Justice Unhatched (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 5)

by Sarah Noffke

Sophia shook her head. “No, I refuse to do that.”

  “She always says she wants to hang out with her boyfriend instead of helping me take care of the Captains,” he argued.

  Sophia took a sip and found this drink stronger than the last. “Deal with it.”

  “Well, there’s this guy I really don’t like, and I want him offed,” Rudolf offered.

  “Is his name Stefan?” Sophia asked.

  Surprise registered on his face. “How did you know?”

  “I’m not committing any crimes for you or murdering anyone,” she imparted. “There has got to be something you want that I can do for you.”

  “Technically you could break Liv and Stefan up, but you just will not do it. She is my best friend, and I’m lonely up here by myself with my fae all hanging around, asking for things.”

  Sophia felt sorry for the king of the fae. “Have you thought about asking your wife to spend time with you? Or, I don’t know, help you raise the babies?”

  He slumped, draining his drink. “She is depressed. She says she knows that since I’m fae and she is mortal she is going to grow old and look all wrinkly. I tell her that even when that happens in a few years, I’ll still love her, even if I’ll not look at her directly or touch her, but that doesn’t seem to help.”

  “Shocking,” Sophia said, rolling her eyes.

  He nodded. “Yeah, and I get it. I’ve got another few hundred years of looking fantastic and living my best life. She has only got maybe another fifty years and will quickly degrade. She won’t even live long enough to see the Captains enter their first stage of life since that doesn’t happen for the fae until our one-hundredth birthday. So, she doesn’t want to bond with them and is afraid of getting close to them and then dying.”

  Sophia shockingly found herself feeling sorry for the mortal. Sure, Serena was really dumb and selfish, but it must be difficult to love a man who was so different from her. As a mortal, she did have a severely shorter life than a fae, and although her babies were halflings, they would still have an extraordinarily long life. It was unclear how long, though, since as half-mortal and half-fae, they were an anomaly.

  “I wish you had not said that part about not doing anything illegal,” Rudolf said, blowing out a defeated breath. “Because then I would ask you to break one tiny little law that could bring my family together.”

  Sophia drew her chin down. “I’m probably going to regret this, but what is it?”

  His blue eyes drifted fondly to his babies before returning to her. “There’s a herb found in India. I’ve heard a rumor that if I find it, and if it’s prepared a very special way and given to a mortal it will slow down a mortal’s aging.”

  “Rumor?” Sophia questioned.

  “Yeah, well, I tried to find it already, and Papa Creola shut me down.”

  She nodded. Anything that messed with time, such as aging, was considered against the law protected by Father Time. “When you say Papa Creola shut you down, what exactly do you mean?”

  “His little minion told me that if I went after the herb, she was going to shave my head.”

  Sophia sighed. “Do you mean my sister Liv? Your supposed best friend?”

  “Yes, I do!” he exclaimed, making the babies who had all fallen asleep wiggle, but they remained in dreamland. “I’m surprised you pieced that together.”

  “She works directly for Father Time,” Sophia said dryly. “As in, she is the only delegate he has.”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, when you put it that way, I see how you figured it out.”

  “You want me to go after a herb my sister told you not to get, is that right?”

  “Yes, but she likes you a lot,” Rudolf answered. “I mean, it’s like you two are blood, whereas—”

  “We’re blood,” Sophia interrupted.

  He waved her off. “Anyway, I’m sure she will not even notice if you pinch a bit of that herb. Then you just have to find bakers who are experienced with working with magical ingredients. They have to make it into something that will increase its potency. I give it to Serena and then she ages slower, hopefully rejoining our family and making me happy, which will save me from enslaving my people with demoralizing laws and overly taxing them.”

  “Well,” Sophia said, drawing out the word. “When you put it that way…”

  He prayed his hands together. “Please, Sophia. Please, please, please. If you do this for me, then I’ll give you the twenty million dollars, and we will be completely even.”

