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Chapter 41
Last Updated:
2022-05-14 23:17:14
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My little Dragon Queen Chapter 42
That night, Alcina returns to Brendan's (their, her traitorous mind has already begun to call it) bed, the two dragons stubbornly affixed to each of her shoulders.Brendan thinks he ought to voice his doubtfulness when he catches the anxious, yearning light in Alcina's eyes. Then, all Brendan does is hand Alcina her silken sleeping eye mask from the nightstand.The tremulous smile Alcina grants him makes Brendan suppose that if he is burnt into a crisp in the middle of the night, well.There are worse ways to go.Thankfully, he is not burnt to a crisp in his sleep.When he wakes, he finds Alcina curled into his chest as usual. The two mini-hearths are curled against Alcina's back, their ridged spines brushing Brendan's arm and transferring a near-burning heat.When Alcina wakes next, eyes sleepy and still, instinctively seeking out first the dragons and then Brendan, Brendan grants her a soft kiss and a smile.* * * * * * * * * *Of course, as with all things in life: just as Alcina b
Last Updated : 2022-05-17My little Dragon Queen Chapter 43
When Alcina wakes up, the fire is gone, leaving behind an ice-cold chill that makes her shiver as if it’s frozen her body inside out.First, she registers the light weight of the two dragons pressed against her head atop her pillow.And then, the hand still wrapped loosely in both of hers.She opens her eyes, right into Brendan’s gaze, staring right back at her.Brendan’s hand sweeps her hair out of her eyes, caressing her skin as he goes, and Alcina shivers.Alcina shifts close, curling inwards around Brendan’s hand, held in hers. She closes her eyes, afraid to open them again.She can still see the gruesome remains of the two men splayed across the bedroom floor. Hadn’t had the courage to open her eyes again to see the third corpse. Instead, she clenched her eyes shut and trembled her way into unconsciousness.“You can open your eyes now,” Brendan murmurs.“You don’t have to be afraid.” You don’t have to see. “Just close your eyes, darling.”Alcina’s lip trembles.She’s afraid.And
Last Updated : 2022-05-18My little Dragon Queen Chapter 44
In all of the excitement of receiving the envoys from House Arison, the dragons, and the attempt on her life - Alcina hadn't noticed the time passing. It isn't until she notices the household staff bustling with a renewed vigor that she realizes just how much time has passed. Mary laughs as she works on Alcina's hair. Orion and Perseus are safely hidden away in Brendan's room, who is now marginally better at being separated from Alcina for small increments of time. "My lady," she exclaims. "What do you mean, what is going on! Your brother is arriving today." Alcina stills. Her eyes widen almost comically in the mirror's reflection, and Mary laughs harder. "My lady!" she repeats. Alcina spins around, disrupting Mary's work on her hair. "Mary," she says urgently. "Today? Are you certain- has it truly already been-?" Mary beams at her. "Yes, my lady. Everyone is quite excited - we have never entertained envoys from the esteemed House Clair before!" The esteemed House Clair. But
Last Updated : 2022-05-21My little Dragon Queen Chapter 45
Lunch is a stilted, awkward affair.Alcina doesn't quite understand the edge in her brothers' smiles. Perfect, undoubtedly, to anyone who views it, who isn't intimately familiar with all the outlines of their features and expressions.Nordin, in particular, is an adept master at fooling the masses into falling in love with his beautiful smile, all while cursing the recipient to the hottest depths of hell in his mind.But Alcina is their sister.Alcina knows, like the back of her own hand, the entire range of expressions and masks her two brothers are capable of putting up.And so, despite the fact that Alfred is conversing calmly and elegantly with Alpha Warner as usual; despite the fact that Nordin's utterly charming personality has already won the swooning love of both the Alpha and the entirety of the household staff; Alcina can sense that something isn't quite right.There's a hint of steel in Nordin's gaze that doesn't melt away, no matter how much he laughs (or pretends to).The
Last Updated : 2022-05-22My little Dragon Queen Chapter 46
