Page 10 of Protecting my Human
“To find out the truth.”
“The truth is I’m a dragon with a rare ability to switch shapes, and quite honestly, I don’t care how my metamorphosis works.”
“Do you have other abilities?Can you breathe fire?You can obviously fly.”
“Fire breath isn’t one of my gifts.”
“But talking inside people’s heads is.”
“It’s a skill that comes with age.”
“Are there other dragons?”
Should I lie?What would be the point now?She already knew too much.What was a bit more?“There are.”
“Really?Where?”
“Around the world.”Before she could ask their locations—and my dumb ass could spill any more secrets—I diverted her attention.“Are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s see what I can cobble together then.”I led the way to the kitchen, and the interrogation continued.
“Why don’t you want me looking for the gold?”
“You want a list?I don’t want a stranger traipsing through the castle, not only because it’s my home, but because there’s areas of it that might be dangerous.Add to that, I don’t want anyone wrecking anything I hoped to preserve.Secondly, as I already mentioned, if Bullough had a treasure, pretty sure he would have used it and not left it hidden here while he went destitute.Three, let’s say I somehow missed it, which I’ll add is highly unlikely, I have no interest in the government suddenly deciding to renege on their deal with me, not to mention, they’d likely take this place apart brick by brick to see what else might be hiding.”
For a moment, she remained quiet.It didn’t last.
“Don’t dragons have hoards?How do I know you’re not lying about the treasure so you can keep it for yourself?”
I sighed.“I do have a hoard, large enough I have no need for the paltry amount of gold the lost treasure would bring.On top of what I keep in my vault, which, by the way, you’ll never see”—because I’d hidden it well in an area no one but me, or technically another dragon, could access—“I’ve got enough invested wealth with the banks that I could spend a fortune every day and barely dent it.”
“Wow.How is it you’re that rich but not on any of those lists?”
“What lists?”
“The ones indicating who the richest men and women in the world are?”
I snorted.“Because only a moron would keep all his wealth under one name, and the banks I use are discreet.”
“And obviously don’t know who they’re truly dealing with.”
“No shit.”I leaned against the kitchen counter, the top of it a butcher block that I’d hand-sanded, treated, oiled, and babied to perfection.“Speaking of discreet, short of killing you, what will it take to keep your mouth shut?Ten million?Twenty million pounds?”
“Much as it would be lovely to be rich, I didn’t come here for your money.”
“Just gold.”
“Not to keep,” she huffed.“I wanted to find it, as I thought it might be helpful when it came to marketing my book.After all, what’s the point of writing about lost treasures if you can’t excite your readers by having actually found at least one?”
“So you won’t be bribed.Guess that’s your way of saying I need to toss you over that cliff.”
“Of course not, and don’t be such a teaser.”She laughed, obviously not taking me seriously.
“Do I look like I have a sense of humor?”was my dry reply.
“Yes, albeit I sense it might be dark.”