  She considered her options. Ironically, she knew two bakers who were experts working with magical ingredients, Cat and Lee at the Crying Cat Bakery. It might be easier and more forgivable if she hired Lee to murder Stefan. She dismissed the idea. She really liked Stefan Ludwig, and Liv did too. But going behind her sister’s back wasn’t something she could do. That meant she had to pull her sister card and enlist Liv’s help.

  Finally Sophia let out a tired breath, feeling the alcohol hit her. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

  Rudolf ran around the bar and threw his arms around her shoulders. “You’re the best, Sophia. Thank you. I promise you’ll not regret this.”

  She pulled herself out of his tight grasp and shook her head at him, but still smiled. Sophia was doing this for the twenty million dollars, but she would probably have done it anyway, just to help the king of the fae. Rudolf was a lot of things, and one of them was a very good person.

  Her eyes drifted to the Captains asleep on the floor. He was an exceptionally attentive father and deserved for his wife to be there by his side. If she could bring their family together, well, she would do that for free.

  Chapter Ninety-Two

  “Now I know you have lost your damn mind,” Liv said, shaking her head at Sophia.

  She had returned to Montana to find her sister on a stakeout outside the craft shop.

  “I knew you were going to say that,” she argued, having told her what she needed to do for Rudolf in order to get the money. “But think about it. Serena needs this. The king of the fae needs this. Those halfling children do.”

  Liv’s eyes fluttered with annoyance. “Don’t bring my godchildren into this. Keep in mind I brought that woman back to life, defying all sorts of laws. That dumb bimbo should just be happy she isn’t dead anymore. Now she wants us to slow down her aging.”

  “Well, think about it from her perspective,” Sophia countered. “She only has so long left, and her husband and children will live for centuries without her. Of course, she is spending her days in the smoky casinos. She is probably inviting a quicker end at this point.”

  Liv crossed her arms over her chest and gave Sophia a very rude stare. “Don’t try to appeal to my softer side. I don’t have one.”

  Sophia bumped her hip into Liv’s, batting her eyes at her. “Yes, you do. You care about the world and you love Rudolf. He is like your best friend.”

  Liv shot her a fiery glare. “You’re my best friend. Stefan is. Clark is when he is asleep and not pestering me. Rory would be if he would wise up and realize my jokes are hilarious. But Rudolf, well, he is a lavish fae who needs to go to college.”

  “Liv…” Sophia pleaded. “I know that, but you also know I’m right. Rudolf is worth helping. Saving Serena will save the fae kingdom; otherwise, that man is going to fall further into depression and his people will suffer. His children will, too.”

  “Soph, you don’t know what you’re asking me to do. I’ll have to go against Papa Creola. Do you know what that man does when he gets angry?”

  “No,” Sophia said quite seriously. “What?”

  “He does this whole silent angry thing,” she insisted. “It’s really annoying because I know he is mad at me, but when I ask, he is all like, ‘Nothing. It isn’t anything.’”

  “Really? That’s it?”

  “Well, he can hold a grudge forever,” Liv said with a laugh. “Literally forever.”

  “But he loves you, and you have special privileges,” Sophia argued. “If anyone coul
d get away with doing this, it would be you. We have so many reasons. It helps the fae. It helps the first halflings in who knows how long. It helps the Dragon Elite. Need I go on?”

  Liv considered this. “I don’t know, Soph. This is a lot.”

  She shrugged. “Okay, then the only option is you spend all your free time with Rudolf so he isn’t lonely.”

  “Fine!” Liv threw up her hands. “I’ll do it.”

  Sophia smiled. “Thank you! You’ll not regret this.”

  “I’m certain I will, but I would do just about anything for you.”

  “What are you going to tell Papa Creola?” Sophia asked her sister.

  She shook her head. “I’m not telling him anything. We’re going with the whole ask for forgiveness, not permission strategy on this one.”

  Chapter Ninety-Three

  Lunis wasn’t taking the news well at all, and Sophia didn’t know what to say to make him feel better.

