I slide off Pallor’s back, help Annie down, and make arrangements with the porter with a barely suppressed sense of satisfaction because this—the carriages rolling in at dusk, the glittering gowns beneath mantles, the laughter from steaming breath—is a world I remember watching from child-height, but tonight with a dragon at my side and Annie on my arm, I understand at last the brilliance of my father’s smile when the night was young.
