Dragon My Heart Around (Providence Paranormal College Book 4)

by D. R. Perry

  “Morning, Gomer.”

  “Good morning, young Master Harcourt.”

  “Oh, come on, Gomer. You don’t need to get all Alfred Pennyworth on me. Kimiko’s not exactly a formal guest and Mother’s out for the rest of the morning.”

  “Well, then. Morning yourself, Blaine the Pain.” The old Goblin cackled. “You want a waffle, make it yourself.” He opened the iron, then flipped his waffle on a plate, which he took with him to one of the six stools at the breakfast bar.

  I splooshed batter on the hot cast iron, not quite filling it, then closed it, not caring. It was food. I cared about what it tasted like, not how it looked. I dragged it onto my plate when it was done. Flipping was the territory of master chefs like Gomer. Mother had given him a job back in the 60s when tithing to the Sidhe Queen instead of the Goblin King had gotten him disowned and kicked out of the house by his family. They shouldn’t have been surprised. The Seelies liked their rules, and any good chef has to follow recipes or suffer the consequences.

  When I turned to top my waffle with spiced pears and fresh whipped cream, I almost knocked into Kimiko. She was licking. The. Serving. Spoon. For the whipped cream. I had no idea how long she’d been at that, but it sent me headlong toward a feverish fit. I reached out, snatching the spoon away and holding it over my head where she couldn’t reach. As if that’d do any good at that point.

  “How’s anyone else supposed to enjoy this whipped cream now?”

  “What’s your problem, anyway?” She crossed her arms over her chest, then raised an eyebrow. “Afraid of girl cooties, Young Master Harcourt?” She actually made air quotes around the title.

  I mumbled something about no one deserving this kind of thing, then tossed that spoon in the sink and got another. Relief washed over me as I saw her flipping the waffle iron closed instead of licking the bowl. She was a Tanuki, not a cat shifter. That was who I’d expect to violate a bowl of whipped cream. I daubed some on top of the pears I’d already taken, then sat a few seats down from Gomer. He’d given me grief about sitting too close before, something about hidden cameras. Goblins were almost as paranoid as dragon shifters.

  Kimiko sat down with a plate more cream than waffle. She dug in, taking my statement about her not being a formal guest seriously. She was done before I reached the halfway mark. Leaning on her elbow overlooking the empty plate, she grinned.

  “So, what do you have planned for us?”

  “Fun, as promised, Kimiko.”

  “I was having fun before with the bowl of whipped cream.” She smirked. “Well, at least the most fun you could have alone with that sort of thing.”

  “Trust me, what I have planned is all fun all the time.” I couldn’t help but smirk back at her.

  Gomer’s throat cleared a warning, reminding me it shouldn’t be fun. I was supposed to be Kimiko’s warden, not her friend. I wasn’t sure whether she'd let me be either.

  Chapter Four

  Kimiko

  The game room was fantastic. I could almost forgive Blaine for being such a spoilsport about the whipped cream. It had a dartboard, billiards table, ping-pong, air hockey, even an arcade-style DDR console. But the best part was the setup on the west wall. A screen stretched from one corner to the other, towering over my head. It had just about every kind of console that had existed since Atari plus a gaming rig attached to it. I had to sit down for a moment and just stare.

  “This fun enough for you?” Blaine turned to face me, leaning against a decorative pillar. His smirk curled his lips in a way I wished I didn’t find so interesting. I hadn’t been lying back in the hoard; he was the most attractive man I’d ever laid eyes on. But he was keeping me here against my will with a magical device, preventing me from saving my father’s life. I had to take a deep breath before all my frustration rose to color my cheeks and gave my anger away. So, I closed my eyes and thought about the video games.

  “I don’t even know where to start.” I stood up, tracing one finger along the satiny-smooth wood trim of the billiard table. I felt him watching me again, and this time, the heat that threatened to color my cheeks wasn’t from anger. That sucked. I headed to the dartboard, turned my back to Blaine, and picked up one projectile.

