by Anna Santos
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m feeling strange,” she replied.
William grasped her waist and steadied her against him. “No. I wasn’t prepared.” He kissed her again. “I love you.” He kissed her one more time.
Her eyes remained closed.
He moved his right hand and cupped her cheek. “Look at me. Does it hurt?”
“I feel cold,” Claire whispered. Her legs gave away, and he sat with her on the marble floor. “I’m so cold, William.”
William searched for the sparkling lights of his godmothers. “Ming, what’s happening?”
Claire’s tears turned to ice. William lifted a small orb with his fingers.
Ming, Kara, and Tasha hovered above Claire’s chest.
Kara spoke first. “She’s not turning into a diamond statue.”
Ming looked at William. “Her body temperature suddenly dropped.”
Tasha flew behind William’s head, and her tiny hand smashed against his skull. “Kiss her again. You didn’t do it properly the first time.”
“We kissed three times already,” William protested, rubbing the back of his head.
“You can’t let her die. Who will play with us and help us with the parties?” Kara asked, twirling around to face him.
“Who will convince you to let us invite our friends?” Ming added.
The fairies’ protests weren’t helping William in controlling his pain and anxiety. “Do you think I want to lose her? I didn’t want to kiss her, so this wouldn’t happen.” He lowered his head and hid his face against her neck. “Claire.” Her skin felt cold. “Talk to me.” His tears dropped from his eyes and onto her skin.
“Her hair is turning white,” Ming warned.
William leaned back and looked at Claire. Her skin was pale, her lips were becoming blue, and the gold in her hair was losing its color.
“Oh, no!” Tasha shrieked.
William saw Tasha covering her mouth. “What’s wrong?”
Tasha pointed at the dragon queen’s statue. “She’s coming back to life. Her feet are turning into flesh, and the diamond is disappearing.”
“Does that mean Claire broke your curse?” Ming inferred, flying close to William’s face.
“This can’t happen!” Kara protested, flying to the statue and throwing blue dust at it. “Freeze again. Don’t wake up, evil witch.”
William turned his attention from the statue to Claire. He felt disoriented and powerless.
Ming’s hand touched his shoulder. “Try to shift into a dragon and turn that witch into ice. We won’t have another opportunity. I know you’re hurting—”
“Take care of Claire.” William rose to his feet, wiped the tears from his face, and aimed his hands, covered in mist, at Edana’s statue. Ice swarmed the witch’s body, but a red light began to shine on her legs.
“She’s trying to release herself,” Ming said, next to him. “Shift. You need to slash her into pieces. It’s our only chance!”
The prince fisted his hands. “Move Claire into safety. If I shift, I might step on her.”
Ming flew away, and William saw her and her sisters surrounding Claire’s body with magic and carrying her to a safe distance.
Only then, he focused all of his will into turning into the being he was born to be. If he was successful, it meant that Claire had broken his curse.
The prince willed his body to shift into the huge dragon beast. His body spasmed, and his bones broke. Growling, he welcomed the pain and focused his vision on Edana’s statue that was coming back to life.
Raising his paw, he sliced the statue into five pieces as if it was butter. Edana was gone, and he was finally free from the curse. Everybody he had turned into diamond would return to normal. Only he’d remain alone since Claire had lost consciousness once they kissed.
He searched the room for the fairies who were using their powers on Claire’s body. His voice came out guttural. “What are you doing?”
“Warming her up. Her breathing is shallow, and she’s not responding. However, the good news is that she’s alive,” Ming replied.
“She looks more and more like an ice dragon in human form,” Kara commented. “Do you think the rumors are true?”
William shifted into a human and rushed to Claire’s side. He knelt and held her cold hand in his. “What are you talking about?”
“Molecular mutation,” Ming replied.
William frowned. “What type of mutation?”
“I hope that it’s an insertion,” Kara answered as she hovered Claire’s head and tried to open one of her eyes. “Her pupils are responding.”
“She probably needs sleep.” Ming smiled when she gazed at William. “Our human is becoming a little bit more like us. She might not be able to shift into a dragon, but she’s showing signs of sharing your molecular structure. You must have infected her when you kissed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Your dragon marked her as his companion,” Kara explained.
William cuddled Claire’s hand. “All I need to know is if she’s going to be fine.”
“I believe she’ll awake once the transformation is over,” Kara assured.
“We should take her to the Diamond Palace. If her body temperature is adjusting to endure cold conditions, staying here will slow down the process,” Ming advised.
William didn’t wait for them to say anything else. He lifted Claire in his arms and rushed out of that cursed and overheated palace.
Edana was dead. He was free of his curse. He and Claire were in love. Maybe he had a chance of being happy after so many years of loneliness and misery.
“We have a little problem,” Ming said when she flew past William and stopped at the entrance of the palace. She turned around to look at the prince. “Edana’s soldiers are guarding the exit.”
William halted. “I’m stronger now that I can shift, but I might have to turn into a dragon if there are many to deal with.”
