«I think you have me confused with someone else. I’ve never been lost.»
Edwin gallantly extended his hand to help her up. Is this a trick? Will he grab her and tear her apart if she accepts his help? But there was nowhere to go. Flora hesitantly placed her palm in Edwin’s strong hand.
He gently pulled her toward him, helping her to her feet. This time Edwin was silent. There was nothing to talk about. She could already see that the dragon was him. Talking was no longer an excuse.
Instead of pouncing on him with reproaches and demands to restore the ruined ancestral castle with magic, Flora simply clung to him. Edwin is near, all evil ceases to exist. There is only him, and it feels good to be near him, as if he were an angel, not a dragon. He is especially beautiful today. Flora gave in to the impulse and kissed him. One moment of happiness is worth a ruined castle.
The kiss was magical. She guessed all wizards’ kisses are magic. Provided the wizard is as handsome as Edwin.
Edwin quickly pulled away from her lips.
«What’s the matter? Aren’t you in love with me?» Why would the dragon want to save her if he doesn’t love her? He doesn’t want to just eat her or sacrifice her, does he? If he did, he could have done it a long time ago.
«You smell of crypts and decay.»
Is he joking? Flora sniffed at the lace cuffs of her dress.
«It is an expensive Aluar’s perfume. Aunt Hortensia brought me it as a gift the last time she visited us at the castle. She chose jasmine and rose for me. It’s considered the most exquisite.»
«I can’t stand roses. They’re treacherous, thorny flowers, and if you’re seduced by their beauty, you’ll only cut yourself.»
«It is because roses often grow in crypts, you’ve mistaken the scent,» Flora explained patiently, having decided that dragons were illiterate in the most basic matters. Yes, they can do sorcery, they can topple a castle with their claws, but they don’t understand anything about perfume and fashion. «Rotting corpses stink, but roses, even if they grow on graves, smell sweet. It’s not the scent of death.»
«I don’t mean the smell of roses, there’s something rotting inside you.»
«Is it perhaps my soul? Only a girl with a rotten soul could love a dragon. You’re a destroyer and an arsonist.»
Edwin took no offense. Women must have said that to him many times before.
«Your body is rotting,» he explained. «It is not alive!»
«How can it not be alive if it talks to you and moves? It can even give you a kiss, and you say it’s not alive! Now you’re going to say it’s not mine at all.»
Flora faltered. She had been told that so often before. Both Drusilla, and the mask, and the elf from the masquerade had made similar hints before. Could there be some truth to them? Or is her scent disgusting to predatory creatures for some reason? All magical predators mistake her for a corpse for some reason. Her father’s friends probably put some kind of protection on her against dragons, vampires, witches, and demons.
«You brought me to the mountains to eat me, and now you’re disappointed that I’m not edible and you’re making excuses,» Flora snickered.
Edwin laughed. His laugh was as iridescent and sonorous as the fairies’.
«What’s so funny?» Flora was indignant. «You just burned down my entire family.»
«That family wasn’t your family.»
«I should know better than you.»
«You’re wrong!»
Flora bit her tongue. Edwin was a magician. And magicians know everything. Maybe he knows something she doesn’t know about herself. Like the fact that she was adopted. She didn’t want to believe that she was only the Marquis’s ward and not his daughter. She was used to thinking of herself as his daughter.
«He is not your father,» Edwin read her thoughts.
Her mother had probably been unfaithful to the Marquis at some point. That’s the answer! Flora calmed down a little. In any case, the Marquis de Rione considered her his daughter and gave her his name.
«And what is about my mother?» Flora became alarmed. «Was she kidnapped and killed by you?»
«It was not me!»
«Are you sure?»
«Why does everyone think I’m the villain?»
«You’re the dragon!»
«There are plenty of other murderers around here, too. You should know how many creatures are lurking around, drinking the blood of random people.»
«My mother was killed by fairies?» Flora guessed. «Is that why they attacked me at the masquerade?»
Edwin shook his head negatively.
«Fairies are vicious, but not that vicious. And what makes you think your mother is dead?»
Flora felt as if a thunderclap had sounded above her, not a measured voice.
«Why should I believe a dragon? All dragons are liars!»
«Do you know any other dragons besides me?»
«No, I don’t. There are rumors.»
«It is well. Otherwise, you’ve made me jealous.»
A golden claw grew on her dainty hand. Flora backed away. The dragon masquerade had stumped her. One minute Edwin is wearing the dragon’s guise like a mask. The next he’s back to being a handsome fellow. Of course, he is dangerous even in his handsome guise, for he can turn back into a dragon at any moment.
Flora was five steps away from him as long as she could. There was a cliff behind her. Edwin held her back as she almost took a step into the abyss.
«Be careful! You don’t have wings anymore!» He warned her.
«What do you mean? Didn’t they used to be?» He’s probably confusing her with some kind of fairy.
«But I can always lend you my wings. Would you like to fly? Or dance over the abyss?»
«And then you’ll throw me down?»
«Just because a girl has a dragon suitor doesn’t mean she’ll end up dead,» Edwin said sternly. «I knew a case when a princess’s romance with a dragon ended in marriage. You don’t remember that?»
«No!»
Why would she remember something like that? She spent her whole life in the backwoods of Argania. Nothing interesting ever happened here. Flora often regretted that her father wouldn’t let her into the royal court, and there was no one to meet in the provinces. And then came the fateful hour when she met the dragon! Who would have thought that such a magical beau would fly into such a wilderness! There was only one downside to the encounter: it might end in Flora’s death or in Edwin bewitching her. It seems he had already intended to do so. Glittering star dust formed on the tips of his fingernails.
Flora shrieked, afraid that he was about to turn her into a toad and complete the magic masquerade, but Edwin gallantly handed her a necklace of stars and a bouquet of roses. The roses were black as night, but velvety to the touch.
«You always liked black roses,» Edwin explained.
«I don’t remember such a thing!»
«No wonder! You don’t remember anything! You don’t even remember me!» Edwin put his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. The rose thorns couldn’t hurt him, but his burning breath could burn Flora’s face. Too bad she didn’t have the marvelous living mask with her right now. That one would scandalize but protect her from dragon fire. Though the mask itself was frightened of fire, Flora noticed that it was fireproof.
«You’re