Greybrow Serpent (Silver and Orchids Book 2) Read online

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  CHAPTER ONE I Saw Him First

  CHAPTER TWO Family Business

  CHAPTER THREE You Could Do Worse

  CHAPTER FOUR Fancy Meeting You Here

  CHAPTER FIVE The Plan

  CHAPTER SIX Midnight Carriage Ride

  CHAPTER SEVEN How Much are You Worth?

  CHAPTER EIGHT Check the Locks

  CHAPTER NINE Grand Idea

  CHAPTER TEN Aboard the Greybrow Serpent. Again.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN Fussy Family Nonsense

  CHAPTER TWELVE Siren Islands

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN A Little Wager

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN Slow-burning Spark

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN Hope You Aren’t Claustrophobic

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN Underwater Cavern

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN It’s an Island…in a Whirlpool

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Watch Your Step

  CHAPTER NINETEEN But We Just Met…

  CHAPTER TWENTY Why Can't it be Real?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Might as Well be Thorough

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO We Should Have Stayed in the Whirlpool

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Company of the Royal Variety

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR A Duchess and Her Dagger

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE The Question

  Coming Soon

  Free Novelette

  About the Author

  Greybrow Serpent

  Silver and Orchids, Book 2

  Copyright © 2017 by Shari L. Tapscott

  All rights reserved.

  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Editing by Z.A. Sunday

  Cover Design by Shari L. Tapscott

  For Pam:

  Thank you for all your support and love.

  CHAPTER ONE

  I Saw Him First

  “Would you rather face a wyvern or a harpy?” I ask my business partner as our carriage slowly travels down the bumpy road.

  Sebastian sits opposite me, arms crossed loosely over his chest. For once, he slouches in his seat, his long legs extended in front of him, and he looks as exhausted as I am. Under heavy lids, his green eyes are sleepy. Earlier, he accidentally ruffled his dark hair when he stretched. He looks deliciously mussed.

  “Lucia,” he warns.

  “I think I’d rather face the wyvern, myself,” I continue, undeterred by his lack of enthusiasm. “They’re larger, true. And they have that breathing fire thing going, but at least they don’t attempt to claw out your eyes.”

  “Lucia.”

  “Of course, I suppose it depends on the wyvern’s element.” I slump against the side of the carriage with my knees drawn to my chest and my arms looped around my legs. My skirt tumbles down the side of the bench. “Fire’s bad enough. But I’ve never fancied the idea of being frozen alive, so I think I might rather face a harpy than, say, an ice wyvern.”

  Adeline sits next to me, looking mildly green. The seamstress doesn’t like these kinds of conversations. I haven’t the slightest idea why.

  She should have let us take her back home where she belongs. Because she certainly does not belong with Sebastian and me, tagging along as we search for the sea captain/probably pirate who stole one hundred and sixty thousand denat’s worth of Moss Forest orchid cuttings from us.

  But we’re not searching for Captain Avery Greybrow right now. We’re taking poor, overstimulated Adeline to the province of Reginae, to our tiny home village, where she can have a bit of a rest before we continue our quest. Sebastian’s idea.

  I personally think we should put her on a ship with a potted daisy and hope the Duke of Mesilca—the man who rules the city in Grenalda where she’s from—won’t notice the difference between that and the rarest orchid known in existence. It could work. She could go home, and I could have Sebastian all to myself.

  And everything would be right with the world.

  But, alas, we’re doing things Sebastian’s way.

  “How much longer?” Adeline asks, sounding a bit listless.

  Sebastian pulls back the curtain next to him and peers at the landscape. “Fifteen minutes, maybe a little longer.”

  She nods, putting on a brave face just for him.

  You see, Adeline doesn’t know, if we’re being technical about it, that Sebastian is mine.

  My friend practically from birth.

  My business partner.

  She is aware that he’s not my brother, which is the fib we were forced to feed her when we first met. She also seems to think he’s eligible. Which I suppose, in the most basic sense, he is. Except I want him, and I saw him first. Ergo, my Sebastian.

  Oh, but he’s nice to her. Attentive. Generous with his smiles.

  So, in summary, Adeline is not my favorite person at the moment. Since this is not, strictly speaking, her fault, I’m working on it.

  After another twenty minutes, the carriage rumbles to a stop. Most people would feel exhilarated to be back in the village they grew up in. I’m not most people, apparently, because I’m filled with dread. Sebastian thought it best to write our families before we arrived—something I strongly objected to. Little good it did me; he wrote my mother himself.

  I can hear them out there now, on the other side of the door, bickering and laughing. Father shushes my brothers, but moments later, my sister yips, probably because one of the young heathens pulled her braids. I close my eyes and rest my head back, taking these last few seconds to feel like the twenty-one-year-old I am. Because in a moment, I’m going to be thirteen again.

  The door swings open, and Sebastian leaps down, eager to be away from the carriage.

  “Sebastian!” Mother squeals, sounding near tears. “How handsome you are!”

  “Where did you travel to?” one brother asks.

  “Did you fight any sea monsters?” says another.

  “What did you bring us?”

  “Sebastian!”

  “Is that your wife?”

