Defender Dragon (Protection, Inc 2)

Lucas stared at her. “Dragons don’t do that. A small item, perhaps. A diamond they are not fond of. But not their best gold nugget!”

“I think she felt guilty over mistreating you when you were a boy.”

He still looked baffled. “She never mistreated me.”

“She let your great-uncle be cruel to you.”

“None of us thought of it as cruelty at the time.” Lucas’s gaze strayed to his bed, where a glint of gold was visible from under the pillow. “Well, that was very kind of her. It’s an exceptionally fine nugget.”

“Are you going to give it back?” Journey inquired mischievously.

He looked appalled. “I slept on it.”

Journey laughed.

After that, Lucas recovered quickly. Once he could eat again, the palace cooks sent a non-stop stream of delicacies to his room, and he rapidly regained the weight he had lost. Soon he was walking around the palace, and then the gardens, and finally the city.

Journey took him to meet the Florescus, who were delighted to see Journey again— and be visited by a prince.

“Come see me in America,” Journey suggested.

“In Lummox?” Stefania asked doubtfully.

Lucas shook his head. “In Santa Martina. It’s a big city in California, between San Francisco and Los Angeles. I have an apartment there.”

“Oooh,” Stefania squealed. “And Journey will be sharing it!”

“That’s right.” It was one of the things she and Lucas had decided while he’d been recovering.

“Can I go?” Stefania started to turn to her parents, then exclaimed, “Ha! I’m an adult now! I don’t need to ask. I’ll take my backpack by myself, just like Journey. And Doru will go with me!”

Her mother smiled. “Of course you may go to America. But you needn’t take a backpack.”

“Now that those awful treaties with Viorel have been cancelled, I’m not worried about money,” Mr. Florescu added. “We can all visit America!”

After they left the Florescus, Lucas said thoughtfully, “I wish I’d paid more attention to what ordinary people thought of those treaties. I was so convinced that it would sully my honor to break the engagement, I didn’t give any thought as to whether it would even be good for Brandusa. I suppose it goes to show that I never was meant to be a king.”

Journey put her arm around his waist. “Looking forward to going home?”

“Yes. Very much. But before we go, I want to get you something.”

He strode along the cobblestones, making her hurry to keep up. His body was once again hot against hers, his stride energetic, his amber eyes bright and clear.

She was beyond glad that he was well again. And she’d never forget that he’d willingly endured agony to protect her.

Lucas escorted her into the fanciest jewelry shop in the city. Journey had seen it before and even wistfully stared into the windows, but had never had the nerve to go inside. It looked like the sort of place that wouldn’t welcome broke backpackers.

“Pr— Er— Welcome!” The jeweler stammered, obviously uncertain what to call Lucas. “May I show you something?”

Everyone who encountered Lucas had that awkward moment. Brandusan royalty had no surnames. (To Journey’s amusement, he had told her that a confused DMV person had issued his American driver’s license to “Lucas Blank.”) Prince Lucas was no longer correct, but Lucas by itself was far too intimate for strangers. In Brandusa, only friends and relatives addressed each other by their first names alone.

“We would like to see everything,” Lucas replied. “Please open the cases.”

As they began to inspect the jewelry, Journey suggested, “You should give yourself a surname. What about Gold?”

Lucas shook his head. “Too American. It would feel false.”

“I know what you mean,” Journey replied. “I’m never going to like Lummox, but it’s still a part of me. If I’d grown up somewhere more interesting, maybe I wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to get out and see the world.”