Page 192 of The Discount Damsel

Bradley’s hope faltered. Dirk snuggled tighter around his shoulders, lending his support.

“What horrible news.” There was true regret in Millie’s voice. “I will draft a sympathy letter immediately. Is there another sage coming to take her place?”

“The dragonlords are discussing that very matter, but whoever is selected to fill the role could not possibly arrive earlier than a week from now.”

Past the deadline. Bradley’s heart fluttered like a sail desperately trying to catch the wind and failing. In a single breath, his whole body went numb.

“Is there no book in that library that can help this man?” she demanded.

“That man is no longer welcome here, bonded companion or no,” Renaldo sneered at Bradley.

“Is there a book?” she repeated testily.

The Komodo monk shook his head. “Nothing so explicitly, anyway. There could be an obscure line hidden away in any number of books, but it would be impossible to find it.”

“This is the Library of Xandria!” The princess stomped her heel. “Surely⁠—”

Of its own accord, the apprentice’s hand curled over her shoulder, squeezed lightly.

She spun, eyes bright and bottom lip trembling. She would continue to fight for him, if he needed her to.

“It’s alright.” His voice was hoarse but steady. “Let’s focus on helping Dirk. Dirk’s friend, I mean.”

Millie’s jaw tightened, unwilling to admit defeat.

“It’s okay,” he reassured her. And it was. Already the numbness that had seized him had dissipated thanks to her and Dirk’s support. Their belief. This was just another a failed attempt, but it did not signal defeat. “Master Excelsior wouldn’t have left the Tianzi Toad in the tower as my only way of breaking the curse. There must be other ways I haven’t discovered yet.”

Nodding, Millie turned back to Renaldo. “Thank you very much for your assistance.”

The Komodo bowed lower than he ever had before. “My pleasure.”

“Yes it is,” she agreed, still sour at him for his manipulation and hindrances. Millie gave Dirk an affectionate chin scratch. “Good luck.”

He nuzzled his snout into her palm, then lifted from Bradley’s shoulders. “I’ll see you two later.”

Renaldo closed the door behind them, shutting away Dirk’s friends and the bright light of the morning for the gloom of the library’s foyer. “This way today, Master Dirk.” The Komodo swept past the basket of tonics and rounded a corner into a hallway previously unseen.

At the end of that hidden hallway, two black bookwyrms with bat wings and spaded tails perched on wooden stands on either side of another iron door, this one blacker than night and threaded with gold.

“So what is this about you trying to seduce my princess?” Dirk accused.

The Komodo wasn’t embarrassed in the least. “Can you blame me? She’s beautiful. The summer holidays bring all sorts of beautiful people to this place, and dragonkin, just like the full dragons themselves, love beautiful things.”

“Hmph.”

“The pheromones only help inflame what desire is already there. Lower inhibitions.” Renaldo chuckled lowly to himself. “I should’ve realized sooner when she didn’t throw herself at me that first day.”

“Realized what?”

“Komodo pheromones are easy to resist by those who’re already in love.”

“Millie? In love? With who?”

The look Renaldo gave him was the epitome of patronizing.

“Bradley?” Dirk flung up his paws. “No, no, no. She threatens him with a hairpin almost daily. He calls her a tula and . . .” He tapped his chin with a claw. “But he did call her pretty the other day. Not to her face, but still.”

“That’s where it starts.”