Dragons and Mages: A Limited Edition Anthology

by Pauline Creeden

  "I don't know them, you've got the wrong person," I lied.

  He laughed bitterly. "You're just like your Father," he mused. "He didn't know when it was better to stay out of things either. That's what got him dead."

  My blood felt like it turned to ice in my veins. What did he know about my Father? No. I shouldn't fall for his trap. I was an orphan, there was nothing to know about the man who sired me.

  I pulled my attention away from my own predicament to check on Raynor. My eyes widened as I realised the Duchess was making her approach, though she kept getting waylaid by other nobles who wanted a piece of her time. I supposed in some ways, that was what she got for being one of the highest-ranking people in the land.

  Right now, she was also the deadliest. Would any of the people around Raynor be able to protect him when she went in for the strike?

  "It looks like your Prince is looking for you," Daryll sneered, squeezing harder on my arm. "Perhaps later, you'll be able to show me how you entrapped him."

  "I didn't do anything," I responded, dropping the pretence of not knowing what was going on. It was clear he wouldn't believe a word I said, so it was better to simply play along with whatever he believed to be the case.

  He chuckled darkly. "I think you're as innocent as I am." His grip tightened again. "Wave to your Prince, pretend everything is all right."

  The urge to go against his instructions was almost too strong to ignore. I had to trust that Raynor would be alarmed about me merely spending time with the man he suspected of plotting against his family and be on alert as a result. I couldn't think of any other signal to use.

  I half-waved at Raynor when his eyes scoured over me.

  He frowned, his eyes flitting between me and Daryll. I hoped he understood and didn't think I was working with the man to bring him down. That would be worse than the Duchess parting us.

  "I believe our dear Duchess is almost at her target," Daryll taunted.

  I struggled against him, but he was stronger and in a better position than I was. Plus, he didn't have another living creature hiding in his outfit to look out for. My eyes widened.

  "Dart." I didn't give her any other instructions, I couldn't without giving both of us away. The Duchess wouldn't be able to hear us from this distance, but I didn't want to risk Daryll giving her some kind of signal.

  The tiny dragon left my dress in a flurry of wings, making herself as streamlined as possible in order to get across the ballroom in as little time as possible.

  "What did you do?" Daryll asked, pulling me around so he was facing me.

  I tried to smile smugly, but I wasn't sure it worked. The Duchess and Raynor were out of my line of sight now, and it was hard to feel anything other than concern while I couldn't see them.

  Daryll's face said it all though. Something bad was happening.

  I took the opportunity his distraction caused and yanked my arm down, breaking his hold on me. I stumbled back, not turning around yet. I couldn't while he was still so close. He'd gotten hold of me once, it wouldn't happen again.

  He reached out to grab for me, yanking on a handful of dress. My heart almost broke as a terrible ripping sound filled the air. I pushed past it, though. What was a dress compared to someone's life? One could be replaced, the other never could.

  I reached out and pushed him away, taking him by surprise. He fell to the floor with a sickening thunk.

  Not wanting to waste any time, I picked up the skirts of my dress and slipped off my shoes, I wasn't able to move particularly quickly while wearing them, and speed was of the essence right now.

  I had no idea what Dart had done to the Duchess, but she was using one of the serving boys to pull her up from the floor. Dart had probably gone for her signature tripping move, then. A surge of affection for the tiny dragon filled me. She'd understood my desires perfectly.

  "Raynor," I breathed out, relieved he was all right.

  "What's going on?" he asked, taking in my dishevelled appearance. I was almost certain my hair had fallen out, and added to the rips in my dress and the unladylike way I was acting, I suspected it looked like quite a sight.

  "Lord Daryll attacked me." Not technically a lie. But Raynor must have missed what had happened with the commotion going on as the Duchess fell. Everything was going according to plan. Ish.

