Page 10 of The Dragon King’s Pet

“Holy. Fuck.”

There were dragons flying above the city. Great lizards with wings dipping back and forth, rising from the ground and swooping from the sky and generally definitely being dragons.

“I’m still high,” she muttered to herself. “I just have to go back to bed. Sleep it off. Sleep the dragons away.”

She tried her best to do that, but it was difficult to close her eyes against the bright dawn. She pulled the blankets over her head and curled up. Her mouth was dry and the aches of her recovery from the mushrooms did not allow for much in the way of rest.

When she did finally doze off, she dreamed that she was at home, in her bedroom. Her parents were standing next to her empty bed, looking miserable. Her father had his arm around her mother and her mother was sobbing against his chest.

“She’s gone, Vilka,” her mother cried. “She’s gone forever.”

“I’m here!” Mika tried to walk up to them, but she passed right through them, as if they were mere shades of the past, or as if she were. She could not touch them, and they could not see her. As much as she tried to get their attention, they kept standing there, her father stoic in his misery, her mother giving in to utter despair.

She woke from the dream, tears drying on her cheeks as her eyes opened to the room she had first woken in. The bed beneath her felt solid and real and it was a small relief to simply feel it there. She threw back the covers and ran to the window, certain that Ibiza would reappear where it should be, but when she looked it was the same jeweled city with the same whirling dragons in the sky.

“I’ve gone crazy,” she muttered to herself. “I’m stuck in the trip. I’m never going to come down. I’m never going to be okay.”

In the middle of what was becoming a full-on panic attack, the doors of her room opened and two women entered. They were very beautiful and foreign-looking in a way Mika couldn’t quite articulate even in her own mind. They brought with them bowls of sweet-smelling hot water and long towels and silk robes. They both had raven dark hair and earthen eyes, brown of a kind, but so warm they were almost amber in hue. Their lips curled up in smiles as they saw Mika sitting on the bed.

“Hello, young lady,” the woman on the right said. She seemed a little older than the one on the left, perhaps forty or so years old. The younger one looked close to Mika’s age, and quite nervous. “We are here to ready you for your audience with the king.”

King? What king? Mika was confused, but at least she wasn’t alone anymore. “Is this to do with the prince? Because I didn’t hurt him… I mean, I really didn’t.”

The women exchanged looks with one another. “Prince? No, young lady. You need worry only about one member of the royal family.”

“Well, I don’t think I’ve annoyed any kings I know,” Mika said. “What king is it?”

“What king?” The younger woman laughed as if Mika had made a funny joke.

Suddenly, Mika realized just why they looked so strange. Their eyes were wrong. They didn’t have round pupils, they had catlike slits where their pupils should be, dark little ovals.

“Are you wearing contact lenses or something? Is it the fashion here?”

“I know you have many questions, young Lady Mika,” the older woman said calmly. “But we are not here to answer questions, we are here to help you prepare to meet the king.”

“Oh,” Mika said with a little frown. “Well, uhm, I’d love to meet the king, and all, but I need to get back to my hotel room. I’ve lost my phone somewhere and I know my friends will be looking for me. I must have gone into the wrong room or something last night.”

“Wrong room,” the younger woman giggled again. She reminded Mika a little of Traci. “Yes, you definitely chose the wrong room,” she giggled again.

“Quiet, Lythia!” the older woman scolded her. “I’m sorry, Lady Mika,” she said. “My protégée is easily excited. My name is Maryon. I’m here to take care of you.”

“Take care of me?”

“Bathe you,” Maryon said, gesturing toward the bowls of warm water and the towels.

“I don’t need to be bathed,” Mika said. “If you’ll just tell me where the bathroom is, I’ll have a shower. I just really want to get back to my room. I’m so tired.”

“It is the king’s wish that you be bathed and clothed,” Maryon said calmly and certainly, as if the king’s wish were all that mattered.

“Well, it’s not my wish,” Mika said. “I can wash myself. You can leave the water and the clothes if you like.”

Maryon cast a dubious look at her. “The king will not be pleased with us if you are not adequately prepared. He is very particular about his concubines…”

“I’m not a concubine!” Mika gasped, horrified. “There has been a mistake! I’m Mika Ferrier. I’m the daughter of Kate and Vilka Ferrier and I’m on holiday here in Ibiza. I know I met a prince last night and it didn’t go great, but I’m not a concubine. I’m a tourist.”

Maryon and Lythia looked at one another again.

“She’s really confused,” Lythia whispered to Maryon, her voice carrying clearly.