[Abandoned] The Dragon That Is Most Certainly Not a Prince

In Which He is Pet and Bathed

The emperor holds me on his lap in the private room he'd taken Alice and I after the disaster I'd caused by running amok in the palace. His grip is firm, and I don't think I'm going to make an adventure for myself in the palace ever again. Despite the hold he has on me, he regards my cloak carefully while guards fetch the rest of our party.

"Young one, can I ask your little prince's name?" he asks softly after a few minutes of tense silence.

Alice, sitting in a chair far too large for her little frame, looks up sharply, then down at me. I nod. "H-his name is Verdant."

"Ah, Verdant. A colorful name for a colorful dragon," he muses, scratching under my chin with a well-trimmed nail and a soft smile.

This man is a kind one, and I don't need the tingling of dragon magic or my years of experience as a prince to tell me that. "Um, yes, I suppose. A-and he isn't mine. He isn't anyone's, really."

"But a little prince must have a little princess, no?"

That makes Alice laugh. "If he had a little princess, I'm sure he wouldn't be so lonely. I see it in his eyes, sometimes, when he looks at groups of happy people or couples we pass on the road."

I hadn't thought it would be so plainly written on my little face, but apparently it was plain enough someone could see it. And that someone had been little Alice, the sweet little girl that should never know my full story and that I had a little princess; I had just left her because I was selfish. It makes my gut twinge with guilt.

"Well, maybe his little princess left him. Or he left her. Still, it isn't right for a little prince to be lonely. Is that why your company has brought him with you?"

"A-actually, um, we came here because your son sent your inquiry for help to locate the jewels overseas. We're here to find your jewels, sir, Your Highness, um, Emperor."

The large man nods, rubbing a thumb down the ridges on my neck. "I see. And I assume my son questioned you before he let you meet me?"

Just then Bellwyn comes in, looking furious, and I shrink into the soft pudge of the Emperor's belly. He tightens his hold on me as I do. "Verdant! What--" she stops suddenly, realizing whose lap I'm in. "Oh. Emperor," she says with a curtsy. Behind her, I can see Julika and Gavin standing in the hall, arms crossed and looking even more cross. "You wouldn't happen to mind if I reprimanded our little runaways, would you?"

"If you could wait to do that, please," he says kindly, gesturing to another chair in front of him. I'm glad there isn't a desk in here, but it does make me feel a little anxious to not have anything to really hide behind to get away from Bellwyn's glaring. "I would actually like to hear what my son did to you."

Bellwyn's mouth falls into a small "o" shape before she laughs nervously. "Well, you see-"

"I'm aware you came in answer to my inquiry from overseas. And thank you for that. Nobody else dares to look for them in a dragon's lair. Continue from when my son met with you, please."

"Right. Your son met with us before we really had a chance to settle after our journey, and had us meet with him nearly as soon as we arrived. He met with us in a small room and he was rather pleasant, then he mentioned he had sent your inquiry overseas, and that it hadn't been you. After he mentioned that, Verdant, there, got a little fidgety while the prince sent a guard to fetch an advanced payment. Apparently he noticed Verdant doing something we hadn't, and then the little dragon was off like a shot. Verdant had been unbuckling this harness we'd bought to stop him from doing, well, exactly what he did." She hands the harness to Alice, who fixes me with an upset glare, and I chirp quietly at that. Oops, I guess. "He caused quite the uproar, and he managed to create a mess big enough the guard bearing the money fell, and the chest opened. It held a false bottom, and we lost track of both Alice and Verdant in the chaos. We apologize sincerely if they caused you any problems."