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Dragon Queen. 21
His feet were heavy in her lap, black nails with jagged and sharp edged. She struggled not to shove it off or retch in disgust. Mare shivered, not from the cold but from the eyes poring into her skin. The king’s whore among noble blood. What an honor.She dared to look up in the direction of one of the stares.The princess was in the company of her friends. She was beautifully dressed in her blue silk with her blonde hair braided down her back. Her neck was adorned with a heavy silver necklace encrusted with diamonds. Despite her young beauty, her face held a scowl. Her friends were staring and they whispered something to her to which she responded tight-lipped.Mare blinked and looked away. Let them talk. The pain of their gossip was nothing compared to the pain of her people’s rejection. Or the throbbing that would come later tonight if the king ordered her ass into his bed.Her gaze fell on Perci. She paused.He was staring but unlike Serywithe his gaze was unreadable. Those icy b
Last Updated : 2023-11-23Dragon Queen. 22
Mare was struck by the presence of the beast and started to rise when Vallezarii returned his feet to her lap, heavily.She blinked and dared to look up at him. He was calling for more wine. “Poor idiots will die out there,” he laughed to Yner head of house Gyras.Mare turned her attention back to the opening. The dragon, ferocious marvelous beast that it was, was a lot larger than she had dreamed, looking fierce and angry as its slit-shaped eyes, bright and amber, reflecting the glow of the fires, searched the arena. A snort escaped its nostrils and smoke followed, dark and swirling. Its huge scaly head turned and its right eye stared in Mare’s direction.She caught her breath, heart thundering in her chest at the fierce eye surrounded by tough scales. That eye was fearsome with hunger in it yet she felt as though if she stepped forward she could dive through the slit, burrow through waters and find a locked hidden treasure. The dragon breathed slowly, releasing hot breath and each e
Last Updated : 2023-11-23Dragon Queen. 23
Veren could not understand his master. For months since his coming to Dymas castle, he couldn’t understand the way things were done. He had servants but none of them served him, none of them was allowed into his chambers. Unlike the other noblemen, he did not have soldiers at his command to guard his home. His servants whispered and avoided their lord at all costs.Veren spent the nights in his room in the servant's quarters wondering what his duties were. Why did the mighty warrior of Arlankis choose him? The other servants would not speak to him, they barely even spoke to one another unless they whispered and he found it odd. Weren’t servants supposed to be the worst of gossip? Yet, here he was in a castle of silence.The cold night air drifted in through the bare window. The servants were not provided curtains. In fact, the entire walls of Dymas’s castle lacked curtains and tapestries. If people didn’t know better they would say that Dymas lacked loyalty to the king for his lack of
Last Updated : 2023-11-29Dragon Queen. 24
“Lock her up!”Mare stopped fighting as the men dragged her like a sack of grain into her room, bolted it, locked it, and even stood guard at the door. Two men had been stationed in her room. She approached the bed with Hegi behind her feeling elated despite her imprisonment in her chambers.She ordered a dragon. Her voice and words brought a mighty beast of the old world under her command!But where had those words come from? She wondered.“What you did…” Hegi was breathless.She turned with a smile on her face, her face bright with excitement. “Do you believe now?” she asked in an awed whisper.“Ssh,” Hegi cautioned her, his eyes darting to the men in the room. They stood stiff as statues but he knew that word carried and everything they talked about would be reported to the king.Mare discarded his concern. “I have dragon blood in me. I commanded the dragon.”“And what good do you think that will do you? The king will label you a traitor and have you killed.” He did not say what h
Last Updated : 2023-11-30Dragon Queen. 25
Mare wrung her fingers in her lap. Outside the locked doors of the king’s chambers, the sound of galloping horses, marching soldiers, and the scurry of servants filled her ears. The servants who had been charged with serving the surviving members of the Hermot Phynally’s family had finished cleaning the rooms and were now moving in droves with armed soldiers to be led to Phynally’s castle to retrieve the family’s belongings.From what little she could grasp from the floating conversation, the castle had been invaded in the dead of the night, and when the lord was slaughtered in his bed the Kronos invaders had set fire to the castle.Mare knew what that meant. They were sending a message to Vallezarii, a message of war.So why had the king ordered that she be put in his chambers?She looked at the soldiers, three of them stationed inside the chamber to guard her. They said nothing to her and neither acknowledged her presence with even a stare.She had to leave. She needed to know more.
