Lupi 04 - Night Season

scale to bartering for one. Dragons were notoriously possessive. There hadn’t been any incidents here in D.C., but the Toronto dragon had rebuked a hedgewitch who tried to steal a scale from his lair.
    The witch had been lucky. Broken bones healed.
    â€œIf it cheers you any,” he said, “we will have to sneak past a couple guards. The authorities don’t think people should wander into a dragon’s lair at night.”
    â€œI am the authorities.” Strange as it still seemed.
    â€œAre you going to badge your way into the park, then?”
    â€œWell…I probably couldn’t get you through that way.” And it wouldn’t be as much fun. She shook her head, disgusted with herself, and turned to head back. “So what are you going to trade? What do you have that a dragon might swap for?”
    â€œNot me. You.”
    â€œYou’re dreaming. I don’t have anything a dragon would want.”
    â€œYou’ll trade a service, not an object. Ever since that Canadian hedgewitch tried to swipe a scale, Mika’s been fretting. If he sheds a scale in flight, how could he know? Anyone might pick it up. You can offer to Find any scales that aren’t in his lair.”
    Cynna’s eyebrows raised. “You’ve been chatting with Mika?”
    â€œI amuse him. You’ll take a fee for your Finding, a percentage of the scales you Find. We’ll ask for one in three, but I doubt he’ll let us have that many.”
    â€œUs? What’s this ‘us’ I’m hearing?”
    Cullen ignored that. “He’ll want you to hunt scales every day. We can’t agree to that, obviously, and there’s no need. Mika’s paranoia aside, dragons don’t shed many scales. I’m thinking a Finding once a week should be enough, with flexibility built into the agreement for the times your duties take you away from the capital. And of course you won’t be able to start until we get back.”
    Without any input from her brain, her feet quit moving. She spoke carefully. “There’s another ‘we.’ You’d better explain this one.”
    He stopped a pace ahead and looked back at her, irritated. “You’re an idiot sometimes, but you aren’t stupid. Surely you didn’t think I’d let you go traipsing off to Edge without me.”
    There was an odd constriction in her chest. “You’re assuming I’m going, then. And you aren’t trying to stop me?”
    He snorted. “Are you crazy? I’m not Superman, able to stop a locomotive with a flex of my biceps. That little bastard waves a father in front of you, you’ll go. The trick will be persuading them that I’m going, too, but I’ve got an idea about that.”
    Relief hit so fast and dizzy it felt almost like joy. Cullen’s determination was about the baby, not her. She knew that. She didn’t care. She wouldn’t have to do this alone. She’d have a friend with her—an annoying, sometimes obsessive friend, but a friend nevertheless.
    Cynna grinned, high on that soaring relief. “Of course you’ve got an idea. You always do when it comes to getting what you want. Wait. Shit!” Her grin slipped. “Is there a moon in Edge? What if there’s no moon?”
    â€œI’d go anyway, but I asked. They have a moon.”
    â€œOkay, then.” She nodded like a bobblehead doll. “That’s okay. So what’s the dragon’s scale for?”
    â€œPart of the elemental invocation.” Cullen frowned. “You aren’t angry.”
    â€œNope. I will be, I’m sure, off and on during the trip—you’ll see to that.”
    â€œI’m not giving you a choice about this, and you aren’t mad.”
    She shrugged. “There’s always a choice. Come on. Let’s go negotiate with a dragon.”
    Â 
    I N spite of the dragon living in its southern end, most of Rock Creek Park remained open to the public during daylight hours. The park was a long, woodsy sprawl of nature covering better than seventeen hundred acres, with some parts groomed, some as close to wild as humans ever permitted within their urban sprawl. There were bike trails, paths, buildings, and bridges…trees, birds, and the occasional raccoon, deer, or coyote.
    But it wasn’t daylight, and the area around Mika’s lair was off-limits at all hours. Which made things