Dragon Prince

by Michelle M. Pillow

  To his mother, Jaxx said, “Now you can tell the family I tried. This was not my year to be blessed by the gods.”

  “Leave Salena alone.” Olena laughed and swatted his arm. “You know that you’re making your elders crazy, all of you children. None of them could wait to find a bride. Your father—”

  “Was so lucky to have met you during his very first ceremony,” Jaxx droned with a roll of his eyes. “But they forget, they are the ones who taught us you can’t rush the will of the gods. If I am meant to marry, I will know, crystal or not. Until then, there is nothing I can do about it. So, I might as well make myself useful by smuggling women off the planet while Galaxy Brides is bringing them on.”

  “Women? There will be others?” Salena asked, finding some comfort in thinking she wasn’t going to go alone on a pirate ship.

  “Woman,” Jaxx corrected. The teasing light on his face faded, and he gave her a kind smile. “I’m glad to see you have recovered. I wasn’t sure you would after you greeted me as Death.”

  “Thank you for saving me,” Salena managed. She found the size of him intimidating, though she supposed if he had meant to harm her, he would have done it already. “I’m sorry I cannot repay you for the trouble.”

  “Why would you pay me for saving you?” Jaxx winked at her.

  “I need to go. Your father is waiting for me and has probably already started drinking with your uncles. If I don’t stop him, he will spend the entire night serenading me. It used to be romantic until I made the mistake of teaching him songs about plundering and sailing the high skies.” Olena searched a pocket hidden in her skirt before reaching to take Salena’s hand in hers. She felt the woman press something soft against her fingers. “Safe travels. Be careful with your gift on the ship. I trust them with my life, but they are space pirates, after all.”

  Salena knew the princess wasn’t talking about the gift the woman had left in her hand.

  “See you there.” Olena lifted on her toes to kiss her son’s cheek before disappearing into the trees.

  “It’s not too late if you want to throw on a bridal gown and try your hand at the mating festivities,” Jaxx offered. He nodded at the simple blue gown Olena had given her to wear. “You never know, you might make someone’s crystal glow and can avoid the crusty pirate ship altogether.”

  “I really hope crystal glow is not a euphemism,” Salena said. She’d pulled her hair away from her face, knotting it in a bun at the back of her head in preparation for travel.

  Olena had given her the use of a decontaminator before she healed Salena’s face and neck with a handheld medic.

  “Go ahead, ask me if I mean you harm.” Jaxx crossed his arms over his chest and waited. The gesture only drew attention to his strong body. Salena furrowed her brow in confusion. “My mother said you’re some kind of a truth-speaker.”

  “No.” That wasn’t how Salena would explain her abilities. She was more of a truth-listener.

  “So you’re a liar?” Jaxx teased. For the briefest moment, she thought she saw his eyes flash with an inner yellow light.

  Salena chuckled. “I am quickly getting the impression you take very little seriously.”

  “Not true,” he said. “There are plenty of responsibilities I take seriously, but to quote Lord Vladan, if I took everything seriously, life would be nothing but endless tasks and battles.”

  “Never heard of him,” she admitted.

  “No reason you should have,” Jaxx answered with a resigned sigh as he gestured for her to walk with him.

  “Do you mean me harm?” she asked.

  “No.”

  Salena fell into step beside him as he led her into the forest, keeping enough distance between them so they didn’t touch. The sky had darkened and the oversized leaves on the giant trees began to droop on their branches. A subtle smell emitted from them, like leaves dying in anticipation of the cold season. They cast shadows over the worn path of red dirt. Hints of yellow plants dotted places among the forest floor.

  “Is it annoying that you have to watch over me tonight?” she asked, instantly wishing she hadn’t.

  “A little,” he admitted.

  She stopped. “I’m sorry. If you point me in the right direction, I can find my own way to the ship.”

