Sid wanted me to promise that I wouldn’t force the girl to do anything against her will. While I had no intention of coercing her, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about giving such an open-ended promise. My instincts kicked in, and I began to probe deeper, trying to understand why he was asking for this assurance.

What kind of princessnapping comes with added conditions? I wondered. This whole situation felt more like a bizarre negotiation.

“Because I promised her I wouldn’t force her to return to the elves,” Sid said matter-of-factly.

My confusion must have shown because he quickly launched into an explanation, clearly eager to clear things up.

“Mom, she was running away because they were trying to force her to marry some idiot prince, and she didn’t want that!” Sid declared with the fervor of someone deeply invested in his cause. “She told me she wants to live free—the life of an adventurer!”

Oh, great. So she was running away from royal obligations, and her grand adventuring debut involved freeloading in Sid’s tower while playing the role of a damsel in distress? How convenient.

I rolled my eyes. “Sid! Start from the beginning. Tell me exactly how this happened, step by step—and what, exactly, did you promise her?”

"Mom, Lynx had been spying on the elves and told me things were getting interesting with their delegation. He overheard some heated arguments between the leading priestess, the general, and the princess. From what he gathered, the princess was totally against this mission, but she didn’t have the power to change anything."

"When did he tell you this?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"I ran into him after our flight hour," Sid explained. "He said he was bored with them and went off to hunt a buffalo or something. After that, I decided to take a look myself and see what the elves were up to. That’s when I saw the princess running away."

"Running away?" I echoed. "Are you sure that’s what she was doing?"

"Yes, Mom," he said confidently. "She told me herself afterward. From above, I saw the general heading off in one direction, the high priestess following him, and the princess sneaking off in another."

"So, I went right up to her and greeted her," Sid continued, his voice full of pride. "At first, she was scared and told me she could summon a whole battalion of elf soldiers if she needed to. She somehow knew I was a dragon, even though I hadn't shown her my true form."

That caught my attention. How could she know? I filed the thought away for later. Sid pressed on.

"I asked her, if she was so ready to call for help, why did it look like she was sneaking off? Then she asked me what I was doing there, so I told her I was looking for a princess to bring to my tower and asked her if she would be interested. At first she laughed, but then we started talking about the conditions."

As he laid out the terms of their agreement, I couldn’t help but chuckle. It was almost a mirror of what he had seen between me and Ju. Essentially, he had offered her free lodging in his tower, with the freedom to come and go as she pleased, as long as she returned to sleep there each night.

I scratched my head, torn between laughing and crying. Great, just great. I was the role model of the year. And leave it to Sid to find himself a princess to populate his tower!

Strictly speaking, the elves had been proven right after all—and that was the most uncomfortable part of this whole mess. We did have the princess. Now the real challenge was figuring out how to untangle ourselves without sparking a war. My exhaustion morphed into the pounding headache I’d dreaded all day.

Digging through my inventory, I found a few flasks labeled as hangover remedies. Close enough. I uncorked one and raised it to my lips, ready for some sweet relief.

“Does anyone else know you’re hoarding a princess?” I asked, shooting him a pointed look as I prepared to sip.

Sid shrugged. “That’s not hoarding, Mom. Princesses are captured and kept for ransom—or because they’re beautiful. Like Ju. She’s beautiful!”

I choked mid-sip, spilling half the contents down my front.

"And is your princess not beautiful?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

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"Therella is beautiful," Sid admitted, "but she's difficult. She has so many wants, not like Ju. You hit the jackpot with Ju—she’s capable, beautiful, and simple! My princess? She’s low level, wants more maids, won’t eat anything but special vegetarian dishes, and needs clothes made from fine satin. Kate can’t keep up with her demands! She wants warm baths, plush towels, fancy creams, expensive soaps, aromatic oils… and a bunch of other things. Honestly, maybe I should ransom her. But who’d even want her? Do the elves actually want her back?"

Half a day with the princess, and he was already ready to give up.

"You can’t ransom her if you promised not to go against her will," I reminded him. "Why don’t you tell her that if she wants to live the life of an adventurer, she has to earn her keep—clothes, food, everything."

