Claimed By A Dragon Prince

The following day Dran had some last minute loose ends to check into after considering Lily’s stalker comment the night before. If someone was tailing him and it did compromise their mission events could be set in motion that could have been prevented. Going to his mother’s office hopefully she would have some idea of who might go to this extent.

Lily and Dimitri went to resupply while he handle this matter that way they could leave tomorrow at soonest. The slugs had yet to attack again and the toxin in the ground has receded significantly since Lily purified the area. And from what his people have told him the food supply is still holding steady. The farm she grew everything on is ready for planting in a couple months when the sunlight hours picks up.

Everything Lily touches continues to flourish and he knew this could bring a lot of attention to her. Hopefully hid mother had already been keeping tabs on potential threats to him. Waling up to her office door he went in seeing her secretary, Kiki, going over paperwork to be filed. "Is she in?" "Yes, give her a few minutes."

"Well maybe you can answer my question. Do you know if she ever kept a list of potential people or threats to me?" She was shocked to hear he might want to know about this. "She did. Its put away so you will have to ask her for it." Dran was glad to hear there was at least a lead to go off of, but to hear that Lily was correct about the threat to his life unsettled him.

One of the council members walked out smelling far too much like his mother. He was a well aged old wolf that had left his clan decades ago choosing the lone wolf life. HE adjusted his robe before nodding to Dran then walking out the office doors. He walked in his mother sprawled on her cushions smoking some type of herb that calmed her nerves. "I thought that was just fling."

"He has his moments. Don’t worry about him, what can I do for you? Shouldn’t you be shopping with your mate for the mission?" She sat up reaching for a glass of water on a table next to her cushions, "Her and Dimitri are getting a head start on that, but what I need right now is the list of potential threats to me. Kiki said you had one." Maylia stood up moving to a part of the office most didn’t see. She placed her had on the far side of the way before a piece popped out that she opened like a door.

"Why the sudden interest? You have Lily the others shouldn’t be an issue anymore." She handed him a packet as thick as a book he didn’t expect to see. "That’s been all the threats to you since I took you in. Be careful with some of the information in there. A few of the merchants wouldn’t be too happy to find out a couple of their daughters caused some issues in the past." He nodded tucking the packet in his robes so no one would see it.

Dran would read it with Lily and Dimitri when he met up with them back a his apartments so they could come up with a plan of actions if there needed to be one. "Lily felt someone watching us coming back to my apartment last night. She trusts her instincts so I just wanted to be sure if there was something that needed to be handled you might have the information so we know what we are dealing with." Maylia was seeing the change Lily was making in Dran. He was being more self aware of his surroundings.

"She is good for you. The last time I tried to bring this to your attention, you said it wasn’t important enough to know or worth your time." She poked him in the chest, a guilty gesture he knew was coming. "It wasn’t at the time."

"If you had Listen to me to begin with, you would already know who was tailing you. Don’t wait to long to read that. I know one is still a regular of yours. Be careful, my son." She kissed his cheek showing him the door. There was another person waiting as he came out. Shaking his head he knew his mother was a freak, but it was strange to think she used this kind of diplomacy.

Thankful that Lily wasn’t that way he hurried to find her curious about what she might be buying right now. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lily and Dimitri walked through the market, a long list in Lily’s hand. "Are you sure you need all that? Your pack is full enough." Dimitri would know because he was the one flying with it most of the time. She turned and gave him a sour look knowing she wasn’t keeping somethings in her pack anymore.

"I know I have to make room for some of this. And if its too much for you to carry I’m sure Dran will take the load." Hearing this suggestion he huffed not saying a word. "Didn’t think so. Come along, there’s a herb store close by I can find most of my ingredients at." He wasn’t overly happy that she was manipulating him, but it was more a bruise to his ego than anything.

"You drive me crazy, woman." He crossed his arms following her in to the shop. There was herbs everywhere the eye could see, growing along the wall or in pots all over the floor. If she needed something this would be the place to find it. A young woman walks up to her and kindly greets them. "Welcome to my shop. Is there anything specific you might need?"

Lily proceeded to show her the list and the two conversed, haggling over prices and availability. There was one substance she needed that was proving to be more difficult to locate then the rest of her list. "Are you sure you don’t have any Dragon moss or Sunstar Flower nectar? Price is no problem in concerns to those two things. It is important that I get those."

The young woman looked nervous until a large man walked out from the back looking the two of them over suspiciously. "Karri Ann, Go finish up in the back I can handle these two." She nodded hurrying to the back rooms. "Dragon Moss is simple enough, it’s just finding it uncontaminated that’s the problem. The Sunstar nectar is a rare substance that few know about. Why ask for it here?"

Lily Figured this might be a test. Anyone asking for Sunstar nectar was looking to blow themselves up considering how volatile it is with most substances. She needed it to see if adding it to the toxin with a couple other ingredients would stop the toxin from spreading anymore. Lily didn’t want to tell him that though because the less people know about her ideas the better chance she could succeed.

"I need it for my work. I am sorry, that is all I can tell you. If I succeed in what I am doing than I will come back and tell you what I did. I know its not the answer you were looking for, but its the only one I can give." The man looked Lily in the eyes, a serious tone about him, making her thing he could see more then what was in front of him.

Leaning back the man moves back behind the curtain, making Lily wait as he searched for the Sunstar nectar. He found the last jar in the back and carefully brought it out to the front. Lily had never seen the nectar outside of her schoolroom, but this one was far richer then the one’s she had used before.

"This was just harvested a month ago. A friend brought it to me saying I would need it for someone. I have one question and I need a straight honest answer." He looked between the two of them wondering who would actually answer the question. "Why is this so important to you? I now you can’t say all the details, but I gotta know before I had something like this to someone." Lily pulled out the seal she had gotten from Maylia which shocked the guy in front of her.

"Because it could save everyone in this world from having a slow, agonizing death. I am trying to correct a wrong done by beings that shouldn’t have effected the world this way." This was not what he expected to hear from her, but none the less she gave and honest answer. "Okay, I will give this to you in hopes that what ever it is that you are doing is worth the risk to your life." He boxed the fluid up as she pulled out her expanding purse letting him set it inside the purse.

"Be careful. Some may try to steal it."