A Shade of Dragon 3(7)

There was no point in maintaining the old window dressing of this friendship, which had served us well in our adolescence but was now useless. After she’d spent the past few weeks covertly attempting to steal my boyfriend—my husband, now—and then betrayed our people in battle… there was no sugar strong enough to coat that kind of history. No “How are you holding up in the castle?” or “Oh my gosh, your dress is so… chic!” could remedy such sabotage. We. Were. Enemies.

“Speaking of humans in the castle,” I muttered, “what kind of gestation schedule do they have you on?”

“What?” Michelle snapped, eyes narrowing.

“I was sure that Lethe would have mentioned.” I wouldn’t have been surprised if he hadn’t mentioned the overbearing pressure to continue the lineage as soon as possible; he’d been so sensitive, it was hard to imagine that he’d procreate for political necessity—without prodding from his father. Then again, maybe I didn’t know Lethe at all. How could he want someone like Michelle? “How did you pull this off, anyway?”

“Oh, like you don’t know just how easy it is. The man switched fiancées like hats, didn’t he?” Michelle laughed. She pulled the diadem from her head and traced its shimmering spikes with her fingertip. “Lethe is so desperate for a woman’s touch, he’s practically human. And his father wasn’t even that racist about it. He said that any ice dragoness would have done the same thing.”

“Betray her people.”

“They were not my people, Nell!” Her fingers tightened around the crown. “I was never anything but an unwelcome tag-along! I was going to be sent back to Maine first thing. Back to everyone hoping that I would settle down with one of those preppy cokeheads getting their stupid business degrees. Can you imagine?” Thankfully, I really couldn’t. My parents had respected my individuality too much to push me toward the randoms from their social circle, like I was a breeding mare who had come of age and was ready to be trotted out for interested buyers. “Back to everyone expecting me to start pumping out children before I even knew what I wanted to do with my life. It’s prehistoric. It’s barbaric!”

“It’s exactly what you’re doing here. Look at yourself.” My eyes trailed over her with undisguised disgust. “What is the ice queen except just another Mrs. Ballinger, with an even bigger staff and even more property?”

Michelle shook her head and scoffed. “You’re just jealous.” She placed the crown back onto her head, slightly askew. She was shaken. What a rare sight to behold. “You would have happily been Lethe’s hand warmer, once upon a time.” She strode closer, pinching a strand of my hair, and then wrapping it around her index finger. “He told me.” She sighed, as if she was sad for me. “How you acted like his friend. Pretended to love him. And then just disappeared into a snowstorm one night. He needed a shoulder to cry on.”

“And you were more than happy to provide it.”

“Oh, Nell.” Michelle shook her head and leaned into my ear, lowering her voice for only the two of us. “You gave up your shot at the crown for a man who was putting his tongue in my mouth every night we spent together.” Michelle leaned away and grinned at me, letting the hair unravel. “I’ll see if I can get a guard to move you into a cell, ’kay?”

With that, she turned and swept out of the room. I stared after her. It was sad how little she had, and how falsely she presented herself. Kind of… pathetic.





Nell





“So.” The voice of my fellow prisoner startled me back into the moment. “Friends with the ice queen, were we?”

“Once upon a time,” I replied, tearing my eyes from her retreating shadow.

“And you’re a human, too,” the man went on. “We don’t see many of your kind on this island. To be honest, you’re the first one I’ve ever met. Pleasure’s all mine, by the way. I’m Altair. Fire dragon, naturally.”

Altair… For some reason, the name sounded oddly familiar. I was sure that I’d heard it somewhere before. But so much had happened to me in the last few days, I couldn’t place it.

“And you couldn’t look at me and tell that I was human?”

Altair smiled. “Can you look at me and tell that I transform into a dragon?”

I raised one brow. “Guess not… except for your slightly pointed ears. I’m Nell. Penelope,” I said.

“Ah, yes. So, you’re the girl Lethe Eraeus first announced an engagement to.” Altair chuckled. “I noticed that you were moved in and out of the dungeon with much more… regularity than any other prisoner. And now he’s been wed to that other human. He must have a thing for humans.”