Dragon Story

Liam and Mourn were dressed and ready when I came back out of the bathroom.

\"Ready?\" I swallowed, nervous. I didn\'t know what to expect of this. I didn\'t like not knowing. I scowled, more at myself than anyone in the room, and crossed my arms over my chest. Liam nodded. \"He might ask that you be left alone with him, though. If not because we\'re fey, it will be because, with us gone, there are fewer distractions.\"
I nodded, throat dry. I grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge and took a swig, nodding again. I gave a weak smile, took one last swig, and replaced the bottle in the fridge. \"Let\'s go.\"

We walked down to the giant throne room, Mourn stepping up beside me as we approached the doors. The doors swung open just as before, and we stepped through.

\"Did you do that?\"

He smiled at me. \"Yes.\"

I wasn\'t surprised. He patted my shoulder and whispered, \"you\'ll get the hang of it once you know what you\'re doing. It\'s a minor magic, really.\"

I was about to reply, but stopped, as the blond from before stalked towards us. It was not as if she was trying to seduce us, it was more as if she found perfect balance each time her foot touched the floor, taking all her weight until the next step. It was a deadly walk.

\"He is waiting for you in his rooms, princess. I am to take you there, then I will leave with your bodyguards. Do not worry, we will not be very far.\"

I thought that the \"do not worry\" part was more for her sake than mine, but I didn\'t say anything, just nodded. She nodded, once, and turned back around.

We followed her to the left wall. She passed her hand over the wall, muttering in that strange, fluid language again, and the wall wavered, then disappeared. A second set of huge doors sat unopened. She passed her hand over where I assumed the handle would be, and they opened silently. I was impressed, though it was no different from the other door trick. Maybe it was because this door was hidden, and the other was not.

We walked down a huge hallway, once again lit with a mix of electric and real torches. We passed a few doors, smaller, but still bigger than an average door was. We finally came to a stop at the end of the hall, a set of ornately carved doors staring at us, closed. The woman knocked, once. The door flew open, and we stepped through.

kin king, my uncle, stepped out from a door in the back of what had to be his living room. He smiled slightly when he saw us. \"You may go, Bethany.\"

Bethany bowed from the waist and walked out. Mourn and Liam both gave me a pat on the shoulder and followed the tall blond woman.

Stephen took a seat and motioned me to do the same. I sat down gingerly, nervous since I had only met the man once, and before that, he had been trying to kill me. I had every right to be nervous around him.

\"I know what happened, I felt it, but I want to know from you what happened.\"

I fought the urge to blush. \"I had just slept with Gabriel, and was taking a shower with Mourn.\" I lost the battle and felt the heat rush up my face. I wasn\'t a prude, but it seemed...off...to discuss my sex life with my uncle. \"Something clicked inside of me, and we, well, had sex. It triggered my power, and it, took over. I stumbled out of the bathroom after Mourn and I finished and went to Liam. It felt wonderful, like I could slip out of my skin, and it was the most natural feeling I\'ve ever felt. It felt so...right.\" I paused then, remembering that sensation. It had felt right. It had felt wonderful. \"When I came to, Gabriel and another man were holding me down, and a woman was passing her hands over my body, murmuring.\"

Stephen nodded, once. \"I think sleeping with Gabriel awakened your desire to slip your skin, as we like to call it .”

\"So...I could have shifted and killed Liam?\" My voice was calm. I was shaking inside.

He frowned. \"I doubt that you would have shifted, but if you had, Liam has had enough experience with dragons to know what to do if one slips it skin and unveils itself. And even if you had gotten your claws in him, the sidhe are hardy creatures. It would take a lot of damage to kill him.\"

I nodded again, relieved. \"So, what do I do?\"

Stephen stood up. \"We call your dragon.\"

My throat constricted. \"Um...\"

Stephen laughed. \"Do not worry. Slipping your skin is one of the most beautiful feelings in the world, if you remember?\"

I blushed at the memory. He laughed. \"Come on, we have a room where we can be alone to do this.\"

I stood up, using my hair to shield my face. God, I hadn\'t done that since I was fifteen. I flicked my hair out of my face and followed my uncle out the door.

We walked a short way down the hall and took one of the \"smaller\" doors. We made our way further down underground. The doors became further and further apart, until I thought we would never see another one again. We finally came to another set of those huge doors. They opened silently, and we walked through.