The prince didn’t wait for the fairies to come up with a solution. His hands shone with a white aura. Mist surrounded Claire’s body, and she floated away from him and into the fairies’ direction.
He glimpsed back. “Take care of her.”
William marched to the exit with his hands glowing with luminescent and floating ice.
The front guard in a brown uniform with a lance in one hand and a shield in the other spoke. “Stop! You’re not allowed to leave this palace.”
“Step aside. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t let me leave with my wife-to-be.”
“Where’s the queen?” a few voices asked from behind the guard that seemed to be leading the group of armed men.
The guard glanced back. “She will have our heads and kill our families if we let them escape.”
“The queen is dead,” William announced. “You’ll be joining her if you don’t let me pass.”
The guard sneered. “Nonsense. Many have tried and failed.”
“He’s telling the truth,” a male shouted from above.
William and the guards looked up and saw an animal with the body of a lion and a head and wings of an eagle. He was hovering close to the dome.
“Captain,” the guards shouted in unison, bowing their heads and kneeling on one knee.
The griffin landed and resumed his human form of a tall and dark-haired man with a stern expression and ice-blue eyes.
Placing his balled hand against his chest, he bowed to William. “My king.” He barked at his guards, “Bow to your new master, the White Dragon.”
William frowned as the other guards quickly dropped their spears and knelt in ovation.
“I’m not your king,” William said. “I have no wish to rule this kingdom.”
The captain replied, “You killed the evil queen. You must claim her crown to maintain peace and to stop the other warlords from fighting each other.”
“I just came here to save my future wife,” William claimed.
�
��My lord—”
William raised one hand. “I’m the rightful heir of the Diamond Kingdom. I have no wish to extend my rulership to another kingdom. Not one as hot as this one. I’m an ice dragon. My kind doesn’t handle heat well.”
“We’re doomed,” a guard murmured.
Over his shoulder, William checked on Claire. She was still sleeping in the floating cloud.
A fairy flew in front of him, pink dust swirling around her until Ming’s human-sized body appeared before William’s eyes. Ming had decided to take the form that made the humans respect her more. It also didn’t hurt that his godmother was stunning in her purple dress.
The guards lowered their eyes as they bowed, and the captain fixated his gaze on Ming’s figure.
“I’ll stay behind to deal with this,” Ming announced. “You need to take Claire away from here. Kara will stay with me. Tasha will go with you.”
“What will you do?” the prince asked.
“Find this kingdom a new ruler,” Ming said.
Nodding, William waved his hand and called the cloud carrying Claire to him. He didn’t wait to listen to what Ming had to say to the captain. Time was running out. Claire needed to return to his palace.
EPILOGUE
“William,” Claire called, reaching to hold his hand. “Don’t go.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. She felt them on her skin. “I love you.”
Her words were pointless. William kept floating away from her. A burst of wicked laughter echoed from somewhere unknown. She recognized it as being from the awful creature that had taken her from the arms of her beloved prince.
They had been dancing. The fairies were twirling around them in the air, leaving colorful dust to create magical rainbows. The prince was smiling. His lush and pink lips moved closer to hers. Their hands were touching, skin with skin. She wanted him to kiss her. Her lips longed for his. Then, he was pulled away from her. The butler stabbed him. Blood dripped onto the pristine floor, creating a pool from where a dragon’s face contorted and snarled at her. She tried to reach for her prince. Her feet were glued to the ground. Dark hands grabbed her ankles and stopped her from reaching William.
Why? Why was he floating away from her, and the wicked witch kept laughing? Why was she only human and unable to save the one she loved?
Her eyes snapped open, and she saw the drapes covering the canopy bed where she was laid down. Her throat felt dry, and her head heavy.
It was only a dream. Her body quivered, and she sucked in a breath to control her emotions. Only a—
Sitting up, she scanned the unfamiliar bedroom with white furniture and tall ceilings. The light came from the balcony door on her left. She could only see the clouds and the blue sky.
She touched her arms, her chest, and her face. She moved her feet under the silk sheet that covered her. Fog floated above the marble floor. Was she dead? Her people believed that the souls of the dead would go to heaven if they had been good. Maybe that wasn’t fog but clouds. Was everything white and silver in heaven like in the Diamond Palace?
Glimpsing the pale blonde hair falling down her shoulders, she realized that her skin was also pale, and she was wearing a white dress with a silver sheer overlay and sequin detailing that she had never seen before.
Her fingers flew to her lips as memories rushed to her mind. She had kissed William. He had come to save her from Edana. What happened after that?
A door opened, and William entered with his shoulders slumped.
“William!” Claire didn’t wait for him to look up because she got up from the bed and rushed into his arms. “William.”
The prince stood still when her body crashed against his, and her arms clasped around his chest.
Clearing his throat, he asked, “Claire? Are you okay? How are you feeling?”
She rested her chin on his chest. “Lonely and scared. Where am I?”
“In our bedroom,” he replied.
“Where?”
“Our palace.”
“I don’t have a palace. Are we in the Diamond Palace?”
