by Jessica Gunn
The egg? As the dealer began passing out cards, my stomach churned. Dragons had been all but wiped out when the meteor had struck Earth, splitting open the weaves and allowing passage between them. The dragons had come out of hiding and those magical humans who could shift into dragon forms with them. The dragon shifters had tried to protect their fellow dragonkind. But when the Supernatural War had been fought, the rest of the races had come together to end all dragonkind because they’d been the most dangerous. The most wild and savage.
The most powerful.
To see a dragon now would be… impossible. Even more impossible was the way the egg seemed to call to me, like a siren’s song. It was hard to focus on anything but the way light rippled across its scaled exterior like magic.
I looked around at the company I’d suddenly kept tonight. They were jerking me around. They had to be. Keir’s smirk was enough to tell me that was the case. Milani and Treya both continued to look at me like I was the dumbest thing they’d ever seen. But not Kristian. His calculating red eyes had zeroed in on me, studying my face—or my heartbeat—for a reaction. One he was undoubtedly getting because my pulse pounded in my ears at the sheer intensity of his gaze. At the egg on the table in front of us. At the solid disbelief that any of this was really happening.
Especially at the niggling feeling that the supernatural community—or at least their leaders—knew something the human population of Boston didn’t.
Before I knew it, I had my two new cards and the dealer was already placing down the first in front of them. I lifted up the corners of my hand, trying not to be distracted by the gold and bronze artifact in front of me. Jack of Spades.
Shit, shit, shit.
I kept my gaze down and waited as they all folded or bet more. Without knowing why they were playing for this egg, I had no idea if it was better to fold and let things be or stay and take it all.
You wanted this risk, though.
I couldn’t back out now. Not when I was this close to freedom.
Before I could decide, the last two cards were played and no one had folded. I glanced at my last cards. Ace of Spades. Ten of Spades.
A royal flush with everything on the table.
I’d won. More than likely, I’d just won the biggest game of poker ever played in Lunar Royale. All I had wanted to do tonight was win a pot of cash, not this egg, but…
The dealer asked for everyone to show their cards.
I waited until everyone else had played theirs before placing down mine. Somehow I got out the words, shaky as they were in disbelief, “Guess I win, after all.”
It was one thing to plan to enter a game and win. It was another thing entirely to actually do it.
Kristian seethed. His fiery glare drew my attention as he slid his gaze over me, holding a weight that seemed heavier than anger over this particular event. “A child has won.” Metal on marble screeched as he rose ferociously from the table. Every hint of earlier amusement at me and my presence at the table tonight had disappeared. “This is preposterous.”
“I won’t stand for it, either,” Treya said, following suit and standing. She crossed her arms.
“Funny, coming from another human,” Milani said. She remained seated at the table, her voice calm and smooth like water over stone. “If you were smart—Vera, was it?—you’d side with her. Hide behind Treya’s money and her position in the Night Court.”
My thoughts turned from dollar signs to panic. Hide behind? Night Court? I stood, the instinct of prey sinking in. What the hell did Treya have to do with the Night Court?
I had to get out of this room. Now. With the egg—real or not. Between the vampire and werewolf alone, my life was in danger. I wouldn’t be surprised if Treya carried a weapon. And Keir…
I spared the fae a quick glance, but he was already staring back at me. His eyes twinkled with the smirk that hadn’t left his expression since I’d sat down for my first hand of the game. If he wanted to, he could command me to stop and walk away from this without a single penny.
But he didn’t.
I didn’t dare turn my back to any of them to look at my coworkers. They’d gone silent at the start of this hand. Even Halley. It was entirely possible they weren’t even in the room with us anymore.
Gulping, I lifted my hands. “Listen. I don’t want to get involved in this.”
“And yet you are.” Kristian growled. He leaned over the table but kept his eyes on me. Protective—of the egg, I realized.
“You invited me to play with you,” I shot back.
His lip curled and for a moment I caught a peek at his elongated pearly white fangs. My blood ran cold, but I knew better than to think that’d lessen his appetite any. “You weren’t supposed to win.” And there it was again, a statement—a gesture, a look—that held more weight than it should have for someone I hardly knew at all.
Why?
“But she did.” Keir sounded beyond amused. Why, I wasn’t sure. Was it really this funny that a simple human waitress had won against Boston’s finest in a game of poker for a supposedly real dragon egg?
Actually, yes. That was pretty funny.
“This isn’t right,” my boss said even as the supernaturals let me stand from the table.
Kristian had kept his eyes on me the entire time—Milani too. Treya’s evil glare chilled to me to the bone—far more than even the real predators’ gazes did.
“And yet it is the outcome,” Keir said as he too stepped away from his chair. “I don’t know how you all handle things, but a fae keeps his word.”
A laugh bubbled past my lips. What Keir meant was that—supposedly—fae couldn’t lie. Keeping your word was a whole other story. One I wasn’t sure I wanted to test at this moment with his power over my name.
Why wasn’t he using it right now? He could tell me to hand the egg over to him and walk away.
Kristian would tear him to pieces. Milani too.