Alcina looks around the room that she calls her own and yet hasn't spent a night in for weeks and bites her lip.She decides not to pack, not yet.Not before she speaks with Brendan.* * * * * * * * * *Alcina freezes when she hears the telltale click of the door.She looks up and finds Brendan entering the room with a blank expression on his face. An odd sensation of relief sweeps through her veins after having gone so long without seeing him.And when had two days become a long time?"Brendan," Alcina breathes, standing up to greet him. "Brendan, did you hear? About the-""Yes," Brendan murmurs. He smiles that wan, empty smile that Alcina is growing to loathe. "You can go home, now."Alcina falters.Something aches with a sharp pang. Alcina swallows down the bile, and that tiny, foolish part of her that surges forth, with something as ridiculous as-- I'd thought this was my home.Definitely, valiantly, ignores that trembling, irrational part of her that flits dangerously close to--
Last Updated : 2022-05-23My little Dragon Queen Chapter 47
Alcina is busy packing - if packing means angrily, slightly hysterically, shoving every item she owns into her numerous suitcases. She tries not to fall apart at the seams each time her hand stumbles over something Brendan had purchased for her.And there’s so much of it, and Alcina can’t stop thinking of how stupid she’d been, intoxicated with the delusion that any of it meant anything.The dragons are safely tucked in their own trunk, to be handled with care, empty save for small cushions and a silk sheet lining. The last time Alcina had checked on them, they’d made a comfortable nest of the space, and that had been that.Her bedroom door opens, and Alcina whirls around, head brimming with too many thoughts that are too loud.As it is, she’s still clutching onto the handkerchiefs Brendan had re-purchased for her with a manic sort of vigor that belies a person very, very on edge.It’s Alfred, evidently having finished the last of the discussions.“So,” Alcina clears her throat, arm l
Last Updated : 2022-05-24My little Dragon Queen Chapter 48
Nordin is a man not unlike the most terrifying force in the world when there is something he has set his sights on.For the past half-year, said sights have been set on the one and only horizon of- free Alcina from the damnation that is her betrothal to the man so vile they call him the Shadowed Beast.As it is, there is nothing short of a tornado that could stop him now, when he is finally, finally able to put the gears into motion. He has already assembled their entire entourage within an hour, saddled and ready to depart.Yes, the plan had initially been to stay for a gracious and cordial three-day stay, during which they would leisurely cement the final details of the alliance before setting back for the Heartlands.But when Nordin had arrived and laid eyes on that figure, they called Alcina’s betrothed apprehension had grown in his chest, unbidden. Nordin saw how Brendan’s dark gaze always fixed on Alcina, as though they could not bear to look away.Nordin needs to get Alcina out
Last Updated : 2022-05-25My little Dragon Queen Chapter 49
As the carriages pull out, Brendan walks away, unable to quite stomach the sight of it.The idea of returning to his room - empty, devoid of any indication that Alcina had ever been there at all, as though she were simply one long, poignant dream - is similarly unbearable.So Brendan goes to find Lincoln in the hopes of a night spar. He finds the Commander in the training courtyard, alone, sitting casually on the small steps leading down.A rhythmic, sharp sound - like metal grating against stone - repeats, over and over, growing louder as Brendan approaches him.He pauses.“...Are you sharpening your swords? In the dark?”Lincoln looks up at him, the moonlight glinting eerily off both his blade and his clean white teeth from his grin.Brendan is, not for the first time, mildly disturbed. That they call him the frightening nightmare is laughable, given that Lincoln regularly makes Brendan pause in wary silence.“It is good practice, my lord.”Brendan eyes him dubiously. “Practice, fo
Last Updated : 2022-05-27
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My little Dragon Queen Chapter 121
