Dragon Story

Mourn sat on my bed as I packed. \"Do not worry about what you bring; as heir apparent, you will have access to more money than you will believe, and so appropriate clothing will be provided for you.\"

I paused as I let that sink in. \"I don\'t like the sound of that.\"

Mourn smiled. \"You don\'t have to worry; the more exotic outfits are saved for others.\"

\"Why?\"

\"Because it is unseemly for a royal to dress in that manner.\"

That really got my attention. \"In what manner?\"

Mourn looked at the door, and back at me. \"That, I think, is not for me to say.\"

I sighed. Mourn wouldn\'t tell me anything, I knew. Pushing him would only bring out that condescending smile. I hated that smile.

I put the last of my clothes in my bag and zipped it up. I had a larger carry on that he held all my makeup, toiletries, and an extra set of clothes. The airport had lost my luggage once, and I\'d been paranoid ever since.

\"So where are we going again?\"

\"They have residences in New York; I am assuming that is where we will be meeting up with them.\" Mourn, for once, wasn\'t smiling.

\"What\'s wrong?\"

He shook his head. \"As we are not going to England, I don\'t expect too many problems.\"

I shook my head. \"Everything so far has been a problem.\"

He stood up, taking my bag. \"I know.\"

Liam and Deven were staring at one another as we came out. Neither one even so much looked our way. I could feel why, too. Power bit along my skin, lots of it. I knew they were testing one another, but I didn\'t know why. Didn\'t they used to be friends?
Slowly, the tension level went down, and I relaxed. Both men blinked and turned towards me.

\"Are you ready, Princess? Your home will be looked after while you are gone.\"

I paused. I had assumed that we would be gone a hand span of days. The fact that I was no longer working, and currently not in school, didn\'t tie me here. But he made it sound like I would be gone a long time. I didn\'t want to be gone a long time.

\"How long are we talking, here?\"

He smirked at me. \"Until you give birth to the new heir, or you agree to take the throne. In that case, you will be moved to England to live among us.\" He walked towards me, stopping just a few inches away. I could smell his scent; his aftershave, but under that, a warm, twitching alive feeling, and slightly musty, like and old cave. He smiled down at me. \"Perhaps I will get a chance to fuck you, too.\"

\"Ha.\"

He lifted one hand and traced my jaw line with his fingertips. \"Do not be so quick to say no. You, after all, are not the one that dictates who you will or will not sleep with. I may still have a chance.\"

Mourn put one hand on my shoulder, and all my tension drained away. I could feel what he was thinking; don\'t worry about him. Telepathy is a lot like that. Most of the time, you don\'t get real, hard words, but a sense of what the person is trying to say.

Mourn patted my shoulder once and dropped his hand, stepping away, confident that his message got across.

I looked at Mourn and Liam. \"Yeah,\" I said. \"I\'m ready.\"


Deven took us right to the airport and the private jet that my family, I suppose they were, owned.

\"A private jet, huh? Remarkable.\"

Deven looked at me from the corner of his eyes. \"Your family has many things, not all of them wonderful.\"

It was the closest to an insult I had heard from him. Sure, there was that comment about him, Mourn and Liam being more than friends at one point, but he didn\'t seem to want to drive us apart. Like he was merely stating something that once was. I could live with that.
My single chest was loaded onto the jet by a muscle bound man with long dark hair. He turned to look at me, and I blinked in surprise. His eyes were golden, with slit pupils. His tongue flickered out, once, testing the air like a snake. It was forked.

Deven looked back at me. \"Meet the one who wounded you, Angela. He is here to make sure you arrive safely.\"

\"Some job he did,\" I muttered. Deven frowned at me. I smiled.

\"I take it the king no longer trusts you in such matters.\" Mourn\'s voice was droll.
\"No, he does not.\" A woman stepped from the plane, eyes narrowed. She was tall, regal looking, with long red hair piled on her head in a curly bun style. She was dressed in an equally red chinese silk dress, high collar framing her angular face. As she came closer, I saw that her eyes were just as red as her hair and dress. \"The king trusts very few, in his diseased mind now.\" She stopped right in front of me, frowning. She wore no makeup, but then, she needed none.

