Claw's Bridge(Discontinued)

56. Deal

"I still don't know how to sit without falling," I said, gently running my hand over Hoseok's scales on his wing. Yoongi balanced a double-saddle on the viridian-turquoise shaded dragon.

"You can hold on to me," the orange-eyed male said, placing the bridle.

"Isn't that uncomfortable?" I asked, walking towards Hoseok's head. "Why is the bridle necessary?"

"I'm surprised you know what it is. Seokjin told us you didn't know much about things like this," he said. Hoseok bit on the reigns.

"Taehyung taught me a little," I replied.

"It's not that uncomfortable," he addressed my question. "Just a tad."

"Then it's not required," I cut in. "We could just strap that saddle around the belly and leave it as such?"

"It's called a breastplate. It keeps the saddle from sliding back," he explained. "Just hold on to me, I got you."

-

"Never again," I said, stumbling once I got off Hoseok's back. "I hate this."

"Well it won't happen for a long time, so you'll be fine," Hoseok commented, changing into the clothes that Yoongi handed him. "Namjoon and I have a gift for you when you and Yoongi come back."

"Alright," I replied. I was not going to let anything stray me from my plan. I could be nice to them to not raise any suspicion, but I was not going to change my mind.

The illusion of the deserted land phased out into a beach as King Hyungsik and Queen Gina approached us.

"Princes of Hitzor, pleasure to have you. Would have appreciated a notice regarding your arrival," King Hyungsik greeted us. The three of us bowed in greeting.

"Well you didn't really give us much of a notice and threatened to start a war if we didn't visit you, so I'd say it's fair," I snarked.

"There was a week's notice, wasn't there?" King Hyungsik retorted.

"Nothing could add up to the lack of time you gave us to adjust to your presence," Hoseok defended. "We have things to discuss."

"Is this about the DNA test?" Queen Gina asked, seemingly worried.

"No, but we'll get to that," Yoongi said, glancing at me. I clenched my jaw. "There's a war in our country, and Nighter and I need accommodation outside it until the issues are solved."

"How do we know that your opposition won't stumble across our country in search of you?" King Hyungsik asked. "How exactly will you residing in our nation help us?"

"The people don't know of your existence yet," Hoseok cut in.

"That doesn't answer my questions," he replied.

"We'll eliminate any threats to your country during our time here. We'll play our part," I said. "And you'll get to know the results of the test."

That definitely caught their attention.

"Would you like to reside in the palace or in a home of your own?" Queen Gina asked.

"Any place that is not underwater," Yoongi responded. "I wouldn't be of much use underwater. Boiling water would be the best I can do with my powers."

"I'll train you to make use of that," I said. "But yes, a place that's not underwater would be preferable."

-

"Would you rather burn or boil to death?" I asked Yoongi, breaking the comfortable silence between us. I looked up from the book I was reading to see his reaction. He looked concerned.

"Should I be sleeping with one eye open...?" he trailed off. We were living in a one bedroom house, the only house available that wasn't underwater. We shared a big bedroom, single beds for each of us, and two study tables in the middle to separate them.

"Up to you," I said. "But what's a faster way to die?"

"Scratch that, should I be keeping an eye on you?" Yoongi asked.

"Just a question. Nothing of concern," I replied. I muttered the next words under my breath and out of his earshot. "Not yet."

"Well for dragons, we can last on fire for hours, our skin is hard to penetrate. It's hours of torture. In the case of being boiled, we would have a stroke before our skin burned off," Yoongi explained. "I'd prefer boiling."

"Interesting," I commented. "I would take fire. Our skin is sensitive, and the silver in our blood is easy to thin out by fire. It can practically kill it. Decimating silver makes us prone to every injury and disease. Being in fire would kill us instantly since our skin won't be used to healing without silver. We're too sensitive without silver."

"Wait, so lacking silver can kill you?" Yoongi asked, sitting upright.

"Possibly within minutes. Depends on what disease I contract," I answered. "Then again, I could die from a cold."

"A cold?!" he exclaimed. "Wait, so what about newborns?"

"Mutation brought along babies that are born with silver in their blood," I replied, turning my chair to look at him without craning my neck.

"Wow... I don't like your anatomy," he commented, slumping back on his bed.

I let out a chuckle. "Can't really do much about it," I said.

"What were the results of the DNA tests?" he asked.

I pursed my lips, wordlessly turning around in my seat and going back to reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu.