Tafel raised her head towards the ceiling that had been lifted by a pair of red paws. She cleared her throat. “You want to what?”

Prika lifted the ceiling a bit higher, revealing more of her face. “I want to borrow Vur and temporarily make him my mate.” At Tafel’s twisting expression, Prika threw the roof completely off. “Not in that way! I don’t want to mate with him. Look”—Prika picked up a stone tablet—“my family sent me a Christmas card, and they want me home for Christmas because of something important, but I can’t go back single! I told them all I was going to leave and find a mate and be happy, but if I end up going back alone, do you know how embarrassed I’ll be? In the whole wide world, not a single dragon wanted Prika as a mate—that’s what they’ll say!”

“Didn’t you fly to the eastern continent a while back?” Tafel asked. “I thought you were going to find the love of your life there for sure.”

“Well, when I arrived at Leila’s home, her mother called me a harlot set on seducing her last son and almost killed me with a laser beam,” Prika said, a dark expression on her face. “Apparently, one of her sons ran away with a chick from the ocean, and she hasn’t been right in the head since. That’s what Leila’s sister told me.”

“And you thought your next best choice was Vur?” Tafel asked. “Why not someone else?”

“He’s not a choice! I’m just borrowing him as a pretend mate to fool my family,” Prika said. “Nova’s famous. Grimmy’s infamous—and Leila would kill me if I asked. Vernon is famous for being whipped by Sera and there’s no way my family would believe it if I told them he was my mate after fighting off Sera. I’m not that close with Sera’s sister to ask for her mate, and the only one that leaves is Vur. Well, there are his cousins, but they’re young and I don’t want to be known as a cradle robber! You have to help me out, Tafel. Don’t you remember that time I vouched for you when you were six years old? I approved of you and was dead set on matching you with Vur.”

Tafel bit her lower lip and turned her head, avoiding the red dragon’s face that looked as if it were about to cry. “There’s just one problem,” Tafel said. “Vur can’t lie. How are you going to convince your family that he’s your mate?” She nodded. “I don’t think it’ll work.”

“That’s okay,” Prika said. “I can just tell them that due to a horrific encounter with Grimmy, Vur lost his voice and can’t speak. There are dozens of ways around that. Is that the only reason? Have I convinced you now? I’ll give you compensation later, how about it?”

“I don’t want compensation!” Tafel said. “That makes me seem like such a horrible person if I accept any. If you can convince Vur to go with you, then I won’t stop you.”

Prika’s eyes lit up. “Really? Promise? No takebacks when I do?”

Tafel hesitated, but she placed her hands on her hips and nodded.

Prika whirled around and shouted, “Vur! Tafel told you to come with me to my home and pretend to be my mate to fool my family! Let’s go!”

“I said no such thing!”

“Hey,” Prika said, looking at Tafel with half-closed eyes. “You promised you wouldn’t stop me.”

Tafel glared at Prika. “You’re twisting my words.”

Vur’s polymorphed face appeared in her view. He looked around. “What did Tafel want me to do?”

Prika spoke before Tafel could reply, “She said you have to come with me to my home to help me out. I’m in a bit of a pinch, and Tafel heard my problems and offered you as a solution because she knows how much you care about me.” She exhaled through her nostrils, sending out two jets of steam that knocked Tafel over when she tried to speak up. Then Prika bobbed her head up and down at Vur. “You care about me, right? You wouldn’t want to see harm befall me?”

“Of course,” Vur said, puffing his chest out. “I care about all my family.”

Prika shot a triumphant glance at Tafel, causing the demon to sigh. Tafel groaned and rubbed the base of her horns with her fingers. “Alright,” she said. “Vur can go with you, but only if I get to come too.”

“Great!” Prika’s face split into a wide grin. “Let’s head out now. If we fly at a moderately fast pace, we can make it to my home in time for the Christmas feast and gift distribution.”

Vur scooped Tafel up and placed her on his head. “What’s a Christmas? Is it delicious?”

Prika leapt into the air, and Vur followed after her. “Christmas is a holiday,” Prika said. “It’s celebrated by my family once every hundred years. We get together and give each other gifts and say how thankful we are to have such a nice family that doesn’t bully you for not having a mate. There’s a big feast followed by singing and performances and a dance. Then, at the end of the night, everyone opens the presents that they’ve received, and whoever sent the cheapest gift has to clean up the mess left behind.”

“Do you have gifts prepared for your family?” Tafel asked, her gaze traveling up and down the red dragon. It didn’t seem like she was carrying anything.

“I’ll pick up one or two shiny rocks or shells on the beach on the way home,” Prika said. “I’ll have to clean up the mess, but I also get to trade shells for great stuff guaranteed to not be cheap at all!”

“You’re terrible,” Tafel said.

“If being smart makes me terrible, then call me the terriblest dragon in the world,” Prika said, puffing her chest out. “Actually, don’t. Whoever you tell will mistake me for Grimmy, and you’ll cause a panic through the community.”

“Is Grimmy that infamous?” Tafel asked.

“Are my scales red?” Prika shot Tafel a glance that made her feel silly. “He made a whole continent uninhabitable. Every time someone tries to fly or swim there, someone tells them it’s a bad idea because the terrible dragon Grimmoldesser cursed it. Of course, he’s infamous!”

Tafel rubbed her chin. “He honestly doesn’t seem like that terrible of a dragon to me though? Sure, he might have a bit of a troublesome past, but he seems nice when he’s not teasing people.”

Prika sighed. “If you unleash a plague on a continent that wipes out the majority of its inhabitants, then that’s all people are going to remember you for no matter how many good deeds you do. You’ll forever be remembered as that person who plagued a continent. If you save a drowning puppy, people will say, ‘Hey, that guy who plagued a continent just saved a puppy.’ It’s just how life works.”

“You have a point.”