All four walls were curtained, the center of the floor taken up by a huge circle. Stephen stepped over the circle and bade me to follow. I did. He maneuvered me to the center, then took up a large bowl of white powder and began to trace patterns around the inside of the circle. I knew enough about magic to know that questions at this time would be unwelcome, that he might even have to start over if I asked them. So I sat in silence and watched as he dipped his fingers in the mixture and traced figures on the stone floor.
When he was done he placed the bowl where he had started and dusted his hands off.
\"This way,\" he began as he walked towards me, \"if you lose control, the containing power of those symbols will help calm you down, keep you here.\"

I nodded. It seemed to be the only thing I could, lately.

Stephen came to a stop in front of me. \"Do you know anything of magic?\"

\"Wiccan magic.\"

He chuckled under his breath. \"Crude, but it is magic. Did it blow up in your face?\"

I smiled, I couldn\'t help it, and nodded. \"Sure did.\"

\"Wiccan magic is fine for humans, but on creatures out of legend, it does not mix well with what you truly are.\"

\"Yeah, I kinda figured that out on my own.\" Once the words were out, I blushed. \"I didn\'t mean any disrespect, uncle...\"

Stephen laughed. \"Don\'t worry. I am glad to see that you can be comfortable around me, if only once in awhile.\" He shook his head. \"Now, breathe deeply and evenly on a count of seven. Do you know what I mean?\"

I nodded.

\"Good. I have to have you calm to call your dragon.\"

I was suddenly scared. Every day, it seemed more and more of my so called humanity was slipping away. I banished that thought, though, and began breathing on a count of seven, closing my eyes to see the numbers as I was taught.

I felt Stephen move his hands, felt his hands stop over my heart, and I almost lost the beat. I picked it back up again, and I could feel my power begin to swell within me. I didn\'t fight it, I let it come forth, pouring into his hands.

Stephen balled his hands into fists, and my power came with it. I grunted, losing the count, and pulled back, but he had too good a grip on my essence. I began to struggle, and that\'s when I felt it. My dragon rose inside me, roaring to be let out. I echoed the roar and dropped to all fours, roaring again. I gave one last futile struggle, and my dragon flowed out of me. My bones hollowed and lengthened, my skin turned red before the scales ran up my arms and down my shoulders, itching where they formed. My back screamed in pain, and I stood up, now much larger than I had ever been. I gave another scream and beat my wings. The last of my human features faded away, and I pawed the air. I was free! Free! I looked around, but the only way out was the circle, and I couldn\'t cross it. I screamed in frustration. How dare he contain me! Me! The dragon princess, soon to be queen!

\"Calm down. You must shift back.\"

\"I don\'t want to.\" I settled back onto the ground, eyeing my still human looking uncle. \"I want to be free.\" I was talking right to his mind. I was sure I could manage to speak with my mouth, but it seemed so awkward now, so barbaric.

\"Not yet. We have a lot to go over. Can you change back? Could you feel what I did to slip your skin from you?\"

I flapped my tail on the floor, thinking about it. \"I suppose.\"

\"Good. Then slip back.\"

\"I want to stay like this.\"

He sighed. \"You can\'t. Now either slip back, or I\'ll pull your human form from you, and I won\'t make it pleasant.\"

I sighed, almost blowing him over. \"Fine, fine. I\'ll give it a try.\" I began to count my breathing, inhaling to seven and exhaling to the same number. When my mind was quieted, my power swelled. I remembered my human form, and found it, tucked away inside me. I tugged on my human form, willing it to come back out. I realized something, then, as I began to shrink; I could stay in dragon form forever. It wasn\'t like lycanthropy, or what I knew of it. I could stay in either form forever, if I so wished.

I collapsed to the floor as I finally regained my human form. Panting, I rested my head on my arms as I yawned. It didn\'t drain me, the way I thought it would. I was exhausted, sure, but I felt...good. Better than I had in a long time.

