Page 68 of His Greatest Treasure

I looked down and caught sight of my own feet. They were exactly like the feet of all my clan when they shifted, a dragon’s clawed feet, strong and scaly. Only my scales were a rich golden colour instead of the normal silver.

How was that even possible?

I twisted my long neck to see my body, somehow not sure that I was really seeing myself. There was my back, and my long tail. There were my legs. And all of me was covered in those golden scales, glowing warm and shining in the light.

I’d never heard of a golden dragon before.

My father drew my attention. My name in his mouth sounded like a reprimand.

“Alphonse, shift back. We have much to discuss.”

I tried to obey, but I didn’t know how.

Father snapped, “I gave you an order, Alphonse.”

I breathed out and a thin trail of smoke blew out of my nose. It didn’t burn me, but it felt funny, almost tickling me. I sneezed.

And, as I sneezed, my body changed.

I ended up shifting back to my human form and falling flat on my ass. I sat there, a bit dazed, staring at Blaze as though he’d have the answers.

The hag moved, taking a step back from me. She was edging towards the door and, every time she moved, Blaze went with her. I scrambled to my feet.

My father said, “Alphonse, we will speak about your new duties. You must learn to fight and harness your power.”

I couldn’t believe he was talking about that while Blaze was still being held captive.

“Let him go,” I said again.

Lord Somerville said, “The fire spirit is no longer important. You will learn to create strongprotections to lay at the borders and we will learn from the mistakes we made last time. You’ll lay the protections independently of yourself so they won’t vanish when you die.”

I didn’t really hear what he was saying. The hag took another step back, towards the door, and I lost my temper.

The dragon inside me felt hot and powerful, and that was such a strange, unexpected feeling that I couldn’t control it. All I knew was that the hag was hurting Blaze, holding him against his will, and she was now trying to take him away from me.

I roared out, “Let him go now!”

I felt the fire rise up my throat and it burst out of my mouth, a sudden bright flare of light. I was so surprised that the flame stopped as quickly as it had started and I blinked at Blaze. Inside me, my emotions warred. Surprise, anger, fear, pride, love, they all clashed in a battle inside my stomach and my instinct was to go to Blaze. He always made me feel better when my insides were misbehaving like this.

When I took my first step towards them, the hag dropped Blaze suddenly and fled out the door. Once she’d let my Blaze go, I ignored her. She wasunimportant. All that mattered was getting Blaze into my arms.

He dropped to the ground, his flames twisting and writhing as he settled, and then he was his human self again. I had him wrapped up in my arms in an instant, and I held him as close as I could. I didn’t even worry about squishing him because he held me back just as tightly.

His arms were around my waist and his face was buried in my neck. The tickle of his breath was comforting and the twisting, churning feelings inside settled down.

As they did, I wondered for the first time whether that was my dragon doing that.

“Do you think it was my dragon that did all my bursting?”

Blaze snorted out a laugh and held me tighter.

“It might have been. It got better when we were together, didn’t it?”

“Yes, but it got worse when we, um, you know.” I glanced around, not wanting to say anything about kissing Blaze in front of my family.

Blaze pulled back just enough to look up at me. He was so beautiful that it took my breath away. His gold and orange-flecked eyes were warmand loving and shiny with tears. His cheeks were streaked with them and his lips had the slightest curve of a smile to them. He was so delicate, so lovely.

“I think your dragon was trying to get out.”

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