Last Updated : 2023-12-06Dragon Queen. 26
It was dark, just as she expected.Strange how it looked larger than the first time she was here. Maybe it was the darkness that made the aisle of shelves look longer or maybe it was the shadow cast by the torch that made the shelves longer.She trod carefully on the floor, her bare feet barely making a sound as she darted behind one shelf and waved her light in front of it.It had nothing she was looking for. She had no idea what she was looking for. A map? A book of records? Records of what? Dragon descendants? Baryns? Dragons?She didn’t know what she was looking for but she searched nonetheless believing she would know when she saw it nestled among the floor-to-bottom rows of dusty leather-bound books.Many of them had titles so old that reading them was next to impossible. Others were new, still smelling fresh.Perhaps, she would know what she was looking for by smell?But just as she leaned forward she heard it.It was the softest sound. A sigh maybe.But the night was so quiet
Last Updated : 2023-12-07Dragon Queen. 27
Perci watched her eyes widen and fought a smile. She thought she knew everything. She thought being a dragon was the end of everything. But he knew it was just the beginning, that was what his mother, the late queen, grained into him all his life. Commanding a second dragon and bringing it under control was the beginning of everything.He looked down at the map which held her attention.And everything started with Dragon Island.His blood continued to run on the center pages, bringing to life the islands, lands, forests, fields, and castles that once culminated to make the Dragon Island, once the strongest nation in the world. The world's capital. Five kingdoms surrounded the Dragon Seat which was protected by the dragon wall. All five kingdoms were conquered by dragon lords, descendants of kings from the Dragon Seat.Mare opened her mouth unable to believe the sight before her eyes.“This is impossible…”“Anymore impossible than commanding a dragon with merely the sound of your voic
Last Updated : 2023-12-11Dragon Queen. 28
Angry red flames quickly covered the shelf, climbing up the wall with angry red fingers. Perci’s head whipped around as the smell of burning leather reached his nose. When he ran in the direction of the rising smoke, Mare was right behind him cursing herself for her forgetfulness and clumsiness.“You left a torch here?!” Perci’s voice was hard and accusing as he squeezed between shelves until he made his way to the aisle where the books were burning. The source of the flames, the torch lay fallen on its side.“Gods, what have I done?!” Mare cried, her eyes wide with panic as she shot forward to retrieve the burning torch.Perci grabbed her and at the same time, the wooden book in his hand slipped between his fingers, landing in the flames.“No!” he screamed. The book may be made from dragonwood but it was not infallible to the flames that began to lick the edges. Perci reached forward to save it, ignoring the rising fire as it consumed the dusty, dried pages of books, gaining more fue
Last Updated : 2023-12-16
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Dragon Queen. 34
“Have you finally come to your senses?”Serywithe looked away from her window to see the king standing by her door, a less than pleased expression on his face with one dark brow furrowed over the eye. It was past noon and throughout the day she had had no company, only the sounds of splintering woods as the men prepared for the tournament tomorrow kept her mind alert. She had watched the servants carry large wooden bowls filled with plucked birds for the feast. Two young kitchen boys had passed beneath her window carrying a large dead boar to be prepared.She held her hands in front of her. “I have father,” her voice was soft, she was trying hard to keep it that way. His outburst that morning had frightened her as was the one at breakfast the other day. “I have had enough time by myself to think I realize that perhaps I have been unfair to you.”He looked relieved as he fully entered her room and closed the door.Serywithe took more steps closer until she was only a few feet away from
Dragon Queen. 33
Mare’s eyes drifted around the room still unable to understand just how much had changed in just a few months.Llod poured more than one cup and handed one to her. She took it gingerly between both of her hands and could only hold it against her belly.Llod gulped his wine and smacked his lips. “By the gods, Arlankis has the best wine.”“The gods? Since when did you become a believer Llod?” Mare asked, a brow raised in question.“Since you commanded a dragon!" His eyes widened with appreciation. "Mare what you have done has set the wheels in motion, nothing will ever remain the same again.”“I could say the same for you, Llod…”“And you would not mean the same thing. I am not the one who is going to be queen. You are…”“Not because I asked for it!” she raised her voice mildly. “You speak like this and I cannot recognize you anymore.”Llod smiled, opened his mouth as though to speak then shut it and gulped the last of his wine. “Many things have changed since we attempted to kill the k
Dragon Queen. 32
Arlankis was as she had never seen it before. The sunbathed streets were broad, some dirty others clean and you knew the residents of the streets by their appearances. The quality of clothes on casual passers also hint at the caliber of people who live in which streets.Mare, though hidden under the thick cloak with its large hood, could not stop her eyes from darting all over the streets. So engrossed in the many sides of Arlankis that she had never seen before that she nearly walked over a young girl carrying a woven tray of half-rotten apples. The girl stumbled as she hurriedly moved out of her path.“Pardon, my lady.”Mare’s heart turned cold and she paused in her steps. Hegi seeing this stopped too and turned to fix her with a questioning glance.“Why have you stopped?” he whispered, glad for the crowd of traders announcing their wares from front shops.“That little girl,” she whispered back. “She knew I was – I am not a commoner.” She paused. “So to speak.”Hegi’s eyes softened