  Jaxx furrowed his brow. “This truth power of yours is strangely fascinating, and highly unusual. Let me clarify—the only annoyance comes from the fullness of this night. There are many burdens, and now you are also a worry.” He hummed softly. “That is not how I intended to clarify. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize, I’m used to blunt honesty.” Oh, what she would give to have someone lie to her, just once to have to wonder if she was being told the truth. And if not that, to have them hold something back, to keep a secret.

  It’s not like she could turn the ability on and off at will. It was always on. If she asked a direct question, the other person felt compelled to answer. If she didn’t ask a question, any number of confessions could be forthcoming, depending on the person and the situation. Her head was full of too many of the universes’ secrets. Most of them she wished she could forget.

  “Protecting you is not a burden,” he said.

  “Only that you have many other responsibilities tonight,” she finished for him.

  “Yes.”

  “I understand.” She nodded.

  “Ask me about something else. This conversation became awkward.” Jaxx lifted the mask he carried and rubbed his thumb along what looked to be an eyehole.

  Streams of blue light came from above, and she glanced up to find one of the largest moons she’d ever seen peeking through the treetops. “What planet are we on?”

  That clearly surprised him. “Qurilixen. How do you not know that?”

  She didn’t answer, but instead asked, “What quadrant?”

  “Outer edge of the Y quadrant,” he said.

  “Y? So far,” she whispered. She’d been on the Zibi fueling docks when they’d caught up to her.

  “I know the Var did not kidnap you. They would never have let you starve, and you were by Shelter City. Am I to believe that the Federation brought you here unwillingly?”

  She slowly nodded. Nothing they had said indicated she couldn’t trust them.

  “Argh,” Jaxx growled, the sound causing her to stumble away from him. His eyes began to glow and this time the change was unmistakable. Tiny hints of armor formed over the skin on his forehead. “I want to round all of those Federation creeps into that facility they constructed, scoop it from the planet’s surface, and blast it into the nearest star. Then there would be no more sneaking around, trying to feed people. The situation is beyond absurd. And now they are capturing people and bringing them here? Unacceptable.”

  “I did nothing wrong.” It wasn’t a hallucination. This man shifted forms. She’d heard stories when she was little but had never seen it happen. He was half man, half monster.

  He looked at her questioningly before the skin around his eyes softened. The eyes still glowed, but with less intensity. He held out his hand to her. That’s when she realized she’d stepped off the path into the trees. “I told you, I won’t hurt you, and that goes for my dragon form as well.”

  “Dragon? Is that what you call the monster?”

  “I’d prefer you didn’t call me a monster. I think my treatment of you has been quite the opposite.”

  “It has been.” Salena rejoined him on the path. She heard a shout of laughter carry over the distance and knew they were getting close to the celebration. “I’m not good with people. I tend to avoid talking to them.”

  “I can imagine why the Federation wants you. Someone with your talents would be valuable. And I can see why you would want to leave here. I’ll take you to the ship.” He nodded to the small gift she wrung in her hands. “What did my mother give you?”

  Salena had forgotten about it. “Oh, um…” It was a small cloth bag. She pulled at the string, drawing it open, and dumped the conten
ts onto her hand. Tiny stones gleamed in the moonlight. In many ways, they were better currency than space credits.

  She instantly poured them from her hand back into the bag and pulled it shut. She tried to give it to him. “I can’t take these.”

  “What do you want me to do with them?” He gestured at his only clothing, the loincloth. “I’m already carrying one set of jewels, not sure I have anywhere to put a second.”

  Salena tried not to laugh, and the sound came out like a snort.

  Jaxx lifted the mask to his face, covering himself from his forehead to upper lip. He tied it behind his head to hold it in place. “I’ll show you where you can wait for me. I have to make an appearance at the Procession of Finding and then I’ll be back.”

