and amused as he grabbed my finger and pulled it from his chest. "Look, your highness, while I do indeed possess magical capabilities, there are limits to what I can feasibly do. I can't teleport without knowing where I'm going, and I can't do far distances like that either. Besides, not many know that dragons like me still exsist and I would rather not use magic if I don't have to. I'm not invincible. Most of my travel will no doubt be on foot, or horseback, and I need someone more...hands on if I run into trouble." He sighed and dropped my hand before he turned and stepped away from me. "You're obviously..." he peered at me, "physically adept, especially with a sword. If I happened to run into bandits and you were there..." he then nibbled at his bottom lip. "Not to mention some...company would be nice..."

A knock sounded on the door, causing him to tense and trail off.

I blinked dumbly, and glanced at the door, silently wondering who the heck it was. I hoped it wasn't father wanting to tear me a new one after abandoning the...elf prince guy, 'cause I wasn't in the mood to be yelled at, especially in front of Alaban. Davian and Cayden probably figured I would be asleep at this point, so surely it couldn't be them...right?

I turned to tell Alaban to hide so I could see who it was, but the moment I turned to address him I realized he had vanished—no doubt with his fancy magic.

Pursing my lips, I stumbled to the door—nearly tripping on the rug—and opened it, revealing none other than Lumerian.

When he saw me, he straightened up and gave me a small smile. "I've been looking for you. May I come in?"