No, letting me walk out of Lunar Royale was the best option for optics. Once I stepped outside of here, I’d be free game and in danger.
I pulled the egg off the table and clutched its weight to my chest. It had to be at least ten pounds. A pretty good replica then, if you asked me. But the way these supernaturals were acting… Maybe the egg was real. Maybe there really was a baby dragon inside.
And I’d won it.
My eyes jumped between the egg and the pile of money I had just won, still in the form of chips.
Would they let me cash those out?
My stomach churned. Goosebumps sprouted along my bare arms as a million thoughts about grabbing my winnings and running slid through my mind. Kristian smiled, low and cool. The others continued watching me with narrowed eyes, awaiting my next move.
My heart rate kicked up again. Tonight and everything leading up to it had been about getting out of Boston safely with enough money to start a new life.
And now… If I didn’t leave the casino as fast as I could, I may not have a life at all the way these four were looking at me like I was their last meal on earth.
“It’s okay. I’ll just go.” The words pained me to say—to give up after everything I had done to get here tonight. But there wasn’t another immediate choice. I would leave and find the nearest black market to sell this egg and hopefully it would appraise for at least as much as the uncharged weave stone. But I had to be quick. I didn’t want to keep receiving looks like this from vampires and werewolves and all other manner of creature, human or not, all over Boston. Gods, I wanted nothing to do with this egg.
For a moment, the egg seemed to shift in my hands, a warm motion inside the shell along the bottom, on my palm.
I looked down at it. Oh, no. Don’t you dare hatch, baby. Not before I get rid of you.
Wait. Oh gods. This egg is real.
I stepped back again, heading for the door without turning my back to the supernaturals on the dais with me. I… could sell it back to them. Let them have it. Deal with it. Grab my chips, cash out and
leave like nothing had ever happened. Take the weave stone and return home. If they wanted this dragon egg so bad, why not just hand it to Keir or Kristian? Even Treya or Milani?
I swallowed hard. As the thought crossed my mind, the tiny thing inside the egg moved again and… something in my heart shifted too. My mind. Something deeper even. Untouchable and indescribable.
That same tugging I had felt earlier tonight with the man whose hands had scales.
This dragon egg was mine. And there was a hint of something in the air around it. The smell of burning wood.
“If you leave here, Vera,” Kristian said, interrupting my thoughts, “know that there will be those who follow. What you hold there is world-changing.”
Losing my name to Keir had been potentially world-changing, too. So had been the meteor that had crashed into Earth. So too had been the revelation of the existence of supernaturals.
And so had been the killing of all the dragons before this.
Flashes skipped past my mind in quick succession. Fire. Burning. Dragons flying and being attacked. Shooting elements from their mouths. Death for them had come by bullet and sword alike.
I blinked, clearing the vision. Where the hell had that all come from?
“I’ll handle it.” A lie, straight through my teeth. And each one of them knew it. But there was nothing I could do right now. Not until I got out of this room alive. Out of Boston entirely in whatever way I could now.
Good thing I’d been wanting to do that anyway. Winning this dragon egg just sped up that timetable.
I stole a glance at my boss, asking without words for permission to leave. In reality, it wasn’t up to her anymore. Still, Halley nodded.
I cast one last lingering look at my pile of winnings and the weave stone. So much cash and a family heirloom just sitting there. Enough to start a new life.
But I had to leave it. Any and all moves I made now had to be quick ones. At least with the stone, they couldn’t use it anyway. Not unless they magically found elves to power it up with magic.
I swallowed hard and turned for the door.
“See you soon, Vera,” Keir sing-sang lightly across the distance between us. He sounded way too giddy for someone who’d just lost a prize like this.
With dread spider-walking down my spine, I left without another word.
Chapter 4
Rain sputtered from the clouds hanging over Boston. I reached back with one hand and tugged the hood of my rain jacket up over my head. The edge of the city was a lot closer to my apartment than it was to my parents’ house. And while my parents were wealthy and prominent in the city, there was slim chance they had enough power to keep me safe when it came to supernaturals. Especially with Treya having been involved with the game. She knew about the weave stone too.
Shit, shit, shit.
Panic slicked my brow with sweat, only reinforcing my need to leave Boston. I only hoped I had enough time to grab necessary items like clothes from my apartment before leaving. Before everything about tonight got out to the public. It felt like all of this—my job, the game, the resulting dragon’s egg—had become some dirty little secret I had to keep.
All of this had been such a bad idea.
The egg shook in my hands, waddling like an overstuffed bird.
“Don’t you dare,” I warned as I padded across the cobblestones outside the casino building. “The last thing I need is you hatching right now.”
I froze and glanced down. I was talking to a dragon’s egg. Could the creature inside even understand me?
My feet picked up speed once more, panic sweeping through me like a raw winter wind. I continued on across a few blocks and into the slight cover of Boston Commons. Under normal circumstances, I’d never go through here alone at night. After work, I always took the long way around. Tonight I had crossed it twice in two very different levels of desperation. These were no longer normal circumstances, and three minutes ago I’d been surrounded by far scarier predators than any lurking here.