  “I’d prefer you choose our activity, but if you’re that overwhelmed, I can think of—”

  He ducked in time, but barely. The dart had pinned a strand of his hair to the wall when it hit. “Um, okay. Darts it is.” He pulled the projectile out of the wall, his sauntering pace casual as he headed toward me.

  How dare he saunter after an attack like that? How dare he dodge that fast? After being klutzy in the hall earlier, he should have been an easy target. Then again, he was a dragon. Maybe I shouldn’t have underestimated him.

  I clenched my fists at my side as he took my attack in stride like some kind of lame joke. It wasn’t. He didn't know I’d stuck the tip of the dart into the sliver of poison apple up my sleeve. I had to either incapacitate him so he wouldn’t see how I got us out of the mansion, or convince him to help me. I didn’t think much of my chances with the latter.

  I beat him handily at darts, scoring seven more points than he did. It was easy. All I had to do was imagine his mother’s face on the bullseye. I got tired of it pretty quickly, though. I headed over to the games, reaching out for a controller shaped like a guitar. Behind me, I heard him pick something up, and the screen lit. He took one of the other guitar controllers and got the game on. He’d played through it, and everything was unlocked, of course. I went straight to the hardest song, chuckling with irony at the juxtaposition of the band name and my opponent.

  “Um, Kimiko, maybe…”

  I selected Expert and started the game. What followed can’t be described. Well, I guess I can say that trying to describe it reminds me of that song Tribute by Tenacious D. You know the one? They tell a story about how they beat a shiny demon’s challenge to play the greatest and best song in the world. They do it but forget the entire winning song afterward. The song they tell the story with is pretty epic, but they say it can’t match that one glorious lonely-road concert. Playing expert-level Through The Fire and Flames with Blaine Harcourt was like that, even though it didn’t sound anything like that song.

  I used to quadruple my allowance game-sharking the kind of boys who go on about fake gamer girls on that song. Blaine might have done the same. Might. It was getting harder to hate him or even just his guts. I still couldn’t trust him, though. He’d never help me save my dad. I wasn’t one of those Tinfoil Hatters he ran with over at PPC. I couldn’t pretend he’d choose to help me over following his mother’s orders. But he shook my resolve even more when I set down my ersatz guitar.

  Blaine threw back his head and laughed. His own controller hung from the strap around his neck, forcing me to imagine him as a big goofy kid playing pretend rock stars or something. Was this some other game, trying to make me like him? What was the point in that? I couldn’t like him. He might want to act like my friend now, but once I got out of here with a Luck charm, he couldn’t pretend to be anything else. Stealing from a dragon shifter's hoard would make me his enemy forever.

  “You rock.” He finally unslung the guitar and pointed at the screen. “That’s the best score I’ve ever gotten, and it wouldn’t have happened without you.”

  “Huh? But I beat you.” I peered at the screen, realizing I’d been so caught up in my thoughts I hadn’t bothered to look at anything besides my winning score. Blaine had beaten his old record by a respectable amount. “Well, you still lost. You big scaly loser.” I stuck out my tongue.

  “Hey, losing to you is better than sitting in here alone trying to outdo my old high score.” He shrugged.

  I had nothing to say to that. He’d grown up alone, then. It made more sense now, how he’d said his parents “sort of” raised him. I blinked, missing my brother, Ren, terribly all of a sudden. He’d be wondering where I was, maybe even thinking I’d taken off and left him alone to care for Dad as his aging dr
astically accelerated. I had to pull myself together. Before I could shake my head and snap myself out of it, a set of warmer than average hands were on my shoulders.

  “Hey. I noticed you made a face like this earlier. You okay?” The unexpected warmth in his eyes had my knees wobblier than my first impression of the game room. I raised my hand halfway to the side of his face, twisting my wrist to rub my fingertips against the apple sliver up my sleeve. I could touch his lips, then move in and pretend I wanted to kiss him. He’d drop like a rock, and I’d be free to take him hostage to demand a Luck charm. I pulled away and headed for the door, blinking back tears.

  “I’m just tired and thirsty. This building’s sized for dragons the length of a football field. Come along, or let the tithing bracelets knock us out.” I pushed the door open. “I don’t care which happens.”