  She detected an orange glow on the trees before she saw the large bonfires dotting a hillside. The smell of burning wood fragranced the air. Her view was partially blocked by a sea of pyramid tents that had been erected over an open field. Their many colors and placements had no discernable pattern but created paths like the mini-streets of a village. Small ribbons and metals had been pinned to their sides like tokens. Torchlight glowed, illuminating where the bonfires did not reach. Banners, mostly with monster—dragon—symbols, fluttered above the tents in the breeze.

  “Salena?” Jaxx questioned.

  She looked in his direction.

  “Everyone is distracted by the ceremony. If you remain hidden in the trees over there,” he pointed behind the tents, “no one should bother you. However, if something does happen, find the black tent and go inside. I will come for you there.”

  Salena nodded. He cut through the tent paths and she made her way behind them. She slowed each time she caught a glimpse of the crowd. She found Olena sitting in a throne beside a man, presumably her husband by the way he kissed her wrist. Other couples were also in the place of honor, set high above the boisterous crowd below. The royals had longer hair, very unlike the Federation leaders, and tunic-style clothing, and she saw glints from the metal crowns that rested on their heads.

  The gathered men below the royals had shorter hairstyles and more variety of clothing, from tunic shirts to tight leather pants with cross-laces up the side. Loinclothed men mingled through the crowd. There was something all dragon men had in common—they were tall and strong and carried themselves like warriors.

  Salena found herself frozen in place, partly exposed as she stared at the narrow view she had of the celebration.

  You have to wake up now, Salena, Fiora’s soft voice whispered from somewhere far away.

  Salena blinked, coming out of her trance, as she ducked into hiding. She knew the voice wasn’t real, only a memory, but still it gave her some sense that she wasn’t alone. It was only dumb luck that she hadn’t been seen by one of the celebrators.

  Salena clutched the bag of jewels, determined to repay every piece she had to borrow from it. She had no idea where she was going, or what she would do when she arrived there. All she knew was if she stayed on Qurilixen, it was only a matter of time before the Federation had her locked in an interrogation room, forcing people to give up their secrets.

  6

  Grier lifted his hand to greet his parents and forced a smile as he looked up from his place in the festival crowd. The mask and beard hid most of his expression. The king lifted a mug of what he guessed to be rum. The queen grinned, clearly happy at her son’s appearance at the mating ceremony.

  When he was younger he loved the festival, even before he was of age to come as a potential groom. They had been a time of drinking and laughter, of mischief and pranks. With darkness only coming one night a year, it brought with it a sense of freedom. He also had a feeling the festival started long ago as a way to gather all the dragons in one location for safety. In the old wars, the cat-shifters would have been foolish to attack a crowd of dragons during the night.

  Seeing a Var citizen passing by him in the traditional cat-shifter garb of cross-laced pants and shirts for easy removal during a shift, Grier laughed. Things had changed a lot from those days. Now even some cat-shifters had found wives during the festival—after the dragons had a chance to make sure the women didn’t light their crystals first, of course.

  “Another prince is here,” Ascelin, one of the palace guards, shouted over the crowd. The man’s face mask was pulled up to rest on his head and his eyes had the glazed look of too much drink. He gave a half grin. “We might as well find our clothes and go home, dragons, too much competition this year.”

  The taunt caused a round of laughter. That was not how the pairings worked and they all knew it. In the mating ceremony, all men were equal. The crystal showed the bearer their future, but it was up to the man to convince the bride to accept the marriage offer. And, as if to make things more difficult, the grooms were only permitted to say one word, “come,” to communicate that the bride was to follow them to the tent to be wooed.

  The sound of his uncle Yusef as he began to sing a loud, bawdy song caused the musicians to join in. The lively music of the gittern dominated the other instruments. Grier made his way through the crowd, ensuring that his people would see him.

  During his first festivals as a groom, he had worn the traditional fur loincloth. What no one talked about was the fact that, with oil on their skin, the edges of fur tended to stick to the thighs. Now he wore leather. It was much more comfortable.

