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Looking into those sparkling eyes, Gunter felt both hesitation and need warring within him. He found himself praying: Please want me for me.
Please.
Nikki eyed the clock above the fireplace. It was nearing that time. And their grumbling stomach let them know it, too.
Most of the time, Nikki passed the day with Gunter in peaceful silence. They both had their own things to read and research, and when it got too quiet, Nikki could sidle in closer to Gunter and ask what he was doing. Right now the silence was weighing on Nikki. They’d now kissed Gunter twice and gotten zilch. Zip. Nada.
What did a person have to do to rev up a dragon’s engine?
Seriously, Nikki was starting to wonder if this attraction was all one sided.
Gunter did like them hanging around, though. Nikki was confident in that. And sometimes Gunter looked at Nikki in a way that made Nikki’s heart flutter. The more time passed, the more comfortable Gunter was swooping in and picking Nikki up, too.
Maybe Nikki just needed to give him more time? He did have a lot on his plate to think about.
Although honestly, waiting had no appeal. Nikki and patience weren’t exactly buddies.
Sighing, they looked down at their grumbling stomach. Maybe a good meal would give Nikki some sort of inspiration about what to do next. Right now, they were certainly coming up empty.
Nikki got up and nudged him, a single-finger poke against the shoulder. “Gunter.”
The dragon grunted without looking up.
“Gunter, lunch? It’s noon.” Nikki waited to see if those words penetrated.
It took a second, but Gunter’s head finally lifted. He looked first at Nikki, then the clock. “Oh. Oh, you’re right! Alright, let’s go up, then.”
Nikki stepped back, giving Gunter room to rise, satisfied. They enjoyed watching the dragon stretch his long arms above his head while releasing a happy sigh with the pop of weary joints. There was an elegance to Gunter’s slender frame and height. He was a rather swan-like dragon which, in their opinion was much better than the big, lumbering dragons.
It wasn’t like Nikki didn’t know where the dining hall was. That wasn’t the issue. For one, lots of mages were up there. Nikki still wasn’t comfortable around them, although they were beginning to think the Burkhard mages weren’t so bad. Sora and Tori were okay; so was Cassie. It was a work in progress.
The main reason Nikki poked Gunter was something else entirely. If Nikki didn’t get Gunter out of that chair, the dragon would stay fused to it until he passed out from hunger. Nikki would lay even odds on that.
But Gunter didn’t take reminders of meals with any seriousness. So, Nikki played up his fear a little just to get Gunter reliably out of his chair three times a day.
One could say the care and feeding of a dragon required certain subterfuge.
They went up the many, many stairs to the main dining hall. Living here was something of a workout. Nikki’s legs were constantly sore from all the stairs. They would surely get used to it, after a while, but right now it took nightly baths with Epsom salts and a few judicious spell ingredients to keep the aches away.
Gunter cast them a quick study as they rounded a corner. “Are you still nervous about coming up here to eat? I promise, every member of my clan is completely trustworthy. You don’t need to be nervous with them.”
Nikki blinked sad, ingenious eyes at him. “I just feel better if you’re with me.”
“Oh.” Gunter didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. (Or realize that Nikki had an agenda, dammit. That was the frustrating part.) “Well, I guess it doesn’t hurt. You’ll get used to them at your own pace. I hope you will, because I want you to be comfortable here.”
“Thanks, Gunter.” Still no fight. Good. Although Nikki had several alternative plans for when Gunter got stubborn.
“We had to do that with Tori, too,” Gunter recalled as they walked. “Although he was the opposite of you. He didn’t like dragons.”
Nikki almost tripped over their own feet. “Wait, what?! How can you not trust dragons?”
“Part of the teachings of his clan. They taught that dragons were the ones who caused the Dragon War, not the other way around.” Gunter shook his head and made a soft clucking noise with his tongue. “His clan is very…troubled. And even saying that is an understatement. We’re still trying to help them.”
“And Tori believed this?” They still couldn’t wrap their brain around this. How could anyone believe dragons were evil?
“It’s what he was taught all his life. Just like you were taught all your life mages were bad. When he escaped from his clan, and Baldewin first approached him, he put a paralysis spell on Baldewin and Warin. Tori fought them tooth and nail about coming back to the castle. If the Jaeggi hadn’t been actively trying to kidnap him, I’m not sure he’d ever have agreed.”