  The woman was on her feet now, and glowering at me. I tried not to cower under her glare, but it was more difficult than I expected. She was a formidable woman at the best of times, and right now, she was trying to be worse than that.

  Would she still try to attack the Prince? Surely, she had to see how futile that was? She'd be crazy to try it.

  As she grew closer, it became clear that she wasn't in her right frame of mind. The soft glint of metal called attention to the knife clutched in her left hand as she approached Raynor and me.

  Without any clue of what else to do, I pushed him back and stood between him and the Duchess. My whole body shook with fear as she lashed out.

  One of the guards was quicker, knocking the knife from her hand and sending it skittering across the floor. She was faster than he was to respond, though, and had him on the floor with a firm backhand.

  It didn't do anything for my confidence.

  "Surrender," I said loudly. A lot of the other guests had stopped celebrating and were now paying attention to the altercation between the Duchess and their Prince. "You won't escape the palace if you try to take his life." My heart pounded in my throat, and I wanted to throw up from the stress of facing down the woman who'd suppressed me for most of my life.

  "Stand aside, useless girl," she sneered.

  "No." The word almost vibrated with power. I wasn't sure what Raynor was doing behind me, but I hoped he wasn't going to be insulted by me stepping in for him. It wasn't that I thought he was incapable, I just wanted him to be safe. In this situation, my life is expendable, his isn't.

  "You were worthless the day I acquired you, and you're even more worthless now," she half-shouted, her face contorted in a way I'd never seen before. This woman was nothing like the steady and cold Duchess I'd come to know.

  I kept my cool, knowing it was the only way of getting out of this alive.

  The Duchess lurched forward, grabbing hold of my dress and ripping it some more. I wanted to flush at the thought of everyone seeing my exposed skin, but now wasn't the time for that. I had other things to focus on.

  My fingers began to tingle. I frowned. It was an odd sensation, one I'd only ever felt when I tried to call the sparks to my hands. I gave in to the sensation, and thin whips of fire leapt from my hands. My eyes widened, but I didn't let my disbelief distract me.

  The Duchess didn't think that far ahead, and jumped back in shock. I sent the tendrils out, able to control them better than I expected. They wrapped around her waist, and then tied her hands, creating a pair of fiery handcuffs she wouldn't be getting out of without my say so.

  Satisfied she was under control, I turned to Raynor. "There's a storage room in her castle somewhere that has all the evidence you need to convict her, and potentially Lord Daryll." Though I imagined the two of them would turn on one another the moment they could, particularly if they thought it would get themselves out of trouble.

  I didn't wait for Raynor to say anything. I couldn't. I had to find Dart, and then consider what I'd discover about myself tonight. The fiery bonds were still on the Duchess, but I didn't need to do anything to control them any longer. That was almost scarier than any of the other things I'd been able to do.

  Chapter 15

  The love seat we'd sat in earlier had seemed like as good a place as any to contemplate my fate. I scratched Dart's head absentmindedly. The exhausted dragon had curled up in my lap after all the excitement and didn't seem like she was going to move any time soon. So, I sat there, giving her the attention she needed and trying not to think.

  I'd unpinned my hair, but that didn't even start to deal with the tears in the fabric of my dress, nor did
it help the shoes I'd lost. I suspected that if I went back inside the palace, I'd be able to find my shoes, and would be given something to cover the ripped dress, but I wasn't ready. The Duchess and Daryll were no doubt gone, hidden away in the dungeons and treated to nothing more than hard bread and gruel.

  I snorted at the thought. After years of suffering through the Duchess' offcuts, it almost felt like fate that she'd be forced to eat much worse. But I shouldn't laugh at her misfortune, even if she had brought it on herself.

  "Is anyone sitting here?" Raynor asked.

  I glanced up sharply, not having expected him to come find me at all. After what he'd seen me do, and after I'd ruined his ball, the last thing I expected was for him to show me any kindness. I didn't deserve it.

  "No." The word slipped out before I'd properly thought it through.

