LITMIR.BIZ

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who usually liked to joke, remained silent.

      «There are faces! There are all beauties! I don’t know if they’re dead or alive. But in my dreams I change their faces like masquerade masks. It’s funny and scary.»

      «Magic is fun and scary,» said Dandy. «You have to learn how to use it properly, so you don’t get hurt.»

      «Should I ask the wizards ambassadors for advice?»

      «First, give them the impression of a wise ruler. They’re not going to help someone with a pouty demeanor. They need something to interest them.»

      «Will that be difficult?»

      «Of course it’s difficult! They’re magicians! You can’t bribe them with mere coquetry,» Dandy even shrieked. «Maybe you should marry a dragon. He loves you very fiercely, judging by the intensity of his matchmaking.»

      «It is no hotter than that! He’s got half the kingdom burning or smoking!»

      «We must take action before the kingdom burns to the ground,» Dandy leaned close to Rosamunda’s ear, tugged a long curl with his claw, and wanted to whisper some dangerous advice, but the heralds had already sounded the horn to announce the arrival of the guests. A procession of smartly dressed cavaliers entered the throne room. Not a single lady among them, Rosamunda noted to herself. It was as if they had come for marriage. Or was it? She felt suddenly sick.

      «They are afraid that I will take away the face of any lady they bring with them,» Rosamunda thought, guided by her dreams.

      «You’re imagining things!»

      «No, I don’t. I feel as if they were trembling before me. Or maybe they’re setting traps for me, like I’m setting traps for the dragon. What if singing doesn’t scare him away next time?»

      «That’s why you have to make friends with the wizards,» Dandy snuck behind her shoulder. He climbed the back of the throne as nimbly as a monkey.

      Rosamunda did not know how to drive him off. She wanted to hear the ambassadors, but Dandy was hissing in one ear and out the other.

      «You’re making me unable to hear anything!»

      Rosamunda tried to shoo him away, but Dandy clutched at her hair, almost falling over, causing her to shriek. The ambassadors were just opening their chests of fancy gifts. One of the ambassadors was dressed like an eastern wizard. All the others were in camisoles or doublets. All dressed so luxuriously as if they were of the same rank. So which one is the leader? It is the one who read the speech.

      «Dandy, why is the Magic Empire called the Dragon Empire?» Rosamunda caught on to the fragments of the ambassador’s speech. «Do dragons live there?»

      «It is just a figure of speech,» Dandy muttered. «It is a metaphor.»

      «What if the dragon came to us from them?»

      «Come on! You have a unicorn on your coat of arms too, but that doesn’t mean there are unicorns grazing in your kingdom.»

      «I have roses and gold coins. They are also in the coat of arms.»

      Dandy snorted disdainfully.

      Rosamunda straightened the folds of a lush purple dress, woven at the hem and on the chest coats of arms. The ambassadors came up to kiss the queen’s hand. Rosamunda was surprised that they were all young, about the same age. Usually ambassadors were bearded middle-aged men. These ones were all young and handsome. Probably they were the sons of some powerful person. Maybe they’ve invented the elixir of youth. They’re magicians!

      Rosamunda was much more attracted by the glitter of the treasures in their chests than by their looks. She stared so intently that she didn’t notice the young man who came last. She almost fell off the throne at the sight of him. That’s what it means to get an arrow in the heart! The sight of the handsome golden-haired boy made her feel as if she was scorched.

      He looks like a living elf! But he’s an ambassador, and his name is the same as the emperor of the Dragon Empire. Edwin!

      He must be the emperor’s namesake. The Emperor himself wouldn’t show up unannounced and wouldn’t go behind ambassadors’ backs.

      For some reason, at the sight of Edwin and the ambassadors, Dandy hastily ducked behind the throne. No one could get him out of there with a sap. Only his eyes glittered from beneath the legs of the throne.

      Edwin bowed. The sight of him burned worse than the fire, and her hand burned from his kiss. Rosamunda watched the red stain spread across her palm. It must have appeared so. Some creepy winged shadow flashed quickly in Edwin’s eyes and disappeared.

      What a pity this young man was not a dragon! She wished he had asked her to marry him!

      How unpleasant to be the object of a dragon’s desire when there are such handsome men around!

      Rosamunda wanted to start a conversation with Edwin, but she didn’t know where to begin. Any words spoken to him would sound like flirting. Edwin himself was silent for some reason and dared not speak to her first.

      And Dandy had disappeared. He would tell her how to behave now. For some reason her knees shake at the sight of Edwin, and all her thoughts scatter from her mind. Is this what love at first sight is like?

      «I must give you a gift from the Emperor,» Edwin suddenly pulled a rose out of the void like a magician. Rosamunda gasped in delight. The rose was unusual. There are no such roses in the royal garden. How could the Queen of Dauran be impressed by ordinary roses? A special magical flower was needed to surprise her. And that’s exactly what she’s been presented with. The bright orange rose was ablaze with yellow fire around the edges. In an instant, it was all fire. Only the stem remained green. The courtiers gasped in amazement, but Rosamunda did not dare to take it in her hands.

      «Hold it by the stem, and it will not burn you,» Edwin advised. For some reason he avoided looking Rosamunda in the eye. Was he ashamed of her, or did he not like her? Or maybe the eerie shadow she saw in his eyes wasn’t a hallucination.

      «Is that all you know how to do?» Rosamunda teased him. «A dragon could make me a rose like that with a single breath. I expected more from a wizard.»

      In fact, she was delighted by the tortured flower, but it was unpleasant that Edwin paid her no compliments. Even the gift he gave her was not from himself, but from his emperor.

      For some reason, at the mention of the dragon, Edwin flinched like a stung man. Had she insulted him? But what did he have to do with a dragon attacking Dauran? It was not he who had attacked.

      Edwin shook his golden curls, whispered something, and a miniature rainbow appeared in the palm of his hand. A moment later, the rainbow flew out the window, stretched over the castle, and illuminated everything with a multi-tonal glow, leaving a handful of rainbow stones in the palm of Edwin’s hand.

      Rosamunda knew that rainbow stones were considered the most valuable of all gems, for they could only be obtained from elves and fairies. And fairies and elves are notoriously difficult to bargain with. They will not want money in payment, but some magical condition. But Edwin got the rainbow stones instantly. Or rather, he conjured them. And he is an expert!

      Rosamunda applauded and then realized that she might have insulted him. After all, he is not a magician, but a real wizard.

      Edwin expressed no offense. He poured the stones into Rosamunda’s palm, and kept only one stone, shaped like a peach pit. He rubbed it in his fingers and then threw it into the center of the hall. The stone immediately embedded itself in the marble floor, and suddenly there was a cracking sound. It was the floorboards cracking. Roots that looked like dryad’s fingers sprouted from them. A tree sprouted from the roots. It instantly grew to the ceiling of the throne room, covered with twigs and leaves. Ripe fruit formed on its branches: either peaches or magic fruits with iridescent shiny peels.

      «My

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