“I am,” the scholar said, bowing.

“Are you brave enough to enter this chamber, and allow me to close the door again? I want to know if you can exit the room from your side,” Cirillo told him. “If after a few moments you have not come out, then I will reveal the door once more on this side, and open it up for you.”

“I will go with him,” Dillon said before Prentice could answer. Taking the scholar by the arm, the two men stepped across the threshold into the small chamber.

Cirillo immediately closed the door, turned the lock and once more the portal was invisible to their eyes. After a few moments both Dillon and Prentice stepped through what appeared to be solid wall, but the door was not visible to them at all.

“We were able to open it from our side,” Dillon said.

“It’s an amazing piece of magic, isn’t it, my lord Kaliq?” Cirillo said.

“It is indeed,” the Shadow Prince agreed.

“Can you undo it?” Dillon asked his faerie uncle.

“I won’t know until I try,” Cirillo said. “I must think on it. In the meantime I will open the door for your scholar so he may begin his studies of the books inside.”

“My lord,” Prentice spoke. “With Your Majesty’s permission I should prefer to remove a few books for study in my own quarters. They will be safe there, and so will I. I am not comfortable in that chamber,” he said nervously.

“You will need time to look about the volumes here,” Dillon said. “I do not want you to have to hurry yourself because you are afraid. Will you feel safe if my faerie uncle remains with you? After all he is the only one among us who can control the portal.”

Prentice nodded. “Forgive me, Your Majesty. I have never before been this close to powerful magic. It is both wonderful and frightening.”

Dillon smiled at the scholar. “Aye, it is,” he agreed, “but my faerie uncle will keep you safe. And he will see the books you wish to peruse further transported to your chambers when you have had the time to select them.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” the scholar said.

“I will remain, as well,” the dragon said. “My magic is small, but in the event of danger even a little extra magic helps.”

“I welcome your company,” Cirillo replied with a smile.

The Shadow Prince raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

“I will tell Byrd he may close the Academy doors when he chooses. That you will keep the key, Uncle,” Dillon said. Then he, Kaliq and Cinnia departed. As they walked back through the gardens toward the castle Dillon told his father, “He wants to seduce Nidhug. Is there no female safe with him, my lord?”

Cinnia gasped. “What do you mean he wants to seduce Nidhug? He is faerie. She is a dragon. It is not possible.”

“He will shape-shift himself into a male dragon,” Kaliq explained to her. “Or he may turn her into a woman for a brief time. He is a faerie, Cinnia, and faerie lusts can be far greater than mortal lusts. Do not fear for Nidhug. She is more than well aware of his interests. If she does not desire him, she will discourage him in most dragon like fashion.”

“Oh, my,” Cinnia said softly.

“Your husband is half-faerie,” Kaliq murmured.

Cinnia’s pale cheeks grew pink again, but she said nothing.

“Do not tease her, my lord,” Dillon said with a small smile. Then he gave a small chuckle. “Trust my faerie uncle in a world lacking in young women to find a female to fuck. Cirillo is truly a wonder in many ways but his instincts for women is unfailing.”

“Ilona will have a difficult time finding a queen for him when the time comes,” Kaliq noted.

“If faeries are lustful then why would Cirillo’s wife care?” Cinnia asked.

“Faeries are faithful to their mates for they mate for life,” Kaliq explained. “They do not wed young as you and Dillon have. And not all faeries wed. Most enjoy the freedom to take lovers, and sometimes if they love the lover they have they will give that mortal a child. Dillon’s mother came from his grandmother’s love for a Hetarian man.”

“Are you certain, my lord Kaliq, that Nidhug will be safe with Prince Cirillo?” Cinnia continued to fret. “I do not know if she has ever had a lover.”

“You may rest easy on that account,” Kaliq assured the girl. “She tells me that she has an egg with her successor secreted in a cave somewhere. She has entertained a dragon lover now and again although dragons are few on Belmair.”

“Dragons can create their own successors without the aid of another,” Cinnia surprised Kaliq by saying. “This Nidhug told me once when I asked where the next dragon would come from, and she wished to reassure me.”

The Shadow Prince smiled. “Nidhug did not lie,” he replied. “But I believe from what she disclosed to me once that her egg was the result of a love affair with a male of her species. Cirillo will not harm your dragon, Cinnia, and if she refused his overtures he will cease them. His charms are such that he need force no female to his will.”

“But what if he puts a spell upon her in order to force her to his will?” Cinnia worried. Her lovely face was truly distressed.

“He would never do such a thing,” Dillon responded this time.

“His ego would never allow it. My faerie uncle takes great pride in his own personal allure. From the time we were boys together at Shunnar females of all ages were attracted to him.”

“It is apparent that Cinnia knows little or nothing about faeries,” Kaliq observed thoughtfully. “There is faerie magic at work in Belmair, yet no one realizes it. Why, I wonder, has the knowledge of faeries been expunged from Belmair’s history?”

“It is to be hoped that Prentice can learn that from the books he takes from the Academy’s hidden library chamber,” Dillon said. “Did you note that there were at least a thousand books in that room?”

Kaliq nodded. “It will take time to sort them all out,” he said.

But Prince Cirillo was already doing just that. Shortly after the others had left the faerie man noticed something that neither the dragon nor the mortal with him could see. It was an eye hidden in the intricate decoration of the ceiling above them. His acute faerie senses had alerted him to the fact that they were being watched. Surreptitiously gazing about as he appeared to examine a book he had spotted the open eye before it realized he had discovered it, for having seen it he quickly looked away.

Oh, yes, he thought. Faerie magic. And he would have to outwit it quickly.