\"And so you are the heir.\" Her tone was disapproving. My back straightened.

\"Much to my dismay, yes. You have a problem with that?\"

Her lips tightened, and she spun back around, spike heels clacking sharply on the asphalt. \"Come, Deven, we must be going. We don\'t want to keep him waiting for longer than necessary.\"

\"I don\'t like her,\" I said to Mourn as we followed.

\"Don\'t worry, I never liked Mallory, either.\" His face was closed. My eyebrow shot up.

\"You really do get around, didn\'t you?\"

He looked at me, a smile on his face that I didn\'t like at all. \"You have no idea.\"

Mallory stopped at the top of the steps, hands on her hips. \"We do not have time for this. Move along.\"

I stopped right under her. \"You know, I\'m beginning to like you less and less.\"

\"How you view me is not my problem.\"

I took that last step, dropping my carry-on and pushing her back into the jet. \"I can make it your problem.\" My hands tightened into fists at my sides, and I stopped, taking a deep breath. I was close enough that I could smell her cologne, something musky and oriental. Went with the outfit, I suppose.

Her hand rose, stopping just in front of my chest. I could feel my heartbeat in her palm, and I gasped. She tightened her hand, curling her fingers in, just short of making a fist. My heart sped up as she did, thudding awn hen her hand.

\"I could crush your heart, here and now, princess.\" She tightened her grip on my heart, and I gasped, shoving her away. She stumbled in her heels, catching herself on a seat. My heart was still thudding, but it was in my chest again. Huzzah. She snarled at me, pulling her lips back from her teeth. It was out of place on her human mouth, but it was still intimidating.

Mourn placed his hand on my shoulder, murmuring in my ear. I couldn\'t understand what he said, but it calmed me down. I took my carry-on from him.

\"Thank you,\" I lipped to him. Mourn simply bowed his head, once, as he moved past me to take a seat. I went to follow him, but was stopped by a hand on my arm. I turned to see Liam holding me. He removed a knife, complete with sheath, from somewhere, and pressed it into my hand.

\"To go unarmed among the dragons, especially a mortal, is to invite torment and torture.\" He wrapped my fingers around the blade and kissed my knuckles. \"At least show them you are armed, if not unafraid.\"

I nodded and sat down next to Mourn, Liam sitting next to me. Mallory stood over us, hands on her hips. \"Have a nice flight,\" she sneered, and took off for the back of the jet, slaming the door as she did.

Deven went to talk to the pilot as the guard sat down in front of me. Deven returned a second later, and the plane began to taxi. I was finally going to meet the relatives.


I fell asleep on the way to New York, and was roused by Mourn gently shaking me. I had strapped the knife to my left arm, leaving me free to draw it with my right. I yawned and stood, picking up my carry-on. Mallory appeared from nowhere to open the door.

\"Have fun, bitch.\"

\"It\'ll be a blast,\" I said, smiling at her. She snarled again, but it was just human teeth.

\"I will not be going with you. I have other pressing matters to attend.\"

Mourn gripped my upper arm and nodded to her, almost dragging me after Deven. Liam had taken my other side, making sure I was actually walking.

\"She is not one to piss off lightly,\" Liam whispered to me as we approached a black limo. \"From what it sounds and feels like, she has the king\'s ear. Try not to upset her too greatly.\"

Liam smiled at Deven as I was herded into the car. Deven smiled at me as he sat down. The guard was nowhere in sight. \"Either you are very, very brave, or very, very stupid.\" He looked to Mourn. \"What would you say she is?\"

\"Ignorant of the dragons ways.\" His voice was dull, flat, no emotion in it whatsoever.

Deven laughed at that. \"And that she is. But not for very much longer, now, eh?\"