  Someone shoved a goblet into his hand. He saw the head of one of the servers walking away. Without much thought, he tipped the cup back, smelling the thick liquor before the taste hit his mouth. He gulped the contents before dropping his arm to his side holding the empty goblet.

  He glanced at the inert crystal on his wrist. He’d been staring at it for the last couple of days for a sign that somewhere out there was his mate. The obsession frustrated him.

  He should be focusing on escaping the ceremony to fly out to Shelter City to watch for Federation activity. This was the time of year they usually had a new influx of citizens. Grier had been trying to catch them in the act of smuggling people onto the planet. The Federation wasn’t properly caring for the citizens for whom they’d already taken responsibility.

  As a royal, it made him seethe with fury. Ruling was not just a birthright. It was responsibility, duty, an honor. The needs of the Draig came before anything he felt or wanted. The Cysgodians lived on Draig land, and that made their well-being his concern. Not being able to do something caused anger to bubble inside him.

  The blast of a horn sounded and was met with cheers. Though he couldn’t hear it, he knew his father would shout, “Grooms to the lines!”

  “To the brides,” a man yelled, inciting a round of cheers.

  Grier looked for another drink. When he found no servants nearby, he handed the empty goblet to a man too young to participate before walking toward where the luxury spacecraft would have docked. He didn’t expect his crystal to glow a second time for a woman who had just arrived on his planet.

  “Let’s go, prince!” Someone slapped him hard on the back. The crowd began to flow around him, like he was a stone in the current of a river.

  “I caught one,” a guard teased as he swept his wife into his arms. Her shout of delight rang out as he carted her away from the tents.

  “Careful, that one looks feisty,” a friend warned.

  “That she is, dragons, but that is also why I pick her again every year,” the guard answered, eliciting laughter. “I advise all the grooms to find a woman with spirit. Life won’t be easy, but it’s never boring!”

  “Watch yourself or you’ll be sleeping with the ceffyl herd,” the wife warned from where she draped over his shoulder. She gave her husband’s ass a hard smack. The guard walked faster.

  The husband and wife would not be the only married couple planning to relive their wedding night while the new grooms hoped for a future.

  Grier felt the friendly pats on his shoulders as people passed. He heard their shouts at the hissing sound of the spacecraft doo
rs opening. He couldn’t see the ship but knew where to find it.

  Grier took a step to the side, moving toward the tents. He couldn’t do it, knowing that his future would not be stepping off that ship. He started to push the mask up from his face, only to stop as his wrist passed his vision. The crystal did not glow, but it was a sufficient reminder to keep up appearances long enough to disappear from the crowd. His parents would most likely notice his absence, but hopefully the people would be too focused on the incoming bridal shipment.

  He moved into the village of tents. They were constructed each year as a symbol of hope. Many would remain empty and unused.

  Pain rushed into his chest, choking him. He knew that out of all the moments of his very long life this one would be the worst. Maybe it was facing with the mating ceremony without any hope that forced him to accept the truth. He was not meant to marry. Love was not in his future.

  His logical mind tried to whisper that in time, it would not matter. He had his duty, his people and his love for them. He had his family.

  He had…

  He had…

  The pain became worse. His nose burned with the threat of tears. It tried to manifest itself in a roar from his throat. He grabbed his wrist, watching as the dragon clawed its way to the surface. His flesh beneath the crystal changed, hardening. As much as he wanted to let the beast inside take over, he knew that it would burn down the entire forest.

  The animal nature did not reason like a man. If threatened, the dragon protected itself. If scared, the dragon flew high or hid. If heartbroken, the dragon would set fire to the planet as it screamed in agony.

  The prince cradled his shifting hand to his chest and held it tight, focusing on stopping the transformation. His mouth opened in a silent scream as his jaw cracked and his beard disappeared. The panting of his breaths, each one filled with agony, cut through any other sound. Sharp teeth pushed from his gums. His eyesight sharpened so that each granule of the red dirt became well defined.