  The silence that stretched on between them hurt her heart. She knew it hurt him too because she could feel it.

  Sophia had returned to the Gullington to rest up, change, and grab supplies. When she woke at ridiculous o’clock, or as everyone else called it ‘sleep time,’ she made her way out to the Expanse where her dragon met her.

  The Gullington was unsurprisingly dark at three something in the morning. But the glow of the stars and the half-moon in the sky made the grounds glisten.

  In the distance, she noticed a short figure. Quiet was standing on the Expanse, doing whatever he did.

  Lunis flew down from the Nest when she took a seat, pulling her attention away from Quiet. Business with him would have to wait. Sophia knew Lunis had made quite the bachelor pad for himself at the Nest. Then they had argued until they both went silent.

  Finally, Sophia tried to change the subject. “Don’t the other dragons ask you where you’re sleeping at night?”

  Yes, he answered sullenly. I tell them in their mom’s bed.

  Sophia laughed, the sound echoing in the quiet night air. “That’s funny because you all don’t have mothers.”

  That’s always their reply, but it’s all very clinical, he said, clearing his throat and shaking his head, preparing to do a Bell impression. ‘As dragons, we know no parents. Therefore, you can’t sleep in my mother’s bed.

  Sophia continued to laugh. No one but Lunis made her really laugh like this. “Did she push you on where you’re hanging out when not in the Cave?”

  Lunis shook his head. Just once, telling me she wasn’t buying I was sleeping in her mother’s bed. And I replied by saying, ‘Your mom goes to college.’

  Sophia shook her head. “I’m guessing she didn’t get the Napoleon Dynamite reference.”

  You think? he asked, giving her an annoyed expression.

  Sighing, she said, “I know you don’t like this…”

  You’re supposed to go on missions with me, he said, cutting her off.

  “And I do,” she argued. “Once I secure the funding, you’re going to lead the LiDAR mission.”

  Really? he asked, hope springing to his eyes.

  Sophia nodded. “Yes, I decided we will take our chances. We will put the LiDAR equipment on you and have the other dragons fly behind you for backup, in case something goes wrong.”

  He seemed to like this. I want to be your plane.

  “But this time,” she said each word carefully, taking great care picking them, “I need to go alone.”

  He slumped. But you just went on several missions alone. You went to London without me—

  “Because they don’t take kindly to dragons strolling down High Street,” Sophia cut in.

  Then, he continued, you went to Montana without me.

  “Because I had to get fitted for a dress,” she argued.

  I like to go shopping with you.

  “I can’t wait to show you the dress,” she told him.

  Then you went to Las Vegas.

  She shook her head. “And I lost half my brain cells to do it.”

  The young dragon shook his head. Now you’re going off on a really cool mission to fight aliens in India and I have to stay behind.

  Sophia giggled. “It’s a scorpion goddess.”

  Same thing, he cut in.

  Liv had informed Sophia about the mission. The herb Rudolf sought was located in the southern region of India and was known as kanike, but to get to it, they had to break into a temple guarded by a scorpion goddess who was literally a huge scorpion with the body of a woman on the top half, and a deadly stinger on the back half. If they got past her, then they could get the herb and take it to the Crying Cat Bakery.

  Apparently, the herb had formed through some cosmic Hindu force after worshippers long ago left gifts at the shrine of a goddess known as Chelamma. The best or worst part was that Liv said they could not kill the scorpion goddess. Instead, they had to defend themselves the best they could and use strategy and trickery to get past her. Sophia was fine with the idea of using strategy. But what if Chelamma, as she was still known, used deadly force against them? They were simply supposed to stun her, not causing injury, to get away. That seemed difficult. Sophia remembered her recent adventure battling the giant worm with Wilder, and if she had been told she had had to get past it without killing the monster, she would be dead.

  “I want you to go, Lun.”

  But Dumb Face doesn’t, he protested melodramatically.