  I hurried down the hall, telling myself those weren’t butterflies in my stomach as I hoped he’d follow. Then, I let the sliver of apple fall from my sleeve and wiped my fingers on my dress once he’d caught up with me. I couldn’t poison him, especially since I wasn’t sure how much apple would be enough to kill him in his human form. I tried to tell myself I was failing my father because Blaine behaved honorably and his mother was the real enemy, not because of those eyes and that smile.

  I’d have to tell him Dad was dying, but not where Mrs. Harcourt had any chance of hearing. My father was running out of time, and I was the only one who could save him. I needed Blaine on my side.

  Chapter Five

  Blaine

  I shouldn’t have trusted a word Kimiko Ichiro said, but it was hard not to admire her skill at games. I hadn’t been trounced so soundly since I played another dragon shifter in online mode. And I hadn’t felt her use any magic, either, just her natural shifter abilities. That’s why I was surprised to find her almost in tears after the win. I paced her down the hall, shortening my steps to go at her speed. She found the route leading to the kitchen on her first try, probably some kind of side-effect of studying the blueprints in preparation for the robbery or whatever. I shook my head. Why would such a talented girl like her do something so impossible and take such a risk? Why hadn’t she just asked me?

  I ignored the smell of slightly stale apple, catching a whiff of tea and the honey-seed cakes Mother always served to guests she wasn’t just pretending to like. Before we reached the door, I held up a finger to signal a stop and quiet. Kimiko didn’t argue or question me. Instead, I blinked as her ears furred over and rounded further out from her head. When she tucked her hair behind them, I saw they had pale, fluffy tufts at the centers, which matched the tips of the locks on her head. She leaned closer to the door. I joined her in eavesdropping. That particular pastime had helped me avoid trouble throughout most of my childhood. It made sense to me that a thief like her was used to listening in.

  “Now, Hertha, there has to be some reason you’ve asked me here besides a thank-you tea.” That was Headmistress Thurston talking, thank goodness. The tightness in my shoulders eased. It might have been the Sidhe Queen visiting, and I’d definitely been dropped from her nice list. Besides, the Headmistress was good people. She’d been the one to open PPC admissions to anyone with the grades, including dragons.

  “Ulterior motives are like scales to dragons. You know my kind well, Henny.” My mother actually sighed. “The break-in happened at a delicate time, as I’m sure you’re aware. I can’t tolerate having hoard security breached with something so precious inside, so I must know more about how it happened and why. I need Edgar Watkins.”

  I blinked. Professor Watkins had the hardest nose of any professor to stalk the halls of PPC in all its centuries, but his given name was Nate, not Edgar. I listened on, wondering whether the person Mother asked for might be a ghostly ancestor of his or something.

  “I need Edgar Watkins too, with all the trouble we’ve been having on campus, but no one’s seen him since poor Dahlia died and Henry got turned. Some people don’t even seem to remember he exists.”

  “Are you sure about that?” I heard a clink as Mother put down her teacup. “Is Henry Baxter sure about that?”

  “Perhaps you ought to send him an invitation for tomorrow evening.”

  “You know the reason I’m unable to do that.” Mother sighed. “This is no time to invite a vampire inside my house.”

  “Understood. Still, an Air Magus like me isn’t the right sort of person to ask about memories.” I heard the Headmistress rattle an empty cup against her saucer. “Why not hire him? Send him an item to read if you can’t have him here.”

  “I need Edgar in particular.” I heard a series of four wooden taps that could only be Mother thrumming her fingernails on the table. “Some old business has come up as well.”

  “Then hire him to search for information about Edgar.” I smelled cream and sugar, heard a crisp pour as the Headmistress refreshed her tea. “Although I’m not sure what the difference is between the two in your case.”

  “The difference is, the item in question can’t leave the estate, he’s directly linked to the old business I mentioned, and Unliving energy is too dangerous for the most vulnerable member of this household.” What in Tiamat’s name could Mother be talking about? I was the youngest and weakest Harcourt, and I hung out with Henry all the time.

