by Serena Rose
What did it want? To make sure I had eaten something tasty before it would eat me?
But mutual silence was broken when the doors to the great hall burst open, and a spear sailed through. The dragon twisted its body to avoid the weapon, and I took that as my cue to throw myself to the floor and try to get away.
“Mercedes!”
I looked to the call to see Leryk standing in the door, pulling his sword from his back. As much as it filled me with relief to see him, I realized I didn’t want him to be burned to a crisp because of me.
“Leryk, run!”
I reached out, as if I could do something to actually stop the great beast between us. But instead of attacking the Chief, the dragon began to beat its wings, taking to the air.
I couldn’t believe it. Had it changed its mind? Was it going to spare us?
The tiny smidgen of hope that rose within me was snuffed out as I felt strong, thick and sharp claws wrap around me. I sent one last look to the man who had done his best by me since I had arrived, and then I was yanked into the air.
I heard him calling faintly to me, but it was almost impossible to catch anything over the sound of the massive wings beating above me. I was growing cold very quickly, and I realized that if we kept going much higher, I probably wasn’t going to be able to breathe.
My heart started to thunder even harder in my chest—which I had previously thought was an impossibility—but my breaths couldn’t slow down. They grew more and more shallow with each second, and I felt the edges of my vision grow black.
And as consciousness began to fade from me, dread filled its spot. I slid into the void wondering if these beasts were the kind, noble people I had read of, or if I was truly in the hands of monsters.
I supposed I would find out when I woke up.
If I woke up.
*
CHAPTER SIX
Suddenly I was acutely aware that I could breathe. That was strange, why would I notice that? Wasn’t that supposed to be some parasympathetic something or other?
Memories came slamming back into me as I recalled exactly why that was significant. I had been suffocating.
In the clutches of a dragon.
I sat up sharply, and my head throbbed in protest. I held the sides of my skull and fought off the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm me. It took several seconds before I felt capable of opening my eyes, and when I did, everything was blurry.
My heart was pounding again while I waited for my vision to clear. Perhaps the only thing worse than being absconded by a giant lizard beast was not knowing where it had taken me, or what I was surrounded by.
It seemed like an eternity before I could finally see like I was supposed to, and I realized I was huddled in hay. Confusion pricked at me as I shakily stood, and I saw that I was in some sort of pen, with several other battered, sleeping humans around me.
So, I wasn’t dead…that was a start. But what was I doing here? And where was here? This didn’t look particularly dragony. No. In fact, it seemed almost…farmlike?
Very carefully, I struggled to my feet. My balance was still recovering from all that lack of oxygen, and I was more than a little shaky. My vision was still a bit hazy, but I recognized one or two girls from the village. In fact, almost everyone in the pen around me was female, apart from two men. That was decidedly odd.
Finally, I reached the fence, and I was surprised to see it was your stereotypical cattle fence, just like the village had used. It was quite possible to just slip between the horizontal posts, so it didn’t make much sense for it to be used as an actual barrier.
Unless it wasn’t a barrier?
But it seemed like a barrier to me.
I groaned and held my head again. My thoughts were going in circles. I needed to get my head on straight if I was going to make any sense of whatever the hell was going on. I took several deep breaths, trying to quell my nerves and potential brain cell loss.
Once I felt like I had a better grip on myself, I opened my eyes and looked around, this time actively observing my surroundings. To my surprise, despite the breeze I could feel on my face, I was not outside. No, I seemed to be in some sort of massive cave, with no exit anywhere in sight.
And yet…there was light? And not torchlight either, but what felt like the actual sun. How was that possible?
Peering more closely at the stalactite-dotted ceiling so high above my head, I could barely make out glowing stones scattered around the expanse. Recalling back to the book I read, I was fairly sure they were some sort of enchanted gem that only the fey possessed.
But in order to have magical light thingies embedded in the ceiling, that meant the dragons had to be sentient. Beasts didn’t hallow out cities in rock and make them all nice and homey.
As if on cue, wind blasted past me, and the now familiar sound of massive wings flapping filled the area. From a bend that I had not seen in the giant chamber, the black dragon that had captured me came swooping down, landing just a bit away.
Now that I had absolute confirmation that they were not mindless beasts, I felt my temper kick up several notches. How dare they attack the village! They knew better. They had to know about the power structure of the humans and that Leryk and his people had nothing to do with the elder dragon murder.
Hands on my hips, I slid between the slats of the fence and marched straight towards the fanged, mythical beast.
“You!” I shouted, cheeks red and heart thumping. “Hey you!” Its malevolent, emerald eyes moved to me but I didn’t waver. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Its great mouth opened, tongue hyper red against the stained white and yellow of its terrible teeth and it roared at me. My hair flew back, and I tasted…several things I didn’t want to think about, but I didn’t back down.
“Stuff it, you douchebag. Why don’t you shift into your other form so we can have a civil conversation and you can explain to me why the hell you destroyed an innocent village! That goes specifically against the rules your own Queen set up!”
There was silence for several long beats, and despite my pent-up rage, I was starting to feel a bit awkward. It was difficult to stay mad at someone who didn’t react.