  She sighed. “Liv doesn’t think a dragon in India is a good idea. You’ll draw attention, and we need to be stealthy.”

  I can glamour myself, he argued.

  “We have to maneuver through tiny temples,” she continued.

  Are you calling me fat?

  Sophia laughed. “You do weigh a few tons.”

  So you’re calling me fat, he said with a wink. I’m thinking of trying out keto. I mean, I already eat meat almost exclusively.

  “Yeah, if you could just stop eating so much chocolate chip cookie dough,” she said, still laughing.

  Oh! he exclaimed, obviously excited. You know those chocolate chip cookie dough protein bars you pretty much live on?

  She nodded. “Yeah, the Quest bars.”

  The other day, I accidentally breathed fire on one of them, and guess what?

  “What?” she replied.

  It totally turned into a fresh-baked cookie.

  Sophia shook her head. “I’m not surprised.”

  First it was a protein bar flavored like chocolate chip cookie dough, he said, excitement filling his voice. And then poof, it was a steaming hot cookie. Really good too. I ate through your entire stash after that.

  She cut her eyes at him, scowling.

  Is this when you call me fat again? he challenged.

  “I haven’t done that once,” she protested. “And Lun, I want you with me all the time, and in a way, you always are. But you can’t go on every mission with me. The more urban ones, if you were there, it wouldn’t be right. You get a lot of attention because you’re an amazing and magnificent dragon.”

  And I don’t fit in pubs, he pouted.

  She nodded. “That’s true. But the most important missions, like recovering the dragon eggs or fighting the biggest baddies, I can’t survive those or be successful without you.”

  You’re just trying to make me feel better, he said.

  She shook her head. “I would never do that.”

  Lunis huffed. I’m just feeling left out and maybe a little lonely.

  “That’s understandable.” Sophia scooted over and put her arm around her dragon, which was awkward and looking like a flea trying to comfort a human. “Maybe you should think about moving back into the Cave. Being around your own is important.”

  He shook his head. No, those new hatchlings are the worst. They have awful tempers, make a mess of everything, and put the other dragons in horrid moods.

  Sophia considered this. “Well, maybe then offer for Simi or someone to join you in the Nest.”

  He
cut his eyes at her. You think that because you’re with Wilder, your dragon should hook up with his?

  “First of all,” Sophia trailed away, shaking her head, “I don’t even know how to go about addressing that.”

  He smiled at her. Go on your mission with your sister, Soph. You never have, and I think it will be good for both of you. She loves you fiercely, and even if she annoys me to no end, simply because she likes getting under my skin, I can’t not like anyone who adores you so much.

  “Thank you, Lun,” she said, leaning her head against him, enjoying his warmth. He was right that going on a mission with Liv meant a lot to her.

  Then go on your mission to “fix” Wilder, he told her. And when all these side quests are done, I’ll be ready to step in and save the day. How does that sound?

  She looked up at him with adoration. “It sounds like you’re the best dragon in the whole wide world.”

  He combed his foot through the air, as though waving her off. Oh, shucks. You stop it, would you?

  Chapter Ninety-Four

  Sophia made her way carefully out to where Quiet stood on the Expanse, looking to the hills in the distance. She wasn’t sure why, but she approached him like he was a flock of birds that might take off if spooked.

  When she was only a few feet away, he turned to look at her, like he had been expecting her all along.

  “Hey,” she said awkwardly, wishing she had picked a better greeting.

  He returned his gaze to the hills, studying them. She didn’t know what it was like for him—to be the grounds of the Gullington, controlling every aspect. There were so many mysteries about the gnome, and she almost didn’t want to solve them because it was more fun not knowing.

  “I have a request to make,” she began, formulating all the reasons in her head in categorical order so as to present her case as succinctly as possible.

  He turned to face her, lifting his chin so she could see his eyes under his cap. “Yes,” he said in a quiet yet audible voice.

  “Yes?” Sophia questioned, unsure she had heard him or that he even knew what he was saying yes to.