Chapter 27

When Pride woke up it was cold, dark, and he was clearly lying on stone. It didn't take long to remember why. He tried to push himself up and quickly realized that, while he had some mobility, his hands were in those special cuffs that made it impossible to press his palms together. Because of course he was.

Pride sighed and leaned against the wall. "This is my life now," he muttered.

Then he heard something shift in front of him. Pride snapped his head back down and blinked out into the darkness in front of him. It was certainly hard to see, but it wasn't total darkness. He'd know.

There was a huge form in front of him. Given the size, and other context clues, he could guess he was in with Ethron. Lovely. Well, if he was going to kill Pride, he would've done before, right?

"Hello?" Pride called out.

There was more shifting. A glowing orange eye met him.

"You are not of this kingdom," Ethron said, voice echoing around. "In fact, you smell of space, little human."

Pride scowled. "I'm not human."

"You smell of one." Pride was not impressed. Ethron must've noticed because he sighed and changed titles. "Very well, little alien. Why are you here?"

Pride thought over how much to say. If he smelled like space, it made sense Ethron would assume he was an alien. And normally he'd assume 'little' was a reference to his supposed age, but considering who he was talking to it might actually mean size. So no need to correct him on either.

"I'm not sure," Pride answered. "It was a mistake. The Doctor's not very good at steering."

"The Doctor?"

"Oh. Jane Bradley. She was . . . lying about that name."

"I suppose I should've known. She smells like time." Pride had had Gluttony's sense of smell for a while, and he was still pretty confident you couldn't smell like time. "But her name is the Doctor?"

Pride frowned. "It's the name she gave when she was pretending to be my tutor." It was admittedly a little strange. She'd never given another name, but he'd never asked, not even when he found out the truth.

Ethron was quiet for a moment. The way his head moved, Pride would guess he was thinking hard about something.

"So she was pretending to be a tutor?" Pride nodded. "And you were pretending too?" Pride wasn't sure where he'd gotten that, but he reluctantly nodded again. He wasn't sure where Ethron was going with this. "Has it occurred to you, your relationship is built entirely on lies?"

"What does it matter?"

Ethron shook his head. "A relationship like that does not hold up, not as more of the truth is revealed.

"That's not always true," Pride said, automatically dismissing the issue now that he knew what it was.

Sometimes Ethron was right, but Mrs. Bradley hadn't known the truth about her son or husband, and yet she still raised him even after Edward told her some of it. Even after she found out he was still Pride. For that matter, he was keeping secrets from her again right now, seeing as she didn't know he was traveling with the Doctor. And they were fine. Right?

He shook his head. More to the point, the Doctor was never finding out this truth.

Ethron didn't seem impressed, but he didn't push the issue any further. "Mmm. You two are not safe here." Considering he was currently imprisoned with a dragon, that was not a large leap to make. "I will release myself from this prison soon, and destroy the humans. You should escape while you can."

"You shouldn't do that. I don't like humans either, believe me, but the Doctor does, and she'll stop you."

Ethron's eyes moved in a way that reminded Pride of a raised eyebrow. "How?"

Pride shrugged. He didn't know why he was telling Ethron this at all. "No idea. But she will stop you. She always has, and it never ends well for the people she stops."

It could be a bit much, but it was also nice in a way, to know he absolutely did not need a plan. The Doctor had this. She was one of the few people he could consider intelligence, and who didn't ignore him based on appearances, even if that attention could be incredibly patronizing.

"I'll consider you advice," Erthon said. "But you should still leave."

"There's a problem with that." Pride lifted his cuffed hands.

Erthon lifted a claw and slashed through the wood.

Pride didn't wait any longer. He went up the stairs, tip toeing as he got closer to the top. He'd just escaped. He wasn't getting himself caught again right away. As he got closer, he saw there was a guard by the door. Good thing he'd slowed down then. There was an easy solution.

Quietly, Pride pressed his palms together and made an exit to the side. If the guard noticed the sound, or sight, of alchemy sparks, he must have written it off as Ethron.

He crept around the halls, up the stairs, and to the guest room. It was empty. Pride sighed. He strummed his fingers against the doorframe, thinking what to do for a moment. Well, the Doctor wasn't here, and it didn't seem like the safest place to be. He went back into the hall, straining his ears for the sound of anyone else.

There was someone coming around the corner. It was Peter.

"Selim! There you are. Jane's been looking all over for you. Come on, I'll take you to her."

He grabbed Pride's hand and pulled him off. I know how to walk, Pride thought dully.

They didn't go very far. The Doctor was still on the second floor, calling out for him. Relief flooded her face as she Peter brought him over, and went to let the other servants know they could stop looking.

"You're Aunt was very persuasive that we help look," Peter said as he left.

"Selim! Where have you been? I was worried you'd gone and gotten yourself eaten or something."

"Arthur kidnapped me. He wanted to know about circle-less alchemy, and he locked me in with Ethron when I didn't tell him."

"He-what? Well, we're going to have to do something about this. Might work in Ethron's favor too. Come on."

She started back off down the hall with a purpose. Pride followed her, but asked something that was on his mind now.

"So, dragons are real?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. Actually, there are two species of dragon, from the same planet. The Werns are snake like, and in theory, easier to reason with. The Begons are built larger, and more brutish. The two species rarely get along, and it's important to know which we're dealing with, if we want to end this. That's why I was looking at Ethron so hard."

"So which one is he?"

"That's the thing. I think he's both. I think he had one parent from each, a crossbreed."

"Like a hybrid?"

"No, we don't talk about that." Pride stared at the Doctor without the faintest idea what she was talking about, and the Doctor did look a little sheepish once she realized what she'd said. "Right. But for all intents and purposes, yes, something like that. It's exciting. And sad. He probably hasn't left because he has no home to go to."

"So what are we going to do now?"

Between the dragon in the basement, the alchemist after his life, and the fact this wouldn't spell the end of the world, it seemed like a great time to go. But the Doctor was invested now, so he knew that wasn't happening.

"We have to get Erthon out of here. Since we can't convince the people here to let him go, we'll have to distract them. Arthur's little ploy might be just what we need."

That was actually true. "He probably still wants circle-less alchemy. He says he wants it to be more powerful than Frederick, and Merek heard that too."

"Let's go then."