But she had been my one hope to setting the whole mess right-side up again. And now I had no idea what to do or where to go—or if I should go anywhere. Maybe with the curse, the world would be safer if I was dropped in a deep fireproof pit somewhere.
Kato and our beast pilot must have argued during their talk because as the enchanted prince made his way back down the larger chimera’s back, his face looked like he’d sucked down a gallon of rotten curds and whey. I did my best to push all thoughts of the curse out of my head before he reached me. Denial, thy new princess is Dorthea.
Kato approached and shrugged his wings. “The best Bobbledandrophous can do is lower her down into his paws. It would be too risky to try and bring her up here midflight. She’ll be fine…probably.” He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes before plopping down in a big heap. On my lap.
“Ahh!” I tried to use his horns to pick his head up, but even that part of him weighed a ton. “What are you doing? Did you just die?”
“No,” he growled and turned his face up, pursing his lips in total seriousness. “I’ve recently been advised that you might find the cute and fuzzy approach much less threatening. Supposedly it’s also more endearing.”
“I hate to tell you, but that Jolly Roger has sailed, sunk, and been eaten by ticking crocodiles.” I tried to stifle a laugh, but it was too large to contain. Kato really had zero skill at manipulation, but at least he was honest.
“I told him it was a stupid idea,” he grumbled and rolled off me.
“What gives? You’ve gone more than five minutes without finding some new way to call me incompetent.”
Shaking his head, he swiped a paw across his face to hide what looked like a smile. “I can’t decide if the Storymakers are brilliant or mad as hares for bringing us together as partners.”
“Partner is an awfully strong word. Let’s go with associates for a brief duration until the ever-after part.”
He sighed. “Well, I suppose that’s an improvement over disgusting beast.” Finally he looked me in the eye. His glacial stare was serious but neutral and without disapproval—an improvement of its own. “We need to talk.”
“Good, I’ll go first.” I sucked in the biggest breath possible to blurt out all the questions on my mind before Kato had a chance to change the subject. “The way I figure it, you seem to know a lot about me while I know next to nothing about you. Why is that? Were you friends with my parents? And what’s this big threat thing to both our kingdoms? And where is your kingdom anyway? I’ve never ever heard of a chimera or seen pictures. Bob here looks like something out of a nightmare, especially the big pointy fangs.”
“Bob?” Kato’s muzzle quirked up in amusement. “He’s not so scary, and he’d do anything to keep me from harm. And now you too.”
“Avoiding the more important part of that rant.”
Kato huffed and sat on his haunches across from me. His eyebrows drew together while he unfurled his right wing out wide. “That’s where I’m from.” He gestured to the mountain we were rapidly approaching. “Even though I lived a day’s flight away, you could see the tall, glittering green towers to the South. I’d never been there or met your parents before Muse Day though. In fact, I rarely needed to venture away from my domain.”
Instinctively, I scanned the skyline for the towers of Emerald City. They weren’t there anymore.
He continued. “My home is nothing like yours. And I’ll give you bit of warning now that you would be wise not to make a fuss about…” His face scrunched up as he searched until he found the term he was looking for. “The decor.”
I stiffened in defense at the insinuation, but I really didn’t have room to talk. When we first met, I had thought I was better than him because my clothes were designer and he had dirt smudges on his.
His tail poked my back in what I think was supposed to be a reassuring pat. “But don’t feel too bad about not being in the know about chimeras. My people are a well-kept secret.” He craned his neck and looked at the horizon. “You’ll see soon enough though. We’re almost there.” He rose to all fours and turned away. “I’ll be right back.”
“Wait. Almost where?” I yelled and leaned forward as far as I dared. Before I could get any answers, he’d already kind of hopped, skipped, and flew back up to the top. I still didn’t understand why he pushed for the alliance. (A much better word than engagement.) And what exactly did he mean, his “people”? What kind of kingdom was Kato prince to?
“Hang on, my lady,” Bob bellowed. That’s all the warning I got before he arched into a steep swan dive on a crash course with the mountain.
I did the only thing I could—took a death grip on his fur and joined Rexi in screaming my head off. As the mountain got closer and we hadn’t slowed, I closed my eyes. I didn’t need to know which jagged edge was going to rupture my spleen.