The egg made my hands and wrists ache after a short while. It wasn’t that it was heavy, but rather awkward in size and shape. I hugged it to my chest and ran as though carrying a backpack in the front.
Although I had this weird connection to the egg and the creature inside, my thoughts still raced. A baby dragon. A dragon’s egg. What the hell would I do with either of these things? And why was it suddenly up to me to deal with this? When I set out with my plan tonight, the goal was to win money and get out. Not… this.
The egg shook as if on cue. Not in little motions like before, but wildly, nearly sliding from my arms. I stopped and stooped low to the ground, gently placing the scaled egg on the grass beside a footpath.
“You’re already a bit much, you know that?” I whispered to the egg, letting my fingertips slide down over the bronze scales. How are you here? How did you end up a poker prize?
This little thing… My heart sank.
What if it was the last dragon? I mean, if this had been hiding somewhere, it was entirely possible there were more eggs. But as far as anyone knew—as far as I’ve ever been told—no dragons survived the Supernatural War.
Something tickled beneath my fingertips. I pulled my hand away and found static electricity leaving a trail between my finger and the scales of the egg.
No, not static electricity. Lightning.
Gods. This was real.
One of the scales cracked. Followed by another.
“Shit! No!” I stood up straight and looked around. Boston Commons was quiet tonight, save for the screeching of tires and beeping of horns. Normal city sounds. But given Kristian’s words not long ago, it’d be foolish to stay so close to the casino right now. There were rules inside Lunar Royale. Rules inside Boston too. Something gave me the nagging feeling that with this particular artifact, all the rules about preying on humans had gone out the window.
I had to get home to my apartment, pack a bag, and get out of the city as fast as possible without being noticed by any enemies I might have made tonight. And this egg was slowing me down by… hatching!
I knelt back down beside it, trying to cover the cracks with my fingers. “Not now. Please, little one. Don’t do this tonight.”
The very millisecond my fingers neared the egg’s scaled shell again, lightning arched from the outside of it to my fingertips. It didn’t hurt. If anything, it was warm and tickled. A funny reassurance. But it chilled me to the bone.
I didn’t know what it meant.
I didn’t know what to do with a baby dragon.
Did anyone?
This was ludicrous. Absolutely insane.
Another scale fell off the egg and this time some sort of liquid spilled over the side of the shell. Then, from the darkness, one tiny little reptilian eye peered up at me. A small arc of lightning seemed to crackle inside of it.
The baby dragon.
“No, no, no, no, no.” I cupped the egg, as if doing so would put the creature back inside. I tried to ignore the way electricity zipped between my fingers. “Please.”
Sirens sounded in the distance, followed by heavy footfalls. I craned my neck around, looking this way and that. Where were the footsteps coming from? Did they belong to friend or foe?
A small little mewling noise came from below. I glanced down and found more of the scales scattered along the ground as the baby dragon’s entire head was now free from the egg. Moonlight danced along its tiny form, about the size of a housecat. Bronze scales tinged blue covered its head and neck… and claws, I realized, as talons perched on the edge of the shell. The baby dragon pushed, knocking itself free of the rest of the egg.
It looked up to me with earnest, wide eyes. Almost expectant. Almost… like it’d imprinted on me the way baby birds do.
“Oh, no way, little one,” I told it. “I’m not your mother.”
It made a trilling sound and opened its mouth as it waddled on weak newborn legs closer to me.
“I’m not your mom.” And yet, I c
ouldn’t turn away from it. If I didn’t take care of this hatchling, Kristian or Milani would get it and who knew what would happen then.
But… I was starting to feel an intense need to not walk away from it. Something deep inside me kept me pinned to this spot. Had me touching a hand to the dragon’s scaled head, smoothing over where it felt like two tiny horns might one day grow. This same feeling had me staying put when every logical reason told me to run and not stop running until I was safe.
I could be safe. There was no doubt that I alone could find a way out of this situation.
But this baby dragon?
My heart swelled and I picked it—she, I realized—up. I wasn’t sure how I knew it was a her. Or how I knew she was mine. But I did.
If I didn’t protect her, who would? She’d be as alone as me. And I knew all too well what that felt like to leave her here defenseless.
A blooming desire to protect this baby dragon, far more powerful than any feeling of rightness I’d ever known, settled inside my chest. The feeling put a knot in my throat.
It wasn’t solely me I had to get safely out of Boston. Nor me and an egg anymore. It was me and this baby dragon. Because if dragons were indeed still real, then someone had put this one up as a prize at a poker game between Boston’s finest. And I didn’t want to know what that sort of war would look like.
Humanity had barely survived the first one.
Chapter 5
“Come on.” I scooped up the baby dragon in my arms.
Now that she was out of her egg, she was much easier to carry. Like a medium-sized, squirming cat still sticky with goo. The hatchling gripped my shirt and shoulders, her small little talons digging in as we ran awkwardly across Boston Commons.
There was a T-stop nearby my apartment. Although the footfalls of others drew closer, I was confident we’d make it to at least there. Then we could hide out inside the underground until the first commuter train ran in a few hours. An hour or so after that, we’d be out of the city and free.