“Oh, boo, hoo, hoo,” said Professor Rosé as she jumped up from the table. “Trust me, you’ll be thanking me later,” she said and winked. “Your task is to find someone dragonkind, ask them to switch to dragon, and observe the dragon personality. I want a page, just one measly page, of notes by next week. And if anyone gives you trouble, tell them Professor Rosé sent you. That’s it! Class dismissed.”

The bell tower tolled in the distance over the scraping and the din of her classmates’ chatter. One, two, three, four, five, six. Creshens marked time by hours. Six peals of the bell meant it was six in the evening.

Yenni bit the inside of her lip as she collected her things. Perhaps she could ask Zui Duval for her help with Professor Rosé’s assignment. Or perhaps Zui’s husband Harth? But where to find them?

Then again, there was always Weysh.

I really shouldn’t encourage him.

Even if she’d wanted it, there could never be anything between them. At the end of the year she would go back to the Northern Sha Islands, heal her father, and more than likely begin preparations to marry Prince Natahi ka Gunzu.

But how likely was it that she would bump into Zui or Harth Duval within the week? Weysh, on the other hand, she knew exactly where to find. And she had much studying to do to arm herself for her next encounter with Professor Mainard. It would be wise to get Professor Rosé’s assignment out of the way.

With a sigh, Yenni hitched her back-satchel up on her shoulders and headed for the library.

The dragon leaned against one of the carved white pillars along the library’s entrance, arms crossed, with a satisfied smile on his face. Despite the chill in the air his shirt was mostly open, his long braid trailing down the muscles of his chest.

“Hello, lovely,” he said as she approached. “Our uniform suits you, but then I suppose you’d look alluring in just about anything, en?”

“I didn’t come here to listen to your nonsensical ramblings,” said Yenni.

He cocked his head to the side. “Oh? Then why did you come?”

“You said you would help me study.”

Weysh nodded. “That I did.”

“I require your help with an assignment.”

She explained Professor Rosé’s homework assignment to him, then pointed to the wide grass lawn before the library. “Go and change over there,” she said.

Instead the dragon sauntered up to her until he was about an inch away and bent over. He looked into her eyes, smiling slightly. Yenni glared back at him, refusing to be intimidated.

“You know,” he said slowly, “it’s customary in Cresh to say please when asking a favor of someone.”

“I do not have time for this,” she ground out, but he simply stood smiling at her, waiting. “Please,” she finally said through her teeth.