  The seat wasn't designed to give two people any personal space once they were sat on it together, hence the name. But it was torture to feel my knee brush against his and know that nothing could come of it.

  "Who is this?" he asked, gesturing towards Dart.

  Ah. Good. A neutral topic. I could talk about Dart until the end of the world and it would never get personal.

  "She's called Dart. She's my best friend."

  At the sound of her name, the dragon lifted her head. She cocked it to the side, studying the newcomer. She chirped at him, but then curled back up.

  "I'm sorry, she's done a lot more flying than normal," I explained. "I've never seen her this tired before." It was a strange sight now I thought about it. Dart was always so full of energy that seeing her still would have been alarming if I hadn't known the reason why.

  "What year were you born?" Raynor blurted.

  "What?" The word slipped out before I'd thought about it. "I'm not sure, I've never celebrated my birthday. I think I'm eighteen, though."

  He nodded. "That makes sense." He handed me a scroll of parchment.

  I stopped stroking Dart so I could take it from him. Slowly, I unfurled it.

  "It's a family tree," I said.

  He nodded. "I think it’s your family tree." He pointed to the bottom.

  Tanwyn.

  "I don't understand."

  "You're the Duchess' step-daughter," he said patiently. "You said you assumed you were the daughter of a minor noble, right?"

  "Mmhmm."

  "You were almost right. This is Duke Floren, he was my Father's chief advisor. He had a daughter about my age that I remembered playing with as a child. And then, she just disappeared. It wasn't long after the Duke had remarried. He was dead within a year, too. We always assumed the same thing had happened to his daughter, but..."

  "Oh." I blinked a couple of times, unsure what to make of that. I did have vague memories of my time before the Duchess, and they'd all suggested I'd been noble at some point in my life. Plus, I'd seemed to understand some of the rules and etiquette surrounding the balls.

  But not all of it.

  "You can decide what you want to do with the information," he said. "If you want to make it completely go away, then you can. If you want to inherit your Father's lands and titles, then you can."

  "What happens to them if I don't?" I asked.

  "They'll be forfeit to the crown when the Duchess is put in front of a jury of her peers," he admitted. "I'd rather not have that happen."

  I bit my lip to stop myself from saying anything I was going to regret. "Do you mind if I think about it?"

  "Of course. Take as long as you need. We can delay the Duchess' trial for as long as we need to. I'm sure some time in the dungeons will do her good."

  I snorted. "I don't think she knows the meaning of the word."

  "No, I suspect not."

  An uncomfortable silence began to grow between the two of us.

  "I need to say thank you," he whispered. "Without you, I'd probably be dead."

  "Your guards would have stepped in," I pointed out.

  He shook his head. "But they didn't. They could have done something at any point, but not one of them thought to lift a finger."

  "They were probably in shock," I suggested. "There aren't many people who would think about harming a Prince like that."

  "I suppose that is true. Though we're going to have to do a proper investigation into them all in case one or more of them were in league with the Duchess the entire time."

  I nodded. That made sense. While the Duchess and Lord Daryll were the only two people involved that I knew about, there was no doubt in my mind that they weren't the only ones involved. There had to be others, or their plot wouldn't have gotten them anywhere.

  Raynor reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear, the same way he had done earlier.

  Despite myself, I flinched away. How could he touch me? He'd seen what had happened in the ballroom, how could he bear to touch me? Magic like that wasn’t normal, and using it without training was even less so.

  "I'm sorry, I can't." I rose to my feet, being careful to carry Dart in my arms so she didn't fall. The last thing she deserved was to be dropped on the floor, especially when she'd worked so hard to protect me and the Prince.

  "Tanwyn..."

  I opened my mouth to say something else, but the words froze on my tongue. There wasn't anything left. Everything was over. Ruined. And I had the Duchess to thank for that.

