They could be holed up somewhere together, screwing up their nerve to face their scolding or hoping it will go away. When our daughter was the age they’re supposed to be as smart as, that’s what she would have done.”
“That could be what happened,” Anso said, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. “But we still don’t know where to look.”
“Somewhere near their home,” Olivia answered. “Somewhere like their home, so they’ll feel safe. I saw a church from the balcony where we were standing that looked like it was closed for renovation.”
“Our Lady of the Waves,” Ty supplied. “But OWP checked there already.”
“If the Meimeyo are feeling guilty, they wouldn’t have come out if they were called. They’d have stayed in hiding.”
A thrill of hope skipped across Anso’s shoulders. “I’ll tell the pilot to change course,” he said, trying not to get too excited. “It’s certainly worth looking.” Ty flipped his harness open and hopped up. “I’ll see if there’s any shrimp salad in the stores. OWP would have checked the church a while ago. The dragons are used to being fed on a regular schedule. If they’re there, they might be hungry by now.”
They both departed so quickly James had to grab Olivia’s arm before she floated away.
“Sorry,” Anso called over his shoulder.
Olivia waved him on and laughed.
* * *
“The building could be unstable,” Lord Noth protested. “We can’t risk it coming down on you and the queen.”
“It’s stable enough for the restorers,” Anso countered. “Therefore, it’s stable enough for us. We’ll use the aquaglides. They’ve got collision shields built in.
And Nico will wear an earpiece. He’ll be reachable at all times. Believe me, I wouldn’t allow Olivia to come if I didn’t think this was safe.” A bit more politely heated discussion followed, but kings weren’t easy to overrule. In the end, the four of them plus the better part of the guards went to canvas the cathedral.
Nico, who Olivia was disconcerted to recognize from their abduction, snapped the front door’s chain with a big pair of bolt clippers. As he did, Ty and the other guards unloaded their next mode of transportation from the sub’s cargo bay.
The aquaglides were shiny black T-bars with football size engines. They were easy to use and ran almost silently, allowing their group to progress down the marble-columned nave while barely leaving a wake. Anso had instructed everyone to be as quiet as possible. If the mini-dragons were here, they didn’t want to scare them off. The silence added to the closed cathedral’s eerie loveliness.
The electricity was disconnected, and the only light stretched in silvery spokes from the high windows. As far as Olivia could discern, Our Lady of the Waves was Mary, her sad-kind figure featured prominently among the niche statues.
Carvings of kelp, fish, and seahorses were also popular decorations, along with a suspiciously muscular looking fellow brandishing a trident. How Poseidon had finagled his way into the New Testament pantheon, Olivia couldn’t guess. In one large wall mosaic, he carried a platter of lobster to the baby Jesus in the manger.
Because James was something of a shaky Catholic, he sniggered at seeing that.
They cruised all the way to the choir without spotting their quarry, though plenty of shadows flickered in the side chapels. When they’d reached a respectful distance from the high altar, Anso gestured everyone into a huddle.
“I think we need to go up,” he murmured. “The Meimeyo were living in a campanile. They’ll probably want to roost high. Nico, spread your men down here and make sure they don’t try to sneak back this way. If you spot them, engage the net. They’re too quick to chase down individually, plus we’d frighten them if we tried.”
“Got it,” Nico said. “But take Mark with you at least. Lord Noth will have my nuts if I let you go on without a guard.”
Anso made a face but didn’t argue. Mark plus his holstered (and slightly mysterious looking) weapon joined their slow upward spiral into the cathedral’s dome. A grid of scaffolding covered the mosaics on the vaults, obviously where the church was showing its age the worst. The higher up the aquaglides towed them, the better the light became, due to the many beautiful clear windows. They ascended from the dome into the lantern, passing first through circular oculus. To Olivia’s disappointment, not a single dragon tail could be seen.
“Huh,” Ty said, peering around the cross-supporting structure that sat atop the dome. “I really thought we were going to get lucky.” Olivia had too - and felt pretty silly for dragging them on this wild goose chase.