Sid’s eyes lit up. "Oh, true that! Good idea, Mom!"

"OK, let me meet the girl, then I need to talk with her aunt," I said, slipping into action mode.

Sid nodded. "Fly behind me. You’ll need to transform the moment you enter the tower, or you’ll break it."

"Wait!" I protested, "Too risky. I’ll probably mistime it and wreck the whole thing. You fly ahead—I’ll shadowmeld and meet you inside."

Without waiting for his reply, I slipped off my shoes. By the time I had my dress halfway off, Sid was already gone, a trail of enthusiasm in his wake. I melded into shadow form and raced to the tower, arriving just in time to see him enter the room.

From the bed, a soft, melodic voice called out, "Sid, dear, did you bring the bubble soap I asked for?"

"Hello," I greeted, but my timing was off. I was still in shadow form, and my voice echoed eerily in the room.

"Yikes!" the princess squeaked, leaping to the far side of the bed, her wide eyes scanning for the source of the ghostly sound.

"Mom, did you follow me?" Sid said, feigning surprise, though not very convincingly.

"Your mom?" Therella exclaimed, her face a mix of shock and dismay. "You didn’t tell me you live with your mom! I thought this was your tower!"

I materialized, quickly wrapping myself in a set of illusions to avoid appearing naked. "It's his tower," I said firmly, "but this is my castle."

"Yow!" the girl yelped again, her gaze locking onto me like she was staring at a ghost—or worse. She blinked rapidly, her face a mix of confusion and alarm. What? Do I really look that bad? Sure, I was tired, but come on.

She was young, maybe in her twenties by human standards, though with elves, who knew? Her long auburn hair spilled over her shoulders, framing a strikingly angular face. She wore a velvet skirt with a dramatic slit up her right leg, a belt laden with golden nuggets, probably inventory items—each one containing more than my entire wardrobe—and a tank top fastened with what looked suspiciously like diamond buttons. A delicate diadem perched atop her head, but what really stood out were her mismatched eyes: one a piercing greenish-blue, the other a warm auburn.

Those eyes were blinking furiously now, flicking back and forth as if trying to reconcile what she was seeing.

I don’t know what possessed me at that moment—probably the days of accumulated stress finally snapping. I turned to Sid, keeping my face dead serious. "She's too meager," I said, "You’ll never make a proper stew with this one. We’ll need at least a couple more."

Sid’s jaw dropped. The princess froze mid-blink, her mouth hanging open in utter disbelief. Silence blanketed the room for a solid five seconds

Finally, Sid broke the silence, his voice laced with indignation as the girl clung to him like a lifeline.

“Mom, this is not funny! Look how scared she is! Tell her you didn’t mean it!”

I sighed, glancing at the princess. “How scared do you think her aunt was when she thought she had been abducted by orcs?”

“You… you… you’re not going to eat me?” she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper.

I shook my head, feeling a pang of guilt. “Of course not. But you two should know—you almost started a war.”

She paled even further, still using Sid as a makeshift shield. Her wide, mismatched eyes stared at me as if she would be still seeing nightmares.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I… I… You can be… many…” she mumbled, her words faltering as she rubbed her eyes with trembling hands.

I froze, her cryptic statement sinking in. Then it hit me—she knew. She had somehow recognized Sid as a dragon, and now she was seeing what I could transform into. I exhaled slowly, trying to keep my composure.

“You can see what I can transform into?” I asked carefully.

She nodded, her expression a mix of awe and terror. I sighed again. This definitely complicated things, though I prayed she couldn’t pick up on some finer details of my transformations. Nothing to be done now, short of devouring her... Though, no, that joke had already run its course.

“Alright,” I said, forcing some calm into my voice. “Here’s the deal: you’ll come with me and talk to your aunt. I’ll guarantee you can return to Sid’s tower afterward, but we need to clear this up.”

She hesitated but eventually gave a small nod. Progress. Now, I just had to hope this wouldn’t spiral even further out of control.