That afternoon, Alcina takes off for the Heartlands with Perseus to inform her family of House Warners’s decision, while Brandon remains behind to see Percy and Darla off.When Brandon makes his intentions known to the soon-departing lords of the Ranges, there’s hardly a pause before Percy shrugs.“Very well, then.”Brandon raises a brow. “Is that all?”Darla grins, razor-sharp and vicious. “I’ve wanted to gut those pathetic vermin for a while now,” she says as she stretches her neck, languid and incredibly dangerous.Conversational. “Ever since they reared their stupid heads and tried to act like lions instead of the prey that they are.”Ever since they managed to escape unscathed from the massacre of the wedding at the Heartlands, Darla’s been unsettled. Like a shark that smelt blood in the water, only to have lost its prey.Darla has the kind of bloodlust that won’t settle until she’s standing above the carcasses of her chosen prey.Percy merely smiles, as warm as an indulgent love
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 120
They say that Captain Lincoln of the Western Plains’ military is a man unmatched, for he carries with him the favor of the goddess of victory, herself.Stella thinks they might be mistaken.For watching him now - watching the way he leaps into battle with nothing but a sword and his gleaming armor, having stepped down from his steed because he does not wish to risk harm to his horse makes Stella think-He is the god.Stella wishes to never fight another day in her life and has loathed fighting and everything it means and entails, but even she cannot deny that Captain Lincoln in battle is nothing short of mesmerizing.What a frightening man, to make something that Stella loathes like no other, into something- strangely beautiful.Even as the other men under Lincoln’s command have charged in to engage the others in combat, Lincoln remains at the front lines of the conflict, a dancing hurricane flitting across the ground to leave devastation in its wake.He takes on two, three, five, eve
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 119
A figure has come to stand beside her, tall and broad and armor gleaming under the moonlight, white teeth sparkling in a roguish grin-“Commander?”It cannot be.But it is.Commander Lincoln stands before her with all the casual grace of a man out for a stroll, confidence is as alien as it is captivating on the shoulders of a person who stands on a battlefield and yet still somehow manages to look as though he is at home.Stella gapes at him.Lincoln smiles.“What- wh- what are, what are you-““The cavalry has arrived,” Lincoln announces grandly, cheerfully. Always so bloody incomprehensibly cheerful, how-“What?”Lincoln’s smile turns just an edge softer, for just a moment. He tilts his head backwards, and Stella swivels her head, only to choke at the sight of- of soldiers, several hundred of them, bearing the glorious banner of the Western Plains-Stella’s wide eyes must betray her stupor, for Lincoln drops gracefully to a single knee beside her.Stella’s stupor turns into a stilted
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 118
“And where were you, when this intruder managed to slip past our defenses?” Brandon drawls.“Sinking the edge of my blade into his stomach, my lord,” Lincoln replies.They share a grim smile.“I only regret that I could not do so sooner, before he had killed the serving girl,” Lincoln sighs. At that, Brandon’s expression darkens.Alcina had been near catatonic with grief.Ridiculous, in some ways, that a princess should have grown so attached to her servant that she’d mourn Mary’s death like so. But that ridiculous heart is Brandon’s.They’ve hurt what belongs to the Shadowed Beast, and penance will be forcibly wrenched by payment in blood.“They’d likely been searching for Alcina,” Lincoln says. “Or at least, any viable intelligence on her command of the dragons.”“Yes.” Brandon has been made all too well aware of Duke Albrecht’s interest in the dragons. An interest that had spanned years before Alcina’s ever came into the world, if that dilapidated fortress were any indicator.For h
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 117
Brandon emerges from their shared bedroom with keen intent in every step, cloak swirling behind him. Alcina remains in their room, curled along the window seat, Orion’s quiet rumbles bringing her whatever semblance of peace is possible.He pins a standing guard with a raised brow. “And where, pray tell,” he says. “Is Commander Lincoln?”The answer makes Brandon’s brow curve higher and higher on his forehead.* * * * * * * * * *Long before he becomes Commander Lincoln, the man they whisper to be graced by the goddess of victory, the man who leads the greatest military force in all the land to nothing but absolute triumph and glory, Lincoln was just a Lin, a penniless street urchin who’d grow up in an orphanage that had too many mouths to feed and too few beds.It’s been a long time since Lincoln was that skinny, trembling boy in rags with dirt smeared across his cheeks and an aching in his belly; a long time since he’s tasted anything but the sweet, euphoric taste of victory and iron