“Maybe this church is like St. Paul’s in London,” James offered. “If the dome was built in sections, there could be cavities in between.”
“I believe it was,” Anso said, his face lighting up.
“I spotted some holes in the brick around the oculus,” Ty said. “They looked big enough for the sea dragons to swim through.”
“Not for us, though,” Olivia felt glumly obliged to say.
Ty’s grin could have been a ray of sunlight. “Right,” he said. “That’s where the vacuum packed cans of shrimp come in.”
With only a bit of jostling, the five of them landed themselves and their aquaglides on the narrow railed gallery that circled the oculus. Ty and the guard called Mark removed a dozen tins of shrimp paste from their uniform pockets.
Shrugging at each other, they mutually decided to open all of them, creating a trail that led out from the biggest gap in the aging brick. Then Mark and Ty sat with the others.
Absolutely nothing happened for ten minutes.
Well, crap
, Olivia thought, mentally composing her apology. She didn’t get a chance to open her mouth. Anso and Ty and Mark suddenly sat straighter.
“What’s that smell?” James whispered just as Olivia caught a whiff through the shrimp. The scent was the same flowers-and-spice aroma she’d noticed when she first woke up with Anso, before their latest metamorphosis sidetracked them.
Anso was sitting tailor style next to her, his body taut with attention. “That,” he said, “is the smell of magic.”
“Hold hands,” Ty whispered, clasping both Mark’s and James’s. “Slow your breathing and think of peaceful things.”
He was the last person she expected to be giving new age advice. On the other hand, since they were in a city faeries had created, maybe it would be smart to go along.
Anso’s hand was warm and gentle, James’s firm and familiar. The instant they were all hooked up, a silent hum ran through the muscles in Olivia’s arms. The sensation was extremely nice, like warm blankets and hot tea. Her thoughts naturally calmed. She remembered Violet when she was little, how despite her volcano of a temper, she’d always loved to be cuddled. Their little girl had such a wonderful heart, no matter how hot it ran. Olivia knew she’d forgive her anything.
A small black nose poked out of the nearest hole.
James’s hand squeezed hers, but no one said a word. The first nose was joined by a second. Then, as if the entire school had decided it was all right to emerge, dozens of black and gold mini dragons poured from the cavity behind the brick.
They fell on the open tins of shrimp as if they were starving.
“Shh,” Anso said when Ty and Mark both began to move. “Let them finish their meal.”
That took about five minutes.
The nearest can was three feet from where they sat. The two little dragons who’d buried their snouts in it pushed it around to see if there might be more.
Then they looked up at them. Their paws had been as clever as hands, their curly tails adorable. Their eyes were dark with beautiful ruby lights.
Come,
Olivia thought to them.
Come and have a cuddle now that you’ve
eaten
.
The rational part of her nature thought this was a silly thing to think, right up there with pink ponies. To her amazement and her delight, both Meimeyo darted straight to her and twined themselves - paws and tail - around her neck and shoulders.
This made her laugh, but the sound didn’t startle them. Before you could say
I
believe in fairies
, all the dragons were flinging themselves at their rescuers and clinging like barnacles. Their bodies were slightly warm, their black and gold scales as sleek as silk. The five of them didn’t have enough hands to pet them all, but they did their best. Olivia had to nudge two dragons farther up her arms so she could work her aquaglide. The one on her head was gnawing on her hair pins.
They must have looked a sight when they rode with their cargo back to the cathedral’s floor.
The remaining guards were startled, but quick-witted enough to drop their net over the dragon-covered searchers as a precaution. The Meimeyo cheeped grumpily at that, but calmed again when they got more petting out of it. Lord Noth established himself as good for more than worrying when the team he’d summoned from the Oceanic Wildlife Patrol showed up in five minutes. Looking thoroughly professional, they brought cages and gloves and shrimp biscuits. In short order, they had all but two of the dragons secured in their carriers. Those final two didn’t want to let go of Olivia’s neck.
“Oh let them stay,” she said to OWP’s head wrangler. “I’ll ride back to the basilica with you. I’m sure they’ll unpry themselves once they see they’re home.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the naturalist with a bow Olivia didn’t think she’d ever get used to.
