Page 34 of Cursed with the Dragon Prince

Just as I question my right to be queen, she questions her right to be a deity, questioning her ability to nurture her clan.

All these thoughts—and more I can’t articulate—stream through me. Wisp fills me with a numbing tangle of emotions, most of which I can’t relate to. I don’t know what it’s like to be an isle, to have birthed a clan.

The fireflies return, streaming out from the cavern walls, surrounding me in her light. They coalesce, forming the shape of the white dragon I once dreamed of, and I find myself in hercompany, awe and terror and doubt shifting within me. There is much to discuss, but my tongue is tied.

Eventually, my fingers brush against the scales at the base of my neck. Despite my new body, the scales remain familiar, unchanged. “Can I ask a question?” I ask.

The white dragon tilts her head and silently replies,“Yes.”

“You said you didn’t curse me. But did you choose me?”

Wisp stays quiet, the dragon stilling.

“Because these scales at my neck, my fascination with this isle—I wasn’t shipwrecked here by chance, was I? Did you… Did you draw me here intentionally?”

For too many heartbeats, her silence continues.

“I don’t know,” she finally replies.

“What do you mean?” I speak fast, afraid to pause, to question the wisdom of raging at a deity. “How can you not know? Thisthingthat made me this way—I never asked for it. My family called me cursed for it.”

When she still doesn’t answer, the worst of my questions finds its way to the tip of my tongue. “Did you cause my barrenness?”

I think she did it.

Because she still isn’t answering.

Fury makes me tense. My fists tighten as my face scrunches, fighting the urge to cry. No—no! “Did… Did you curse me?” I ask again.

She’s prompted to reply, “It was not intended as a curse.”

I’m gripped by rage as she continues.

“I am bound to this land, but the Nearbright Sea is my friend. I sought her help when the dragon fae stagnated, refusing to nominate a third candidate to break my curse. I granted her powers of scales and obsidian, instructing her to mark a human—a mark that would toughen them, making them courageous enough to lead this clan.” Her voice growsquiet as she finishes. “I needed someone willing to leave their home, someone inclined to choose me.”

“This—You—”

I choke on the words I can’t find.

Her confession is a betrayal. Maybe she didn’t curse me directly, but she granted another deity this power, ensuring I wastoughened by lifewithreason to leave.

Her demands createdme.

“I never had a choice in this.”

She offers little comfort. “You have a choice now.”

There’s so much I want to say—berating her negligence, her abuse of power. She determined my life, making choices that decided the trajectory of my future.

When the tears come, “I wanted to become a mother,” is all I can whisper.

I’m desperate to shower my babe with an affection I never knew. Every child was kept at arm’s length, denying me at least the release of supporting others, for fear my curse was contagious. Dark laughter escapes my lips—what foolery. It wasn’t contagious.

This curse was always only mine.

Footsteps sound farther down the tunnel, and the dragon vanishes, fireflies scattering as my interlude with Wisp comes to an end.

Confusion brims my thoughts. I’m about to attempt one of Wisp’s rites, swimming in deadly magma. Is such a deity worth the risk?

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