Using a thought spell he spoke silently. Bring the faerie books to me. That Prentice may both learn and see. And keep him safe from those who spy. Especially all faerie eyes.

“Gracious!” the scholar exclaimed as books began flying from the shelves and stacking themselves up on the table before him.

“It would seem you have what you need,” Cirillo said briskly. With a wave of his hand he transported both Prentice and the books back to his own chambers. “Quickly!” he said to the dragon, and grabbing her paw he pulled her swiftly from the hidden room whose walls had suddenly begun to close in on them. There was a high-pitched shriek as they dashed through the open door before it slammed shut behind them and disappeared from their view.

“What just happened?” Nidhug asked Cirillo.

“Whoever enchanted the hidden room to keep it from the Belmairans set an eye amid the ceiling decoration to spy should anyone manage to get into the room,” Cirillo explained. “And they set a spell to close the chamber up should anyone linger too long within it.” He looked at the marble wall before him. “Door appear. Here!” he said aloud. But nothing happened. And suddenly the key in his hand disappeared.

“The key!” Nidhug cried.

“There is no longer a need for it as that small chamber no longer exists,” Cirillo explained to her.

“Where is Prentice, and the books that came from the shelves?”

“Safe in his own chambers, and enchanted so no others of my kind can harm him. I am a faerie prince. No other faerie can undo my spell,” Cirillo said.

“Oh, dear,” the dragon fretted. “I wonder if Prentice has what he needs.”

“He has every book in that library that held any reference to faeries,” Cirillo said. “Whether it will be enough only time will tell us.” He smiled up at Nidhug. “And now, my dear Nidhug, would you like to go somewhere private so we may get to know one another better? I will admit I have not seen many dragons, but you are surely the most beautiful one I have ever laid my faerie eyes upon.”

The dragon fluttered her gold tipped purple eyelashes at him coquettishly. “Have you the power to shape-shift yourself into one of my kind?” she asked him.

Cirillo smile dagain. “I do. And after we have tasted passion as your species, will you allow me to change you briefly into a mortal so we may taste it again? I much enjoy mortals as lovers,” he admitted.

“Let me see what sort of a dragon you can be,” Nidhug said. “And yes, you may change me afterward into a mortal for a time. I have always wondered what it would be like to have a mortal body. They seem so frail. Ohhh, my!”

Before Belmair’s Great Dragon there suddenly stood another dragon. He stood just slightly taller than Nidhug, and he was absolutely gorgeous. His scales were a pale ice-blue edged in gold. The crest upon his head was both silver and gold, and enclosed with a bejeweled crown. His delicate wings were a mixture of both gold and silver, giving them a gilt like appearance. The claws on his paws and feet were silver tipped in gold. “Do I please you, my dear Nidhug?” Cirillo’s seductive voice asked her.

“You do indeed,” the dragon female replied. “Follow me.” And she rose up, the ceiling of the Academy library dissolving before her as they soared together into the sky above them, which was now brilliant with the coming sunset. Shaded against the reds, the oranges and golds of the sky the two dragons flew together over the darkening sea to the mountains of Belia, and into a cave that Nidhug favored. The cave was high and dry, and lit by flickering scented torches.

Cirillo found it fascinating that there was no love play involved in their mating. Once deep within the chamber of the cave Nidhug lifted her dragon’s tail, and he observed her wet and throbbing sex, which glowed a bright scarlet. Strangely excited by the sight he felt his dragon male organ swell with the strongest lust he had ever experienced. With a roar he thrust it into her, his paws reaching around to hold her steady as he pounded within her until she began to bellow her pleasure, and they both were breathing fire that scorched the walls of the cave. He actually felt the walls of her sheath enclosing him, squeezing him hard, and then dissolving into shudders of pleasure. Knowing he had more than satisfied her he released his lustful juices into her, realizing as he did that he, too, had been gratified by their mating.

“You are a magnificent lover,” Nidhug praised him when they had recovered from their passions and lay quietly upon the cave’s floor. “Quite the best I have ever known.”

“Let us see if you appreciate me in my faerie form when I make you briefly mortal,” he told her.

“I must rest first,” Nidhug said. “Your exertions have quite exhausted me, my dear Cirillo. When I am ready we will return to my castle, and it is there we shall enjoy each other again. This time I shall play the mortal to your faerie prince.” She simpered, and then she closed her eyes, and began to snore lightly.

Cirillo followed suit, for if the truth be told he was tired himself. It amazed him to learn that his lustful nature could be transferred into the body of a male dragon without losing a bit of his energy. When he awoke he found himself alone. “Nidhug?” he called.

A moment later she appeared cradling a large sea-green egg in her arms. “This is my heir, Nidhug XXIII. Will you give it your faerie blessing, Cirillo of the Forest Faeries?”

“Of course!” he said, touched by the maternal look in her eye. “Blessings upon you, Nidhug XXIII. May you faithfully serve Belmair as your honorable ancestors before you have done. Know that you will always have the friendship of my people.” Reaching out, Cirillo touched the egg gently with his dragon’s paw, and it glowed golden in response.

“Thank you,” his female companion said. “I will restore the egg to its nest now. Then we will return to my castle. I am eager to see what kind of a female you will make of me, my dear Cirillo.” She disappeared back into the dimness of the cave, and when she returned the egg was no longer in her possession.

“You have honored me in revealing your offspring to me,” Cirillo told her.

Nidhug dipped her head slightly in acknowledgment of the compliment. “Belmair is changing,” she said. “My offspring will need all the good fortune it can obtain when the day comes for it to take my place. I am not old by dragon standards at all, and so it will be some time before I decide to birth my hatchling, and then it will take at least another thousand years to train it properly.”