  And it all goes quiet.

  I suck in a horrified breath. I’m still in the carriage, hiding, but Adeline’s at the entrance, looking radiant as always. She blushes at my family’s attention, her cheeks turning a color of pink that suits her auburn hair and milky skin.

  “This is Adeline,” Sebastian says, taking her hand and helping her from the carriage. “A very good friend.”

  What does that mean?

  Two of my brothers—the idiots—whistle and joke, and I can tell the exact moment my mother swats them upside their heads because they stop abruptly.

  My sister asks Adeline about her gown, and Mother comments on how tiring the trip must have been for her—poor dear. If I’m lucky, they’ll forget I’m in here, and the carriage will turn around and take me to some other village. Any other village.

  No such luck. Sebastian leans back in, a wry look on his face. “Coming, Lucia?”

  I shake my head since they cannot see me.

  He cocks his head to the side, patiently waiting.

  “No,” I mouth silently.

  But of course, my brothers barge in, all four of them attacking like a gang of wild imps, and they drag me from the carriage. Sebastian chuckles under his breath as I fight them off, only amused because I am so unamused.<
br />
  “What are you wearing?” Anderson, my eldest brother, gawks at me, horrified. “Is that a dress?”

  Because Adeline thinks I’m her doll, my wardrobe has grown significantly in the last two months. Where I used to only wear rough-spun trousers, now I’ve been known to don a skirt or two. And enjoy it.

  I smooth a wrinkle in my crimson traveling gown, self-conscious. I knew I should have worn pants. I told Adeline.

  Mother bites her bottom lip as she stares at me, her pretty blue eyes worried. “You look very nice, Lucy.”

  Which is Mother for “look at you, putting on airs.”

  I let her embrace me, and then I quietly say, “Please don’t call me that.”

  Before she can answer, Father pulls me into an embrace. “Look at you, little duck! You almost look like a girl!”

  My brothers and sister all squeal, thinking that’s the funniest thing.

  “Hello, Father,” I say and grudgingly smile.

  He’s about to say something else, but another carriage pulls up outside the stables, this one sleeker than the public one we traveled in. Sebastian takes a step forward, stands a smidgen straighter, and clasps his hands behind his back.

  The footman leaps from his perch and opens the door. Out steps the only person I’ve ever met who I can honestly say hates me.

  Sebastian meets the man and bows his head in respect. “Hello, Grandfather.”

  Lord Selden Thane’s tight expression softens when he lays eyes on Sebastian, but they harden a bit when they slide to me. My insides begin to squirm. With the way he’s looking at me, it’s almost as if he knows I’m harboring romantic feelings for his grandson. And he’s judging me.

  I resist the urge to fidget with my skirt. The problem with wearing gowns is that I never know what to do with my hands. You cannot be casual in a dress. There’s no laying one hand on the hilt of your dagger and resting the other on your hip. You cannot slouch because the undergarments won’t allow it.

  In the end, I settle for crossing my arms and trying to look like I’m not as uncomfortable as I am. A cool mid-autumn breeze swirls around me, down from the mountains that embrace the village of Silverleaf. I should have listened to Adeline when she told me to wear the long traveling jacket that complements the gown.

  Lord Thane walks forward with the assistance of a cane. He didn’t use one last time we were home. What happened? I know Sebastian’s wondering the same thing. He watches his grandfather, concerned, but he knows better than to ask in front of others.

  “Good afternoon, Will, Marta,” Lord Thane says cordially to my parents. For reason’s unbeknownst to me, Sebastian’s grandfather has a great affection for my mother and father. He thinks their children are wild, unruly beasts, but he likes the adults well enough.

  My youngest brothers, Hansel and George, begin arm wrestling on the bench outside the stable. It quickly elevates to an all-out squabble, and I cringe. Though he doesn’t look terribly concerned, Father pulls the boys apart by the scruff of their necks and tells them to mind their manners. When they separate, Anderson and Erik taunt them, goading them on again.

  Lord Thane looks at them as if they are a strange species of boar.

  “Grandfather.” Sebastian moves toward Adeline. “May I present Adeline of the family Daughtra from Grenalda.”

  The older man’s eyes fall on Adeline as if noticing her for the first time. He gives her a warm smile—well, as warm as he is capable—and takes her hand, nodding over it. “It is a pleasure to meet you, my dear.”

  My dear. He’s never, not even once, called me that.

  Adeline gives him a sweet smile. “Sebastian speaks of you often, sir. I am so delighted to make your acquaintance.”

  Lord Thane glances at Sebastian, thinking. “I’ve worried over my grandson for years, and now he brings home a lovely girl. I see my fretting was for naught.”

  I open my mouth, ready to correct whatever ill-formed ideas Lord Thane has concocted in his graying head. Sebastian though, knowing me as he does, catches me. He gives me a look that makes my knees weak and shakes his head, telling me that he will take care of it later. Wouldn’t want to cause a scene, so we do things his way, as always.

  But I did not know doing it his way would involve his grandfather thinking he was courting Adeline.

  Before I can pull him aside, the driver from the carriage clears his throat and looks at Sebastian. “Could you collect your beast so I can unload your luggage?”

