She sat down on the stone bench, enjoying the sunshine and waiting for his return.
A few minutes later, a different dragon flew up, red and black, smaller than Orion. She felt an odd twist of uneasiness. What was she worried about? It was a fire dragon. Not an ice dragon. Not someone come to kidnap her.
The dragon shook itself and the air went ripply as it melted into human form. It was Viola – the woman who hated her. She stood there, stark naked, and her eyes were blood-red.
Viola’s lips curled in an ugly smile.
“Look at you, all alone up here,” she said. “I hear you can’t fly.” She glanced at the cliff edge. “Shall we find out?”
Cadence felt a sharp stab of anger.
“Let’s be clear,” she said coolly. “Are you threatening to throw me off the cliff?”
“What if I was?” A cruel smirk curved Viola’s lips. Smoke streamed from her nostrils, and a wave of red and black scales rippled over her skin.
“I mean, what good are you, anyway? You’re not human, you’re not a dragon. You claim you’re fertile, but you certainly haven’t proved it yet. That would be a great way to get your claws into our Dominus. Trick him into a sterile mating.”
Cadence clenched her fists and yearned for her wolf. “There’s so much stupid in what you just said, I don’t even know where to begin. So I won’t bother. Get the fuck out of here.”
“Or what? You’ll go running to Orion and tell, like a crybaby?” Viola stalked closer to Cadence, until Cadence was forced to take a step back.
Then Cadence stood stock still. Viola walked right into her, ramming her hard, and pushed her, forcing her to take two more steps back. Now she was getting alarmingly close to the mountain’s edge.
“Scared, aren’t you?” Viola said eagerly.
Cadence felt fury boiling deep inside her, and before she knew it, it came whirling out of her in a blast like nothing she’d ever experienced. She felt a delicious chill sweep through her body, and a surge of power that thrilled her all the way down to her toes.
Viola was instantly covered with frost from head to toe. Icicles dripped from her hair. Her eyes were frozen open, her mouth in an O of shock and horror.
Stiff as a statue, she fell flat on her back. Several icicles snapped off her hair and fell onto the stony ground.
Cadence stared at her in alarm. Had Viola just…cracked? She hadn’t meant to actually kill her – just warn her off.
Then the ice on Viola began melting, and she made spasmodic twitching movements. Soon she was lying in a puddle of water with steam rising from her body, and frantically blowing out puffs of smoke from her mouth and nose. She was warming herself from the inside out.
She climbed to her feet and staggered back a few steps. Her eyes were wild. Her face and hands were blackened and blistered. Half her hair had broken off.
Cadence heard the giant whoosh of wings, and a gale of air whipped her hair into snarls as Orion landed with a roast sheep clenched in his jaws. He dropped it on the ground with a thud.
She was suddenly starving. Must be an effect of using her dragon powers.
Cadence ran over, grabbed a piece of mutton with her hand, tore it off, and began shoving chunks of meat into her mouth. Screw table manners. She felt like if she didn’t get some food in her, she’d faint.
“What the hell happened?” Orion demanded, looking at the two women. “What did you do to her?”
“Oh, Orion! I’m so glad you’re here! You saved my life,” Viola whined. “You must hand her over to the ice dragons! I flew up here to make peace with her, and she was so jealous that she just—”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Orion snapped. “It’s obvious you threatened her.”
“What do you mean?” Viola let out a low wail of dismay, gesturing at herself. “You’ve known me and my family your entire life! You just met her! You’re going to take her side over mine?”
Orion’s gaze was hot with anger.
“She has just started to develop her powers. She can barely make an ice cube under normal circumstances. The only way she would be able to blast you like that is if you attacked her or made her fear for her life.”
Viola sniffled. She reached up and gingerly patted her head. A big chunk of hair came off in her hand. She touched her cheeks, feeling the blisters that bubbled there, and groaned in fury.
“Look at me! She’s scarred me for life! Nobody will have me.” Her desperate gaze focused on Orion. “Your guest did this, and by law, you are responsible for the damage. It’s the law, Orion – it’s in the scrolls! You have to take me as your mate now. And I can give you dragonlings! You know I can!”