Onyx Dragons: Flint

“Flint!” His oldest brother, Mal, spoke gruffly. “Mother just told us the news. Come back to Earth. Don’t marry the Empress!”
The video showed a conference room at the Onyx Corporation headquarters building in Vancouver, Washington.
Flint’s dragon siblings sat around a conference table wearing business suits and somber expressions. Their human spouses sat beside them. They all looked serious and worried.
How adorable.
Before voyaging to Earth, his siblings had barely known each other. Rejected by their aristocratic grand dragon and doomed to the low caste, they’d been forced into an orphanage and raised with limited contact.
But look at them now. They cared.
And so did he.
“It’s unavoidable,” Flint assured them so they wouldn’t worry. “Necessary to save the company, in fact.”
“Necessary?” Mal slammed his palms on the massive conference table, overturning coffee mugs and causing the humans to jump. “How can a no-name, low-caste dragon marrying the Empress of Draconis be necessary?”
“Trust me—”
“The old Empress gave up her insane offer when we married humans. Come back to Earth, and we’ll find you a spouse!”
“You won’t survive a night in the Palace.” Alex, the sixth sibling, told Flint. His exotic dual-color eyes, teal and lavender, flashed with ice. “The old Empress ripped off the arms of her last consort. The new Empress is rumored to be more vicious.”
“Rumored,” Flint repeated with a flippant grin. “Who can trust rumors?”
“Flint!”
His siblings devolved into shouts and arguments. Just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you can afford to lose a few limbs! And so forth.
He edged the model warship on his empire-sized game board a little closer to Earth.
The hubbub quieted.
Mal took over again. “To find you a human spouse, Alex has made you a dating profile. Alex?”
“You don’t have to—”
“Listen to this.” Alex read from a computer screen. “Hyperintelligent, emotionally distant recluse desires marriage. Must love curt responses, cryptic answers, having no idea where your new husband is, and being unable to reach him most of the time.”
The dragons all nodded.
The humans traded skeptical looks.
Alex continued. “You will be female, unmarried, and a passionate defender of the Second Amendment.”
“Hold up.” Darcy, their human vice president, raised an index finger. “You want a girl who’s a big fan of the Second Amendment?”
“As an American, you should know about it, Darcy.” Amber nudged him with her elbow. She was a terrifying female dragon, but in human form, she looked misleadingly small in her petite cream blouse, plaid skirt, and maroon Mary Janes. “It’s the right to bear arms.”
“But ‘arms’ in this case means guns.”
“Yes, guns.” She encircled his bicep.
“No, not those guns. Guns.” Darcy made the finger gestures for shooting bullets.
“Fingers and hands too.”
“No, no. Machine guns, cannons, you know. Bombs. Actually, those aren’t protected. Do not stockpile bombs. Or cannons. Hmm, I wonder about machine guns now…”
Amber frowned. “What a confusing rule.”
“Well, sure, it causes a lot of debate.”
Alex tapped on the keyboard. “I was under the impression that this country protected the right to keep one’s arms from being ripped off by an angry spouse.”
His wife, a slender human barista, gave him a skeptical look. “Were you that worried about it?”
All the dragon males nodded.
“Okay, well, don’t worry.” Darcy reached across Amber and patted Alex’s shoulder. “The right to your own arms is protected under the ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ part.”
They collectively sighed with relief.
“And anyway,” Flint interrupted with what he hoped was a winning grin, “I’m not marrying a human, regardless of her opinion on my arms.”

(Because Flint has a big secret! Read on to find out…)

Coming soon!

Coming soon!