But then the great beast let out a huffing sound, and smoke poured from his body. The sound of rending, creaking and breaking filled the air, until the air was so thick with white that I couldn’t see a thing.
It wasn’t until several moments later that the veil cleared and I saw a man standing before me.
A very handsome, very naked man.
“Oh god!” I blurted, turning my head away in surprise. I was certainly not a prude by any means, but I also hadn’t been expecting my first greeting with the dragon shifters to include the full Monty.
“You know of us.”
It wasn’t a question. The smooth, rumbling murmur washed over me in a coaxing hum. I turned my gaze back to the figure, focusing my everything on keeping my eyes in the PG-13 zone. While I liked looking at a handsome man just as much as the next presumably heterosexual woman, this was not the time or place for it.
God, he was striking, though. With raven hair that fell freely to his shoulders, piercing green eyes and sharp, refined features, he was basically a complete dreamboat. And even from where I was standing, I could feel the warning vibes rolling off him. The perfect bad boy.
“Yes,” I murmured belatedly, realizing I should probably reply rather than staring dumbly at his perfect, alabaster skin.
“Tell me.” He continued to approach, and it took everything in me to square my shoulders and not back up in defense. Despite his lithe, sculpted frame, he was quite imposing. He was easily half a foot taller than me, and he exuded power and grace. “How is it a human knows secrets that we have so fiercely guarded?”
He had reached me, and one of his large hands came up to idly curl a lock of my hair around his long, tapered finger. It was such a power play and I couldn’t tell whether I wanted to be annoyed, aroused or frig
htened by it.
“Secrets?” I repeated carefully. Maybe I had tipped my hand too much. Maybe yelling his name hadn’t been the best idea. But I was alive, and somewhat kicking, instead of being a toasted cinder on the floor of the great hall.
“You know of the Court. Of our forms.” He leaned in, and his incredibly warm breath caressed my face. Normally I would find something like that repugnant, but instead I felt myself start to calm. There was nothing to be stressed out about, after all. I felt like I just wanted to sit down and listen to whatever the dragon man had to say.
Yeah, that was a good idea. “You know my name. And…” He took another deep breath, and I found myself leaning forward, waiting eagerly for his exhale. “You don’t smell like the others. No, you smell like something else entirely.”
I didn’t catch a question anywhere in that, so I just nodded my head dumbly. Before he could actually get to whatever point he was trying to make, the cavern filled with that same flapping sound and he rolled his eyes.
“Such poor timing,” he groused, pulling away just as the great golden dragon I had caught a glimpse of last night rounded the bend.
For a split-second I wanted to protest, but then the haze that had surrounded my mind faded and I felt like I was waking up for a second time.
“What was that?” I whispered, looking over the man again with a horrified expression on my face.
“Nothing too exciting. Just a trick to make you a bit more compliant.”
“Compliant to what?”
He didn’t answer again, but that was most likely because the other dragon was landing, whipping both our hair back with the displaced air from its massive wings.
He truly was even more beautiful up close than I thought. Each and every one of his scales was a glittering gold, occasionally tapered into breathtaking teals or bronzes. White markings followed a pattern not too dissimilar from a bearded dragon, and his horns were almost glistening in the enchanted light of the cavern. His eyes were a deep lavender, and they regarded us for several seconds before disappearing in another cloud of steam.
I was about to meet the Prince of the dragons.
No big deal.
I hugged my arms to myself, feeling my nerves start to spark as I realized the full gravity of my situation. I was kidnapped by a race that I had only ever read about, from a book my grandmother had put together from dreams, of a timeline that had been mysteriously altered, in a world not my own. And the creatures I had been kidnapped by just so happened to be able to tear my body in two with a single, well placed bite.
Great.
The steam finally cleared, and I was greeted by a man even more beautiful than his reptilian form. He was several inches taller than Myrik, forming almost a complete antithesis to the Advisor. His hair was long, white and pulled back from his face by rawhide at the nape of his neck. His features were square, and strong, and his musculature was more Thor or Hercules as opposed to Myrik’s Hermes or Adonis.
But I suppose the greatest difference, was he was fully clothed.
Dressed in a simple, cotton tunic of a faded grey, he still cut an imposing figure. And when he spoke, I felt my body respond to the baritone melody in his words.
“What have I told you about shifting unclothed?”
The darker haired man rolled his eyes then snapped his fingers. To my great shock, smoke swirled around his body once more, and when it cleared he was wearing long robes of purple and slate.
“Yes, I am well aware of all the rules for what you consider proper,” Myrik said drily. “Just as I am sure you are aware of how much easier it is to get information from an unsettled prisoner.”
“Yeah, about that,” I said, finally managing to find my words in the presence of these two all but god-like figures. “I would like to return to the village that you stole me from. I was in the middle of my apprenticeship, and I still have quite a lot more to learn.” I had no idea how I kept my voice steady, but it must have been my years of acting in high school.
“I appreciate that you are most likely confused, and scared,” the Prince continued, bowing to me. “And I would have preferred to bring you here under different circumstances, but I offer my humblest apologies that we cannot return you to your home.”