  "I'm sorry," I repeated, before running off in the direction of the stables. The only place I could think of being right now was the castle with all the other girls. At least they didn't know the truth about me. I'd be safe there.

  Chapter 16

  No one knew the truth about me. Not yet. Except for Dart, but she wasn't about to tell anyone. But all it did was make me question why I hadn't known any of this before. If I was the daughter of the Duke that used to own this castle, then why didn't I have any memories of it?

  Except, that wasn't true. Now I was walking through the rooms of the castle with the knowledge of who I might be, memories were starting to return.

  This room held an echo of Father sitting with me by the fire and presenting me with a dragon egg. I'd only been five, but I hadn't believed him when he'd told me what it was. I supposed that at least explained where Dart had come from. We'd always been tied together, and this only went to prove it.

  "Tanwyn?" Jill said nervously from the door.

  I pushed away my thoughts and turned to face her. She and Nancy had arrived back at the castle the day after me, and neither of them had put themselves in my presence since. Which made sense. No doubt they were scared about what I would do to them, even if I could never use magic against anyone who I didn't think deserved it.

  "Is everything all right?" I asked. I set down the book I'd been pretending to read and scratched Dart under the chin. She was curled up on my lap, a position she'd started to take more and more in the past few days as things around the castle fell apart. Without the Duchess' firm grip, everyone was at odds, not understanding what they should be doing with their time. They were waiting for someone to take charge, and while I knew it was probably supposed to be me who did that, I couldn't bring myself to yet.

  "There's a visitor asking for you."

  I frowned. Who could be calling on me? "I can go meet them."

  She shook her head. "They said not to make you do that. They'd come to you."

  "All right, then." I glanced around the room, hoping there wasn't anything particularly out of place. "Will you show them here, please?" That seemed like the best option, given the circumstances.

  "Of course." She started to dip into a curtsy, then stopped, realising it was only me in the room. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

  I frowned. "For what?"

  "We told Lord Daryll we saw you and..."

  I shrugged. "It doesn't matter," I promised her. "What's done is done, and I know you didn't do it to hurt me."

  She eyed me suspiciously, probably trying to work out if I was telling the truth or not. My heart cracked. I might finally ha
ve some answers about my past, but I didn't about the others. But I needed to set them free to learn.

  "I'm still sorry."

  "I know. But I'd have done the same thing," I pointed out. "We all would have."

  "I suppose..." Jill still didn't look particularly comfortable with the situation, but I knew it would only take time. She was the one who needed to come to terms with it.

  "After the visitor is gone, will you ask everyone to gather together? There's something I need to tell them."

  It was her turn to frown. "What can you say?"

  "That I'm the Duchess now, and that they're free to stay or go as they please, but the past rules of the household will no longer apply either way. There'll be wages, but I haven't worked any of that out yet." Huh. Perhaps I was ready to accept my alternate identity.

  "Do you have the authority to do that?"

  I held back a chuckle. She'd never have asked the Duchess that, but I didn't mind. It was going to take some getting used to for everyone. Myself included.

  "I do."

  She nodded, then left the room, hopefully to do what I'd asked of her. I straightened my skirts and made sure I was sitting properly. I had no idea who was calling on me. Perhaps it was someone for the ex-Duchess who hadn't heard she was stuck in the palace dungeon yet. No. That wasn't going to be the case. If they'd asked for her, Jill would have checked to say what we should be telling them.

  A knock sounded on the door, followed by it opening.

  "Your visitor," Jill said, dipping into a real curtsy now.

  I sucked in a shocked breath as Raynor entered the room.

  "I'll fetch the two of you some tea," Jill said quickly. "I think the cooks have been baking too. I'll see if they have some tarts to spare."

  The door clicked shut behind her, leaving the two of us alone.

  "That was certainly different to the last time I was here," he observed. "Have you taken to your new role as Duchess well?" He sat in the chair opposite me, without being asked. I supposed there wasn't much room for propriety between us now.