Dragon Story

The walk back to our room was silent, mostly because I didn\'t know how to feel about losing my human form for the first time. And the thought that I could assume more than just dragon form...

I didn\'t know how to take it. So I said nothing as we walked back. I was full of energy, but there was nothing to do about that. I wanted to shift again, more so than I was willing to admit. I wanted that freedom, knowing that there were few, if anything, things that could stand in the way of a full grown, soon-to-be-queen dragon.

Our bags were outside our room when we got back to the back of the house. The dragon that had tried to kill me, and was later introduced to, stood with my trunk in his arms, staring at us with his slitted golden eyes. Deven stood next to him, frowning.

\"You are being moved to more...spacious...accommodations.\" He frowned at us, gray-green eyes narrowed, as if he were thinking really hard.

\"Don\'t think too hard, you don\'t want to pop a blood vessel.\" I scowled at him, a scowl that had been known to make big badass men back off and leave me alone. He wasn\'t even fazed.

\"You are not yet queen. You cannot tell me how hard to think.\"

\"And I can if, and when, I take the throne?\" Deven was big, bigger than me by a whole lot, but I didn\'t care. I was bigger than most women, tall and broad-shouldered, not fat, and I knew how to use it. Unfortunately, he did, too. I pushed my way into his private space, not giving him any room to breathe.

\"The king can, but you never will.\" He pushed back into my space, trying to get me to back down. \"I am no one\'s slave, not yours, not Mallory\'s, no one. I may not be as thick-blooded as you, but I am still a possible heir to the throne.\"

That explained his animosity. That explained it really, really, well.

\"I don\'t care how close you are to the throne, I am still the official heir, and unless you are willing to have me knocked off, I will remain that way.\" I noted a tall, dark haired woman standing to one side, nervous, as if she didn\'t know what to make of the situation. One hand was dangerously close to her armpit. I was betting she was his guard.

He snarled, and grabbed me, fingers turned into long, razor sharp claws. One clawed hand wrapped around my upper arm, the other grabbing my throat. I was trapped. Not even Mourn with his lightning reflexes could save my throat.

\"Let me go, Deven.\"

He growled again, deep and foreboding. I was betting he was allowing his dragon to slip through. \"No. I am not your slave, I am nothing to you.\"

My energy swelled at the touch of his voice, and my hands started to ache. I raised my hands to his chest, and noted with some shock that they were just as wicked looking as his. \"I will rip out your heart. You may get my throat, but your heart will be gone.\" I didn\'t know if he would survive. I didn\'t know how hardy dragons were. I didn\'t know if even I would survive having my throat ripped out. I was human, but I was dragon as well, and didn\'t know the first thing about how well they healed damage.

\"It might not kill me.\"

Might not, he said. That meant there was a chance that it could. \"You don\'t know if you will kill me. I am, after all, part dragon.\" I didn\'t know how true that was. I needed to talk to my uncle about a whole lot of things, it seemed.

His fingers tensed on my throat, and my fingers wandered to his solar plexus, ready to plunge in deep and rip out the beating muscle of his heart.

\"Stop it.\"

We both looked over his shoulder at the dragon that had been standing along with us, that we had forgotten. He had put the trunk down, and was holding a large, nasty looking gun. \"I may have tried to kill her, but she is the heir, and more royal than you are. That leaves me with one option.\" His face was blank, eyes empty, as if he didn\'t care whether I lived or died, just that he did his job. It was a small comfort, but one that was there. \"So let her go, Deven.\"

Deven growled again, but let me go. He might not have been listening to me, but he listened to the guard that tried to kill me. Maybe it was the gun. Maybe.

\"I am no one\'s slave.\" With a last nasty look at me, he stalked off down the hall, the dark haired woman following suit.

\"I am sorry to have let it go so far, princess.\" The dragon holstered the gun as he looked down. A sound made me look behind me. Mourn and Liam may not have been able to save my life, but they were willing to try, going by the guns they held. \"I...have no excuses worthy of you.\" He dropped to his knees in front of me, offering his throat. I placed my hand on the exposed length of flesh he offered, and dropped it. He looked surprised.

\"You still trust me?\"

I shook my head. \"I never trusted you. But you did try to save me life, if not a little after the fact.\"

He nodded, standing. \"I will help you to your new rooms.\" A few more dragons came and picked up the remaining cases. \"The king showed me where they were...just in case.\"
I froze. \"So he knew there was a chance that Deven would try this?\"

\"He was almost certain. He was also sure that you would be able to take care of yourself.\"

My uncle was a bastard, there were not two ways about it. \"Fascinating.\"

\"You are mad.\" He sounded dismayed.

