Page 38 of Red Dragon’s Heart

He wasn’t sure if the ‘us’ included him, or just her and the kittens. Probably only them; she didn’t care about him.

“I wouldn’t die,” he informed her. “I’m impervious to almost everything, and I heal practically instantly. Not that you care.”

“You gave me a heart attack, and almost turned my kittens into jelly!”

Princess Di was pretty pissed about that. She was still yelling at him, along with Madeleine. Grayson was huddled in Madeleine’s lap, trembling.

“Stop yelling, nobody’s dead,” he said. “No thanks to you. Abandoning me to the acid spitter and stealing my truck? I thought we were partners.”

“Oh, so now we’re partners? Back there when you refused to leave me in the nice, safe truck I was pretty sure I was a captive.”

He sighed. “Take this next exit.”

She glanced over at him. “What makes you think I’m going back to your prison?”

“We’re not. We have to shake the purple dragon first. He’s following us.”

She craned her neck, looking upward through the windshield. “Where?”

“You can’t see him, he’s cloaked. You really think he’s just going to openly fly around in human space, all purple and dragony?”

“But you can see each other even when you’re invisible?” She got that scientist look on her face again, like she was about to dissect him to see how he worked.

“Sometimes,” he said. “He certainly saw me at the warehouse, despite the cloak. And I can feel him, lurking around up there.”

“You can? How does that work? Do you have some kind of psychic connection with him, or is it more like how animals can sense when they’re being hunted? Is it—”

There she went again. “For fuck’s sake, will you stop with the science quiz? I don’t fucking know how, I just do. I can feel his mental presence. And also, he makes the monster want to come out.”

She bit her lip and gave him a quick glance. “It’s not going to, though, is it?”

It seemed to still be holding itself back, but he had no clue how long that would last.

“I have no fucking idea. So would you please take the exit and drive away from the lair? We’re like a rabbit being hunted by a hawk out here.”

“How are you going to get rid of him?”

“Well, since you’re not yelling anymore and I can concentrate, I’m going to do a spell to confuse him and make him not be able to follow us.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “You’re seriously hoping a magic spell will save us?”

He sighed. “If it makes you feel better, just tell yourself it’s not magic, it’s science that hasn’t been discovered yet. As long as you shut up and let me do it.”

She snorted, but she stopped asking questions. He was sure that was only temporary.

He had a sudden idea. “Maybe you could sing that song you sang last night? In the cell.”

“We’re being followed by a dragon who could dissolve us in acid, and you want me to sing a lullaby?” Her voice rose to a screech again.

He shrugged. “The monster likes it. Maybe it will keep him from coming out.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

It was the first time he’d heard her use the f-word. He was getting to her at last. Hiding a smile, Zakerek closed his eyes and concentrated on his spell.

Maddie drove in a big loop, singing lullabies, and suspecting that Zak had told her to do it just to make her stop talking.

Although she had to admit, it made her feel calmer. Unless she thought too hard about a stream of acid suddenly coming out of the sky and melting them.