Dragon Queen. 31
Serywithe threw back the covers of the bed and rose on her feet, fury on her face like a bear confronting an intruder.“And why must I speak to you? You have given Father your consent, what else do we have to say to each other?”“Do I really have to give Father my consent before he makes a decision?”“But you did not protest his hare–brained decision! Challenge him, damn you!”Perci quickly closed the distance between them and waved his index finger in her face. “Need I remind you the cost of such words against your king?”“He is our father!”Perci sighed. Of course, she thought so because she was young when they were captured. So was he but he never forgot the day he was brought to Arlankis and announced as Vallezarii’s rightful heir. Serywithe had been too young to remember clutching to their mother’s chest with her thumb in her mouth therefore for her, Vallezarii would always be the father she never remembered. She knew nothing of dragons or the blood running through her veins.We
Dragon Queen. 30
The loud scraping of wood against stone accompanied Serywithe's rise from her seat as she slammed her fist on the table nearly breaking her hand to protest.“You cannot possibly be serious father!” She screeched.Vallezarii ignored her. “There shall be a tournament tomorrow to mark our marriage, one is befitting for the descendant of a dragon who will now become my wife.”“Father!”He finally turned to her, cruel eyes reduced to slits. “What say you?”“You cannot give my mother’s crown to a slave!”“How dare you question my decision?”“I dare because I am your daughter and I respect my dead mother enough to stand against this foolishness!”Beside her Phynally’s bereaved daughter tugged on the sleeve of her gown to call her to order but Serywithe’s blue eyes flashed angrily and her anger would not be quelled.Everyone else at the table, more than two dozen guests held their breath as they waited for the king to rise and deal her a blow with the back of his hand. Mare remained as she wa
Dragon Queen. 29
She stayed awake most of the night unable to do anything but think but her thoughts would not be arranged to form coherency, so Mare found herself tossing most of the night thinking about everything.Perci had to be telling the truth. At least about the origin of his birth. She believed that now.Dragons, born of fire, did not burn. And the prince’s hand had been just fine when he reached into the fire to save a mere book.And his finger? There was no hurt done to his finger yet he wrapped it.So many questions…the secret passage? The marks on his back.And then…She pressed the sides of her face noting the increase in her cheeks’ warmth.It was nothing more than a mere act to keep her silent and she should be appalled by it. She was appalled but not by the kiss itself. She was appalled by her lack of disgust at the feel of his lips on her mouth. Surely, she was stupid if she considered the heir of her enemy as her friend. For all she knew, this was a trick to make her reveal herself.
Dragon Queen. 28
Angry red flames quickly covered the shelf, climbing up the wall with angry red fingers. Perci’s head whipped around as the smell of burning leather reached his nose. When he ran in the direction of the rising smoke, Mare was right behind him cursing herself for her forgetfulness and clumsiness.“You left a torch here?!” Perci’s voice was hard and accusing as he squeezed between shelves until he made his way to the aisle where the books were burning. The source of the flames, the torch lay fallen on its side.“Gods, what have I done?!” Mare cried, her eyes wide with panic as she shot forward to retrieve the burning torch.Perci grabbed her and at the same time, the wooden book in his hand slipped between his fingers, landing in the flames.“No!” he screamed. The book may be made from dragonwood but it was not infallible to the flames that began to lick the edges. Perci reached forward to save it, ignoring the rising fire as it consumed the dusty, dried pages of books, gaining more fue
Dragon Queen. 27
Perci watched her eyes widen and fought a smile. She thought she knew everything. She thought being a dragon was the end of everything. But he knew it was just the beginning, that was what his mother, the late queen, grained into him all his life. Commanding a second dragon and bringing it under control was the beginning of everything.He looked down at the map which held her attention.And everything started with Dragon Island.His blood continued to run on the center pages, bringing to life the islands, lands, forests, fields, and castles that once culminated to make the Dragon Island, once the strongest nation in the world. The world's capital. Five kingdoms surrounded the Dragon Seat which was protected by the dragon wall. All five kingdoms were conquered by dragon lords, descendants of kings from the Dragon Seat.Mare opened her mouth unable to believe the sight before her eyes.“This is impossible…”“Anymore impossible than commanding a dragon with merely the sound of your voic
Dragon Queen. 26
It was dark, just as she expected.Strange how it looked larger than the first time she was here. Maybe it was the darkness that made the aisle of shelves look longer or maybe it was the shadow cast by the torch that made the shelves longer.She trod carefully on the floor, her bare feet barely making a sound as she darted behind one shelf and waved her light in front of it.It had nothing she was looking for. She had no idea what she was looking for. A map? A book of records? Records of what? Dragon descendants? Baryns? Dragons?She didn’t know what she was looking for but she searched nonetheless believing she would know when she saw it nestled among the floor-to-bottom rows of dusty leather-bound books.Many of them had titles so old that reading them was next to impossible. Others were new, still smelling fresh.Perhaps, she would know what she was looking for by smell?But just as she leaned forward she heard it.It was the softest sound. A sigh maybe.But the night was so quiet