  Kimiko put her hands to her cheeks as calculation invaded her face like the Huns in China 200 years before the common era. Her ears flicked, pointing toward the door so she could listen in more closely.

  “I’ve got no idea where Edgar Watkins is. Neither does his brother.” The Headmistress sighed. “We’re lucky he left us able to remember his name.”

  “Why not call your ex-husband, then? Whatever was his name again?” Mother’s voice carried an emotion I wasn’t used to hearing. Fear. This was one of the weirdest conversations I’d ever listened in on. Headmistress Thurston had lowered her voice to the point where I could only make out a few words of her answer.

  “…Richard’s been elusive just lately…”

  “I understand it was a bad split, Henny, but you know what they say. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” I heard a rustle of fabric and faint creak as Mother sat back in her chair. “Hasn’t he gotten around to Tithing, finally?”

  My breath became like the vacuum of space in the silence that followed. I hadn’t known the Headmistress’s ex-husband was an untithed Changeling. According to rumor, the Headmistress and her husband had broken up over her open admissions policy. At his age, he had to be an extremely powerful Magus. No wonder the Queen kept on getting involved in College affairs. She’d want him to Tithe to her, not the King.

  This was a development I had to tell the rest of Tinfoil Hat about as soon as possible, Spring Break or not. I reached for my phone, but Kimiko grabbed my arm. She pushed me against the wall next to the door, shaking her head to cover those Tanuki ears with her hair. I smelled Chanel Beige and realized Mother hadn’t been sitting back. She’d been getting up.

  I opened my mouth to tell Kimiko to get the heck out of dodge, but she had other ideas for camouflaging our eavesdropping. She pounced on me, toppling us both on to a small decorative fainting couch.

  Well, that’s a little inaccurate. I caught her. But I would have flung her away if Mother hadn’t been about to walk through the door on my right. I wouldn’t have let her get that close to me again unless it was another knock-down-drag-out like we’d had in the vault. So I closed my eyes, letting her put on whatever show she had planned. I felt her hair tickle my neck, her breath in my ear, and her hands in my back pockets. I stifled a sigh, fighting the urge to melt into her ministrations and let whatever happened happen. My dragon was all for that idea. Kimiko seemed to know what she was doing. It’d been a while for me, and she smelled like heaven. Well, except that hint of stale apple.

  Apple? The only apples she’d been around that day were Mother’s Evil Queen poison ones. I twisted my hands in her hair, anger at the fact she’d tried to slip me a mickey
flip-flopping at the silken feel of her tresses against my skin. Like Forbidden Chocolate Ice Cream, Kimiko Ichiro was bad for me but felt so good at the same time. I needed help with the new information we’d overheard, but also some solid advice about how to outwit an alternately amorous and dangerous Tanuki.

  “When you said you had another guest, I didn’t think you meant this sort.” Headmistress Thurston’s arch tone could only go with an eyebrow position of the same name. I didn’t dare look and find out, not even when Kimiko climbed off my lap to smile at the next two scariest ladies in my universe.

  I couldn’t look at Mother and wouldn’t look at the Headmistress. That left me even more stuck with that Tanuki than the tithing bracelets made me. She’d managed to use our faux make-out session as cover for shifting her ears back to human shape. Her hair was still perfectly smooth though she rearranged her dress shamelessly. The flash of leg she showed made my throat dry. I thanked Tiamat that I was sitting down.

  “It’s good to see the two of you working things out.” Mother sounded amused. For me, that was like hearing a funeral dirge. She’d think I’d charmed Kimiko and gotten some kind of information about how she’d broken in here. I had to get away long enough to give that another go.

  “Yeah. We were looking for you, actually. I wanted to know if you’d let us through the wards later. You see, I’d like to take Kimiko out, show her around Newport a little.” I didn’t mention the bracelets, but Mother saw me twist mine around my wrist. I grinned down at my shoes. Mother would know I was fibbing if I looked her in the eye, but I always did the shoe stare when she caught me red-handed with a girl.