“What!? Why?”
“I know that it is through no fault of your own, but due to your people’s murderous proclivities, my people have been pushed to the brink of extinction. I’m sure it comes as a great shock to you that we can take on these forms—”
“She knew about the forms,” Myrik interjected flatly.
“But there is much that must be explained to you. We—” The Prince stopped short, like he was just hearing what the Advisor said. “What do you mean she knew about the forms?”
“Exactly what I said. She knew about our forms. The Court. Even my name. Why else do you think I took her? I’m not exactly interested in this breeding scheme our Queen cooked up. A nation of half breeds is but half a nation.”
Now both of the dragon’s eyes were on me, and I felt so incredibly small. How was I going to get my way out of this one? Also, breeding scheme? That did not sound like something I would enjoy being a part of. At all.
“Is this true, human?”
“Mercedes,” I corrected, and stalling for time. “And yeah, it’s true in the sense that I may or may not have had some lucky guesses based on some very old legends that are told on the, uh, Shimmering Isles.” Yeah. That was believable…right?
They exchanged looks, and I had the distinct feeling that they weren’t buying it. That inkling was only reinforced when Myrik looked at me with a wry grin. “Well, if it’s just regurgitated legends, there’s no need to continue this conversation then. We will return you to the breeding pens and you will be well taken care of.”
“Breeding pens?” I squeaked uncertainly.
The Prince grimaced. “It is not…the best situation. But your species’ insistence on murdering us has left our numbers dangerously low. Dragons, by nature, take years to have a single egg, whereas humans are able to sire offspring at a much greater rate.”
“So what?” I blurted, a bit shocked at the point I was pretty sure he was trying to get across. “Are you trying to say we’re just…baby making livestock?”
“I assure you that you will be well taken care of. You will want for nothing.”
“That’s disgusting!” I snapped, feeling my temper ramp up yet again after the short cool down. “You can’t just yank people out of their lives and force them to push out babies for you. Come on Gael, this isn’t like you at all! What in your code of honor would possibly let you allow this?”
The Prince’s brow furrowed, and he seemed more guilty than defensive when he answered. “Desperate times oft’ call for desperate measures. And I must do what my Queen de—”
“I swear, you’re as dense as your scales,” Myrik cut in. “If you listened more, and yammered less, you might observe something once in a while.” I had no idea where a simple advisor had the gall to talk to the Prince of all dragons like that, but he continued. “How did she know your name?”
Dammit. I was terrible at this.
“Mortal, explain.”
“Mercedes,” I insisted again, feeling my stomach start to twist with anxiety. I couldn’t exactly tell them I was hauled here from another world where women wore pants and what they were doing was essentially a war crime. I needed to think fast. And I didn’t want to reveal myself as a lightning rider either.
What if the dragons didn’t like that? I wasn’t exactly one hundred percent knowledgeable about all of the politics of the realm yet. I needed an answer that made sense, or at least made sense to shape shifting mythological monsters. “And the reason I know who you are, and who Myrik is, is because…” They were both staring at me so intently that I averted my gaze to the ground.
Maybe it would benefit me to stop playing my cards so out in the open and start acting like a demure maiden. “I’ve been having dreams lately, d
ark and looming dreams full of wings and scales. My village sent me here from the islands to understand what message the ancestors are trying to send me. I see now that it was a warning.”
“A seer?” Myrik said, his fingers drumming along his chest. “And a human one at that. Perhaps the only thing more believable than half recollected myths.”
“It’s the truth!” I insisted.
“If we were to believe this,” Prince Gael said slowly, “then this is something that our Queen would have to know.”
“But we can’t exactly present her with such a wild suggestion as a human seer without appropriate proof.”
I looked between the two looming men. They seemed only mildly concerned/intrigued about the situation, but I could feel my heart pounding in my throat. Didn’t they understand what a big deal this was? That they were speaking casually of believing me or not when it was the difference between being shoved in some sort of barbaric breeding pen and possible freedom?
Trying not to sweat, I searched through my mind for a factoid that would get them to believe me. One that would clinch their trust without putting myself in danger. Well…more danger than I already was.
Finally, I landed on something. “Prince Gael, your father was slain long ago, by a royal, correct?” I mentally crossed my fingers that this factoid hadn’t been changed by whatever had altered the timeline.
“That’s fairly common knowledge,” Myrik observed calmly. “Any tool sent by the royals would be informed of that.”
“Yes, but would they know that you, Gael, found the scale that was pierced by the enchanted spear, and you brought it to your home where it still lies, buried under the hall of heroes.”
Both their eyes widened at that and I did an internal cheer.
“What kind of awfully specific dreams are you having?”
I shrugged. “Some details stick with you more than others. Point is, I’m not lying.”
“No,” the Prince said slowly. “It would seem that you are not.” He extended a hand to me, and I hesitated before lowering my tan one into his alabaster palm. I had never thought of myself as a particularly tiny person, but his fingers dwarfed my own like I was a child. “Apologies for your less than comfortable arrival. Please, allow me to find you food and perhaps more refined clothing.”