I rolled to my back and stretched my suddenly cramped muscles. I giggled and sat back up. \"Is it always like this?\"

Stephen smiled down at me and offered a hand up. \"It affects everyone differently, and even then, it is not always the same way each time.\" Once I was on my feet, he began to wipe away the symbols. \"I not only put down symbols for containment and a sense of calm, but to hold all your energy inside. Because there are some here who haven\'t shifted in hundreds of years, and there are those who only shifted enough to control their dragons. And, you are powerful, you might have accidentally taken a few of the weaker ones with you when you slipped your skin.\" He went over to one of the walls and pushed the curtain aside, taking something. \"Put this on.\" It was a white robe. I looked down, and blushed. I was naked. I slipped it on gratefully.

\"Oh. Thank you.\" I watched him as he put the bowl away, feeling giddy. I wanted to shift more, I wanted that feeling of rightness. But I knew why I couldn\'t. I couldn\'t let people see me.

\"I will start by teaching you the small magics, but the larger ones, some things you can only do in dragon form, or half-form, if you are strong enough.\"

\"Half-form?\"

The doors opened, and I followed him through. \"Not quite dragon, not quite human.\"

\"That doesn\'t tell me a whole lot.\"

He smiled at me. \"I know, but I know of no other way to tell you, other than to let you see.\" He sighed. \"It will be the form you use the most while I teach you magic, it acts as a bridge between our forms.\"

\"Can you assume any other forms?\"

He laughed. \"Some of us can. It is a mark of royalty now to be able to assume a different form other than dragon.\"

\"So that leaves, what, you?\"

\"You will be able to, eventually, Mallory can, and a few of the lords.\"

\"I can?\" I was surprised. \"But, if all those people can, why do you need me?\"

He sighed. \"Mallory is strong, but too weak to take the throne. The others are distant relations, more distant than you are, actually. They could if it was required, but I want my brothers blood, if not mine, to pass through.\"

\"Couldn\'t you have children?\"

\"I have fathered a few sons, but they were challenged, too many people said that there wasn\'t enough proof that they were mine. I wouldn\'t bind my bodyguard to me, either, because she\'s sterile. So I have no one that they approve of.\"
\"Then why me?\"

\"Because by human records, your blood is proven, if not watered down. If you are too weak to take the throne, then you bear a daughter, and she can take it.\"

\"Oh.\" I thought about that for a few minutes. \"But, why a daughter?\"

\"Because it is much easier to prove a child is the true heir if it is borne by a woman. We do not mate for life, Angela, even if a child is involved. The child never lacks for attention, though, as every child is sacred.\" By this time, we were back in front of his rooms. \"Your men should be here in a minute.\" He smiled at me. \"I think you are the first dragon to ever use a condom.\"

I blushed. \"Well, Mourn and I use them, and I didn\'t think you would take an heir that was half sidhe...\"

Stephen laughed. \"Smart. I don\'t know how the courts would react to a half sidhe queen. As it is, they barely acknowledge you.\"

\"I\'m surprised they acknowledge me at all.\"

\"They were the ones to press for you.\"

\"Oh. I didn\'t know that.\"

Stephen smiled at me, bitterly. \"If it were up to me, you would have been destroyed, Angela. You are a threat to my kingdom, you, by who you simply are, could undo everything my people have fought for ages beyond count. They were the ones to point out that you were the only one left with blood almost as pure as mine, if not a little human.\" He paused. \"And sidhe, but it isn\'t the first time the sidhe have mated with a dragon. That part is forgivable.\"

\"I feel so...honored.\" I knew my face matched the dry tone of my voice. He wanted relaxed, he would get relaxed. \"So nice to know my own uncle wanted me dead.\"

He snorted. \"I suppose I get what I ask for. Yes, I wanted you dead. My brother wished the downfall of our people, so he went among the humans to mate and hopefully expose us for who we were. He never thought I would raise a hand against what he planned.\"

\"I take it you weren\'t very close.\"

Stephen shook his head. \"No, we were very close. He was younger than me by an accident of birth, as we were twins. We just...never agreed politically.\" He shrugged. \"It does not matter anymore, as it was the past. I believe that are guards are approaching.\"

I looked behind me. they were. \"What does Bethany look like as a dragon?\"

He eyed me as if I had finally done something interesting. \"Gold, actually. She was not among those who tried to kill you the last time.\"

I ignored the \'last time\' comment. It wasn\'t really important. He interrupted me, though. \"I will explain as much as I can next time, Angela. You should rest, get used to the aftereffects of slipping your skin.\" He smiled at me, a brilliant, promising smile, and closed the door on me faster than I could protest.