He nodded and placed a few strands of her hair behind her ear. “Do you remember what happened?”
“Not after I kissed you.”
His lips curled up.
“How long have I been sleeping for? You look—different, somehow. Why am I here? Where is here, exactly? I don’t remember this room.”
“This is where I sleep. My bedroom. Ours now.” His fingers brushed her cheek. “I can’t believe you woke up.”
“Why? What happened?”
His breath caressed her lips. “It’s been twenty days since…I killed Edana, and you kissed me.”
She stepped back and released him. Her toes curled on the marble floor, but it didn’t feel cold to her. In fact, she was aware that the temperature wasn’t high, and that didn’t bother her. What bothered her was the number of days she had lost. The fact that she had remained enchanted after kissing him.
Her kiss had failed.
“Who broke your curse? If I became a statue for only twenty days, then who broke your curse?” Her heart hurt in her chest at the notion that she wasn’t the one William had chosen to be his wife. “It needed to be a true love’s kiss. We kissed and…”
William narrowed the distance between them and placed two fingers over her lips. “You broke my curse. Don’t you remember? You kissed me.”
“I remember kissing you, then nothing.” She swallowed and held his hand. They were touching skin to skin. No gloves. No fabric preventing him from turning her into a diamond statue. “Am I still dreaming?”
“No, my beautiful queen,” William whispered, his eyes fixated on her face as if he had become enthralled. “You’re finally awake.”
“Why did I lose consciousness?”
“After breaking my curse, you transformed.” He caressed her hair.
“Into what?”
He smiled and cupped her face. “Do you have any idea how hurtful it was to wait for you to wake up? As much as I knew that I had to be patient, not being able to talk to you and see you smile—” He swallowed dry and rested his forehead against hers. “Now that you are awake, I have a lot to tell you. Many people were waiting for you to wake up.”
“The fairies, Mom, Dad, and Myka?” she questioned.
“Yes.” He let go of her face, and his lips brushed against hers.
Shivers rushed down her spine. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she sighed. “Are we really touching and kissing?”
“Yes.”
William kissed her again until she was breathless and light-headed. She secured her hands around his arms, and she moaned in protest when he stopped.
“I love you so much, Claire.”
Panting, she opened her eyes to look at him. “I love you, too, William.”
“Now that you’re awake, we can finally marry, and you’ll be my queen.”
“I don’t want to be your queen. I want to be your wife,” she protested. “Even if I’m human and won’t live as long as you.” His luscious lips curled up, and she nibbled on her lower lip. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
His smile turned into a soft chuckle. “I shouldn’t have believed you when you said that you didn’t know how to seduce a man.”
“I don’t know,” she claimed, pouting. “I wasn’t lying. I had no intention of seducing you.”
He spoke in a husky voice closer to her mouth. “Yet, seducing me is something that seems rather easy for you.”
“You’re also seducing me. You’re kissing and holding me…” She breathed in before resuming her speech. “I’m in your bedroom.”
“You said you loved me. Where else would you want me to keep you while you transformed?”
Claire placed her hand on his handsome face. “Did I honestly break your curse, my prince?”
He lost his smile, but his voice remained sweet and calm. “Yes, my love. Your kiss broke my curse, and my dragon marked you as my mate. You’ll be my queen if you accept me as your
husband. Will you?”
“Even if I’m human?”
“Does it matter?”
“I’m not a noble, either.”
He didn’t reply.
“I’ll die. You won’t.”
William frowned. “Does it matter, Claire?”
“Not if you love me. If you love me, I don’t care if I die as long as I can live my mortal life by your side.”
He smiled. “That’s good to know because I love you, and I want to spend my life with you.”
Claire hugged him and hid her face against his chest.
His hand stroke the back of her head. “Now that we’ve agreed to be together forever, and you’ve accepted me as your husband, I believe you need to see your reflection in a mirror.”
“Why? Do I look that ugly after sleeping for so many days?”
“No. It’s the opposite.” He took her in his arms and walked to the corner of his room. He placed her in front of a tall mirror.
Claire blinked and muffled a shriek at the sight of William and her. Mostly because of how she looked. Her skin color, her hair, her eyes. She was still herself, but the paleness of her skin and hair made her look more like William than a human.
The prince explained, “You’ve mutated. That is why you were sleeping for so long. Your body was adjusting to the transformations. You can’t shift into a dragon, because you weren’t born one, but you are more like me than human now. You probably have magical powers, too. My dragon marked you. You’re no longer mortal. We’ll be together for a long time, my love.”
Claire was at a loss for words as she twirled around. Her appearance was incredible. Her dress was gorgeous, and she would blush head to toe if she was wearing that in front of any other male.
William’s smile caught her attention. She turned to look at him and placed her hands on his chest. “Are you happy, my prince?”
William chuckled and spoke close to her lips. “From now on, your happiness is my happiness. Are you happy, my love?”
“I’m so happy, I think I’m floating in the air.”
“That can be arranged,” he teased.
“Is it bad that I don’t want to see the ones who are missing me right now?”