“We’ve got a count of thirty-five,” said a young plump woman in light blue OWP overalls. “That’s only one short of the original thirty-six.”
“Send someone to the dome,” her boss instructed. “Maybe it’s still up there.”
“Would you like my aquaglide?” Olivia offered, assuming she wouldn’t need it now. The young woman’s mouth fell open. “One other thing,” Olivia added.
“Will the dragon who took my hairpin eat it? I wouldn’t want it choking.”
“No,” the head wrangler answered, shaking off as strange a look as that of his employee. Maybe he thought Olivia shouldn’t have let the Meimeyo steal the Vitul jewels. “Dragons just like putting shiny things in their mouths.”
“Like kids,” Olivia laughed, stroking the two Meimeyo she still held. Her laughter made them wriggle, their cold little noses nuzzling close to her neck.
That was how the paparazzi caught her when they snuck in the church’s door: her hair a mess, pieces of net clinging to her clothes, and two Meimeyo snuggled up to her like puppies.
Olivia might not have been an attention hound, but even she knew this was good image management.
CHAPTER TWELVE
AS
soon as they made it back to the king’s apartments, Ty turned on the TV in the library. It had only been thirty minutes since they’d left Our Lady of the Waves, where they never did find the last missing Meimeyo. Nonetheless, the paparazzi photos of Olivia and the dragons were already being aired along with footage of Anso’s speech.
Seeing this, a headache began to vise around Anso’s temples. The journalists were in ecstasy, parsing every word and gesture for meaning. Knowing he couldn’t avoid it, he dropped to the couch to watch. Ty was standing closer to the screen, flipping through channels with the remote.
“These are good,” he said, freezing on a shot of Olivia. “Olivia is beaming, and the dragons could be shy toddlers holding on tight to Mum. Even if people ignore the timing, which makes collusion next to impossible, no one who sees these will believe she knew where to find the Meimeyo because she put them there. The media are calling her a heroine.”
“She is one,” Anso said, pressing the heels of his hands into his throbbing eyes.
“One thing is certain. That society columnist from
The Daily Current
was on the money. You have to throw a party. The public needs to see you celebrating this and your mating.”
“Right. Putting it on the to-do list.”
A gentle hand massaged the back of his neck. “What’s wrong?” Olivia asked softly.
Simply looking into her new blue eyes calmed him. “Feeling a little hemmed in.” He smiled so it wouldn’t seem like a big deal. “And since I’m king, I can’t just go out and swim it off.”
Olivia furrowed her brow sympathetically. “Choosing me as your mate has made you even more of a news story, hasn’t it?”
“It’s not your fault. It comes with the job.”
“But James and I make it worse.”
“Your speech is number one on WooTube,” James interrupted, strolling in freshly dressed with one of the tablet computers from the guest rooms. “The official video has over ten thousand ‘likes.’ Oh -” He stopped as he looked up and saw Olivia and Anso’s faces. “Did something bad happen?”
“Just a small case of celebrity claustrophobia,” Ty quipped. “Occupational hazard.”
“We should get out of the palace,” James said unhesitatingly. “Somewhere quiet with a lot of space.”
His we was as welcome to Anso’s strained nerves as it apparently was easy for James to say. Anso wouldn’t have predicted it, but what he suddenly wanted more than anything was for the four of them to be alone between any walls but these. No ever-efficient butler. No Ellice lurking somewhere waiting to barge in.
No Lord Noth calling to ask - or give - his input on this or that. Surprisingly, running off with Olivia wouldn’t have satisfied. Anso needed peace and quiet for all of them.
“Q Gardens?” Ty suggested. “They’re closed to the public on Mondays.” It was the perfect solution. Donated to the city by a wealthy elf family, the gardens were lovely this time of year. Because they were enclosed in an air-filled structure, the humans would find them familiar.
“Can we get there without being followed?”
Ty’s grin stretched across his face. “You leave that to me, Your Majesty.”
* * *