Ari dragged me into the bathroom. “In here.”
We slammed the door and threw the lock. I leaned up against it. The dragon shuffled along outside, sniffing at the dense oak door. We were in the prince’s private bathroom. Black marble and white marble, like everything else. The man had a singular sense of style.
I checked the door to make sure it was locked. Dragons weren’t known for using doors, but somewhere in that thing was Liam. If any of his intelligence remained, a doorknob wouldn’t slow him down.
Outside, the sounds of crashing and smashing told me the Dragon-Liam was saving his fire for something more edible. As the hours passed, I cracked the door to check from time to time. Every time, he lay a dozen feet away, smoking drool dripping from his mouth. “I can’t believe he’s in there. Grimm’s going to flip.” Thinking of him, I tried the bracelet once more, but we were on the opposite side of where Shigeru said we’d get service.
“Why didn’t you tell Liam how you felt in the car?”
I clipped and unclipped my bracelet, twisting it in my fingers as I passed the time. “It doesn’t matter what I want, or what I think, or what I feel. I’m trapped in a bathroom, trapped in a job, and trapped in this life.” I watched as the bracelet snaked itself around my wrist, and clicked into place. “I was going to use a potion on him.”
“A love potion?”
I nodded.
She scowled at me. “Didn’t you read the spell books? A love potion works best when there isn’t any feeling between two people. If you gave it to him, he’d feel love for you all right, mixed with anything else he already felt.”
Her words were like cold water on me, as I worked it through. “He’d hate me and love me.”
“I don’t think he hates you. You don’t see how he looks at you. But if you used a potion it wouldn’t ever be real love.”
“Grimm made me put it back. It was like watching a puppet show from inside the puppet.”
Ari reached over and gave my hand a squeeze. From outside, I heard something definitely crystal and probably ugly break. Ari looked at the door. “How long does this dragon episode go on?”
“One of Grimm’s spellbooks said transformation curses lasted about six hours or until the victim went to sleep.” I glanced at my watch, wondering if dragons took catnaps, or just ate cats as snacks.
“Why doesn’t it push down the door? Or burn it down?”
Now, I might not have made it all the way through “D” in the Beast Lexicon, but I’d peeked at a few of the more interesting subjects. “Why would he? The dragon part of him has everything it could ever want. A princess, locked in a room in a tower, with no chance of a prince showing up to give it a lance-ectomy. Trust me, he’ll stay there for the rest of our lives.” I propped up a set of bath mats, curled up in the bathtub, and dozed.
I woke to a humming sound. In the dim light of the bathroom, Ari’s ring had begun to glow, emitting a green and yellow light. I shook her awake. “It’s eleven thirty. Your ring goes off at midnight.” Outside, a clatter of dishes let me know my scaly admirer still roamed the floors.
Ari peered under the door. “Is there an office building here? I could walk down the stairs there.”
“I think there is, but the top is about thirty stories below us. Grimm, we could use some help.” I put my hand on the bracelet and thought of him as hard as I could. He didn’t answer.
I unlocked the door slowly and listened. There was no sound in the apartment, but as I cracked open the door, I saw him. Dragon-Liam had swept the furniture out away from the bathroom and lay on the marble, facing the door. He wrapped a long tail around his body, lashing back and forth like a cat. Wisps of smoke drifted from his jaws, and with each breath he rumbled in a way that shook the floor.
Ari’s ring began to pulse faster. “I’ve got to get out of here.”
“Spell him. Like you did the bimbo.”
Her face turned pink, and she shook her head. “I can’t do it on command, and I don’t think I could hurt a dragon either.”
I looked out again, and saw him sitting with one eye fixed on the door. “I’ll go to the left and lead him around. Get ready.”
She ignored me, looking in the mirror. Her mouth moved as she worked something through. “I’ve got an idea. I’ve read a lot of history books in the last month. There’s a story that shows up again and again. The princess uses her charms to calm a monster and lull it to sleep.”
“A dragon?”
“Not that I’ve read, but the principle is the same. I’m a princess, so it has to listen to me.”
A memory came to me and I nodded. “Like the hellhound?”
“Exactly.”
Dragon-Liam still waited, flipping his tail back and forth lazily as I watched from the bathroom. “I don’t like this plan. It has too much chance for charbroiled princess.”
“I don’t like the idea of pancaked princess either. Hold the door in case I need to get away.” With that, she stepped out.
Dragon-Liam heard the door latch and raised his head, fixing her with a glowing red eye and turning from side to side to try and get a better look. Ari hummed as she stepped forward, a soft lullaby. As the tune filled the quiet, he closed those wicked jaws. She took one step, and another, and began to sing softly, something country western.
Dragon-Liam’s head shot up, and he squinted at her, first with one eye and then the other. A low growl came from him that echoed in the apartment, followed by a tiny squeak of fear from Ari. His lips curled back, revealing long fangs and a forked tongue.
“Ari,” I yelled, as he filled his lungs. She ran through the door, and I slammed it. Flames burst on the frame and her sleeve was on fire. She flailed in the bathroom while I beat at her with a towel. “Put it out!”
So I shoved her into the shower and turned it on. Once she was completely drenched, Ari looked like a half-drowned kitten. Well, one that had taken a nap on a barbeque. “I don’t understand. I’m a princess, it’s supposed to work.”
We sat in the dark as midnight ticked closer and the ring made a continuous warning hum. I leaned against the door, listening to the sound of claws on marble. “Everybody makes mistakes. I thought he was a prince, remember? I even told Grimm I could see the prince shine on him, and I believed it enough to fool the Root of Lies.”
She gasped, staring at me like I’d admitted eating the last pint of ice cream. “You have to try it.”
I glanced at my phone. Twenty minutes and Ari would be taking the express elevator down. “Why not?” I asked, getting up. “When I go out there, I want you to run to the elevator. Don’t stop, don’t look back. Keep going. If I let you get killed, Grimm will resurrect me and kill me twice.” I opened the door and stepped out to face the dragon.
It raised its head at me, and every nursery rhyme I could think of went out the window, so I just talked.
“I’m sorry this happened,” I said, taking a step toward it.
“This is my fault. Don’t punish Ari for it.” She would be out the door, and hopefully headed for the elevator.
“I’m the one who thought you were a prince, not her.”
The dragon turned its head to look at me with the other eye.
“I’m the one who sent the curse for you.”
It growled and the eyes flickered with flames hot enough to melt marble.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen. They told me to think of the person I loved.” I was so close I could touch it now, or it could tear my head off with a single snap of its jaws.
“I lied to you in the car. My first mistake was thinking you were a prince, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. My second one I’m not sorry for, and if you need to kill me for it, I understand. I let myself imagine you could be mine. That I would be allowed to love you. That you might love me.” I put my hands on its jaws, running my fingers over the rough scales.