Wyvern's Trim and other stories by Nix Whittaker

Wyvern’s Trim

    At that moment
Patience had completely run out of patience as her eyes landed on
the neat envelope which had been slipped under her door. She had no
idea how Andre had found her. She had left no forwarding address at
her last boarding house. Despite that she wasn’t surprised that he
had found her.
    Patience had
worked with Andre long enough to know that he was annoyingly
persistent.
    She picked up
the envelope and almost threw away the letter before she had even
opened it. Andre though would continue sending letters if she
didn’t read this one and reply.
    Exasperated, she
opened the letter. It was an invitation to dinner. The foolish man,
well he wasn’t really a man, so her complaint really didn’t have
any validity. This would never have happened if it hadn’t been for
that damn Colonel.

    It had been a
normal work day, well a normal work day when you were a personal
assistant to a dragon.
    Patience had
graduated top of her class from a very prestigious woman’s college.
With both of her parents dead she used most of her inheritance to
gain her qualifications only to find out that no one wanted to hire
a woman for what they deemed was a man’s job.
    She had soon
discovered that the only people who would hire an educated woman
were the dragons.
    Dragons held a
strange position in their society. For generations, they had been
the enemy of every country until William, a half dragon half human,
had taken over most of the known world and created the Wyvern
Empire.
    The dragons had
revealed that they could take human shape and had promptly created
a niche for themselves amongst the nobility of the human
race.
    Patience had
been grateful to get the job as Andre’s assistant only to discover
the reason why dragons hired women was because they were collectors
of rare things including people.
    Dragons were
well known for their treasure, but they also saw human beings as
part of their treasure. As they could no longer keep slaves, with
the treaty between the dragons and humans forbidding it, they
considered employing people in the same vein as owning
them.
    Educated women
were considered a novelty and worth collecting among the dragons.
After six years she had gotten used to this idea.
    Andre saw her as
part of his collection and it meant he took particular attention to
how she was dressed.
    That was why
they were in the Modiste.
    Andre held up a
gold gown that was cut deeply at the front. She wasn’t surprised he
had picked it as dragons really did enjoy gold.
    It would be good
for her coloring as she had dark brown hair and an olive complexion
thanks to her Italian mother. But if she wore the gown she wouldn’t
be able to move, let alone bend down without completely coming
undone.
    Patience waved
it off, “I can’t wear that. My…. Well, my bosom would fall
out.”
    Andre eyed her
for a moment. Glancing backwards and forwards between the dress and
her bosom.
    Eventually, he
passed the dress back to one of the servants and said, “You are
correct, you have a rather large chest.”
    Patience blushed
as the Modiste’s assistants all struggled to keep in their giggles.
They would all assume Patience was Andre’s mistress and not just an
employee.
    It wouldn’t be
the first time people had made this assumption. Despite Andre’s
predilections he had always been a complete gentleman with her. She
was about to explain to Andre once again why he couldn’t say things
like that when a young assistant approached.
    The assistant
had her hands tucked in close to her body as she said politely, “It
would not do in any case. Besides the gold doesn’t go with your
complexion, my lord.”
    Andre turned his
gaze on the woman. Patience didn’t envy the woman. Many had swooned
at the glare of a dragon. Andre might seem human, but when you
looked into his eyes there was no denying that he was completely
alien. And yet the woman remained calm.
    The Modiste
assistant waved at Patience and said, “She is a beautiful