Chapter 37

Brendan stares.

And stares, and stares, and stares some more.

He opens his mouth, but no words are forthcoming. Lord Brendan of House Warner is rendered completely, utterly speechless for the first time in his life.

What is he supposed to say, in the face of his new intended, draped in a silken sleeping robe, clutching a pair of wriggling dragons to her chest?

Dragons, which have been extinct - if they were ever real to begin with - for hundreds of years.

Dragons, which have been mythologized and made into countless stories of lore throughout generations.

Dragons are venerated and worshiped as gods in some parts of the world.

Dragons are said to have, at one point, ruled all over the earth - the skies, the ground, the seas, and everything in between - when they roamed the continents as the primordial lords of the elements.

Dragons.

Now curled like tiny, affectionate kittens in Alcina’s lap, their tails wrapped possessively around her forearms, nipping for her attention at her fing