\"Not at you.\" I sighed. Even dragons had their sensitive people. I lived my life up until now stomping on them. I didn\'t know the etiquette for dragons, though. I didn\'t know what would be tolerated, and what wouldn\'t be. Though, as princess, I was betting I had more leeway than most others. Maybe. I was beginning to hate that word.

The dragon took us below the house, though only a floor or two below. It was low enough, though, that the door was bigger than most. I knew why the doors looked like that, finally. It was for dragons in full form. The house couldn\'t have held them.

The guard dragons put the cases in the front room and looked at me.

\"You can all go.\"

All except the one who defended me left. He dropped to his knees again and kissed my knuckles, offering his throat once more. \"I will personally make sure Deven won\'t bother you again, unless my king wishes it so.\"

I placed my fingers on his throat and dropped my hand. \"Thank you.\"

He rose, kissing my knuckles one last time. \"It is as my princess wishes.\" With a reluctant squeeze, he let me go and started to walk out.

\"Wait!\"

He stopped, turning back to face me. \"Yes, princess?\"

\"What\'s your name?\"

He smiled at me. \"Mark. I\'m Mark.\"

I nodded. \"Thank you, Mark, you may go.\"

He bowed from his shoulders, still smiling, and left.

I was happy to see that the doors had handles on this side. I tried them out. They worked. \"I know I shouldn\'t be happy about door knobs, but...\"

Mourn snickered, coming closer to wrap his hand around mine. \"It isn\'t that hard, it truly isn\'t.\" He kissed the side of my face, still snickering. \"Maybe I can show you. Now that you have been moved to new quarters.\"

I looked at the door, and sighed. \"I guess so.\" I thought about it. \"My uncle really is a bastard.\"

Mourn pulled me away from the door. \"I do not know him well, but yes, he can be. Pay attention to what I do. Can you feel my power?\"

I focused my mind, and felt a spark of his power inside him. \"Yes.\"

\"Good.\" Mourn raised his hand, palm flat, at the door. His hand cupped a bit of power, but it was enough, it seemed. The power flexed, and the doors opened.

\"Wow.\" Mourn\'s power flexed again, and the doors slid shut. \"I thought it would take more power than that.\"

Liam stepped up beside us. \"The doors are spelled to be light and silent, and to move at the merest touch of power.\"

I nodded. \"That makes sense.\"

\"Now, you try.\" Mourn squeezed my shoulder. \"It is not hard, as you saw.\"

\"Um, ok.\" I swallowed, and raised my hand. I called forth just a drop of my power to my hand, like Mourn did. As soon as it touched my palm, I could feel the spell in the door react to it, ready. I didn\'t know if I should picture anything, so I just copied what I saw Mourn do. I squeezed my hand shut to help the power there, mentally making it flex. The doors opened.

Mourn kissed the side of my face. \"There. That wasn\'t so hard.\"

\"Even though I needed to use hand motions?\"

\"Once you get a better grasp of things, you won\'t even need to raise you hand.\"

\"So how do we get them to stay closed, if that can be done?\" I closed the doors, mentally cheering, and turned to face Mourn.

\"Locking spell,\" Liam supplied. \"Much more complicated, but Mourn or I can do it.\"

\"You can do dragon magic?\" It was out before I could stop it. Both men laughed.

\"Sidhe magic is just as powerful, in its own way, as dragon magic.\" Liam had stopped laughing, but was grinning from ear to ear. Mourn, however, was still laughing. Liam continued. \"Its very different, though. It might be more effective than a dragon locking spell, Angela, because someone trying to get in would either have to know quite a bit about sidhe magic, or just blow the spell by pumping power into it.\" He looked thoughtful. \"Though that can be made difficult...\" He shook his head. \"I am getting ahead of myself.\"

A thought struck me. \"Liam?\"

\"Yes?\"

\"Can I learn both dragon magic and sidhe magic?\"

Liam looked surprised. \"I...suppose you could. You are both.\"

I smiled. \"Would you be willing to teach me?\"

He looked a little puzzled. \"Of course I will, but may I ask why?\"

\"Because a queen who wields two forms of magic can be more powerful than one who only wields one.\"

Mourn laughed softly. \"That is very true. You will make a fine queen, Angela.\"