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 116
With a bloodthirsty vengeance perched on her shoulder in glittering hues of ruby red, Lady Alcina arrives back at the Western Plains to find the castle sunk deep in discord.Although nothing looks to be amiss, it is undeniable in the very tension that permeates the air, that something is wrong.As the two of them enter through the main doors, Alcina can see the flicker of trepidation in the gazes of every guard and attendant who welcomes them back home.Something has happened.“Brandon,” Alcina murmurs, and feels the weight of her husband’s hand pressed against her back in response.“I know,” Brandon says. He too has sensed the unease.Even Lincoln - who ordinarily would be the first to greet Brandon upon his return from any excursion - is glaringly absent.The party has long ended and the lavishly dressed throngs of attendees have long since waltzed out of the castle doors to their own homes. It isn’t odd, then, for the castle to be so quiet, given the circumstances.What is odd, how
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 115
The iron shackles laying at their feet, massive and heavy and bolted to the floor with chains so great that even in their rusted state, have not deteriorated in strength, were clearly once used to contain a beast of unimaginable size and power.A beast terrible - and fearsome - enough, to have warranted such an egregious means of constraint.Alcina’s hands - those gentle, kind things, soft to the touch for how few hardships they’d ever seen, so tender that they’d blistered and bled when she first began to take up swordplay, unused as they were to adversity - curl into fists, still resting against the ivory.Brandon watches as they curl so tightly that he fears Alcina’s nails may draw blood on her own palms, shaking - not with fear, but anger.That is when something new catches Brandon’s eye.Something that catches one of the scant few rays of light, flitting in from the broken doorway.Something that looks like a massive jewel, curved vaguely in the shape of an egg.Something nestled
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 114
Mary catches them just as Perseus dips his head low for Alcina to climb aboard.From beside him, Orion paws at the ground with an irritated snort, displeased at being left behind. But with Perseus’s darker scales, Alcina had thought it would grant them a far better chance at going unnoticed at all, in the inky blackness of the night.“My Lady!”Alcina turns, just in time to see Mary run up to her, her breaths visible in foggy clouds in the night chill. In her arms is a dark bundle, revealed to be one of Alcina’s warm cloaks, lined with fur. Mary heaves for air as Alcina turns to fully face her, having evidently run the entire way from the palace.“My Lady,” Mary says breathlessly, expression lined with worry as she holds up the cloak. “You cannot simply take off into the night without even a cloak,” she says, edging close to a reprimand.Even as that pull pounds with a vengeance in Alcina’s chest still, ever stronger now that she’s recognized the call for what it is, Alcina can’t help
My little Dragon Queen Chapter 113
Alcina catches Nordin's eye from across the room, and though her brothers are unable to extricate themselves from the political small talk they are caught in, they send her a warm smile nonetheless.She beams back, and something in Nordin's smile softens, ever so slightly, at the sight of the sheer happiness the Lord of House Warner has managed to put on their sister's lips.When Brandon had suddenly declared a ball at the week's end, he and Alfred had shared a momentarily skeptical look. But then, Alfred's eyes had dawned with recognition, and he'd stifled a quiet laugh into his hand. Had, as Nordin demanded what was so funny, explained-It would seem that the great beast is entirely bewitched by our willful little sister.And Nordin had felt his own lips twitch into a helpless smile in turn, at the frankly ridiculous lengths it would seem the Lord was willing to go to if it would bring a smile on their little sister's lips in such dire times.Brandon leans down to ask if Alcina woul