  “Oh!” I hurry toward the back of the carriage. A pony-sized dragon lies sprawled on our trunks, dead to the world, his scales shining as copper as a kettle in the sun. He snores gently, and wisps of sparkling, golden flames escape his nostrils. I tickle his belly. “Wake up, lazy thing.”

  The dragon groans and yawns wide, letting out more of the strange flame. Then he promptly turns to his other side and goes back to sleep. I secure a lead to his harness and give him a good tug. Grumbling, he stretches and stumbles down from his perch.

  Once on the ground, he blinks and smacks his jaws like a cow. After a few moments, he fixes his golden eyes on me, yawns one more time, and collapses against my side, too groggy to stand.

  “What is that?” George exclaims from behind me.

  Suddenly, all my siblings are here, marveling at my pet.

  “His name is Flink,” I say a bit proudly. “And he is my dragon.”

  They all ooh and ahh—even nineteen-year-old Anderson, who is usually above such things now that “he’s a man.”

  “He’s copper again,” Sebastian says from my side.

  I’m still irritated with him, but I nod as I watch my brothers and sister surround the dragon, giving him more attention than the greedy thing needs. Then I sigh, disgusted. “I think it might be the one.”

  The shopkeeper I obtained him from said he’d settle on an element when he was about four months old. Flink is a lesser dragon, so rare I’ve never heard of one in existence. Where most of the noble girls carry their tiny, non-elemental munchkin dragons around in their arms, I walk mine down the street like a wolfhound and pray he won’t burn down the city.

  “I suppose we should figure out what that element does,” Sebastian says.

  “I’m not sticking my hand in it.”

  Sebastian nudges me in the side. “Your beast.”

  It figures my great, noble dragon would settle on sparkles. Worthless, but pretty. Kind of like Flink. Kind of like Adeline, too, now that I think of it.

  As if summoned, Adeline steps up next to Sebastian. Anderson, noticing she’s with us, hastily stands and steps back, separating himself from our younger siblings. I almost roll my eyes.

  Father loads my new traveling trunk into our old wagon, and he hollers for my brothers and sister to crawl in.

  “Wait, Father—”

  “Does it eat chickens?” Mother comes up behind me, looking at Flink with something akin to horror in her eyes.

  “Uh…” I purse my lips, unsure.

  “Lucia is welcome to stay with us,” Sebastian says.

  Was that longing in his voice? I hide a smile, angry with him no longer. I’m not sure if anyone else noticed that his tone was a little too eager…but I did.

  My mother turns to him and softens. “Oh, Sebastian darling, that’s so kind of you to offer, but she can sleep with Kirsten again.”

  My eight-year-old sister scowls from her perch in the wagon.

  “I was going to speak with the chandler in Reshire, see if I may rent the upstairs room from him while we’re here,” I say quickly, speaking of the candle shoppe in the larger city very near our little village. Then, just for good measure, I feel the need to remind her, “We’ll be leaving in less than a week.”

  “You just got back!”

  Suddenly, it seems as if everyone is talking all at once. My brothers are arguing, Mother is making plans, and Adeline is smiling like a delicate rose.

  “Adeline, you will stay with us,” Lord Thane says. “We’ll have a suite prepar
ed.”

  The girl smiles. “Thank you, sir. You are so kind.”

  “I had hoped she’d stay with me above the chandler’s shoppe,” I say, growing desperate.

  Mother shakes her head. “Rembard uses the room for storage now, Lucia. Adeline, of course, may stay with us, but you girls will have to take the hayloft.”

  My throat begins to tighten. This isn’t going at all how I hoped.

  “Sebastian, assist Adeline into the carriage,” Lord Thane says, his tone saying he won’t take no for an answer. “It was a pleasure to see you again, Marta. Good day, Will.”

  I gape at them all as they separate our things—Sebastian and Adeline on one side of the dirt street, me on the other.

  “Lucia,” Mother says, sharper this time. “The dragon? Does it eat chickens?”

  Feeling completely helpless, I watch Sebastian assist Adeline into his grandfather’s carriage. Once she’s inside, he turns back and begins to walk my way. His grandfather stops him and gestures him into the carriage, telling him not to dawdle.

  Sebastian gives me a frustrated look, and I return it with a sympathetic smile in response. I, more than anyone, know Lord Thane is a force to be reckoned with.

  “The chickens, Lucia!”

  I turn back to my mother as the Thane family carriage rolls down the street, toward their estate. Frustrated, with a bit more bite in my tone than I intend, I say, “Yes, Mother. He’s a dragon. He’ll probably eat a chicken if he gets the chance.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Family Business

  There are three reasons why I end up sleeping in the barn with Flink. The first is that my sister flails when she sleeps, and I don’t fancy getting kicked in the stomach. The second is that my brothers in the next room won’t stop talking about how pretty Adeline is. And the third, and most important reason: Flink is scared of the dark.

  The dragon couldn’t handle being out here all alone. Through supper, I could hear his pathetic wails all the way in the house. He also doesn’t care for being locked in, which is exactly what my parents decided was necessary so we wouldn’t wake to a mass chicken slaughter.