Page 8 of Dragon Chosen
I hadn’t meant that to come out as a question, but all the etiquette classes I’d been forced to attend hadn’t prepared me for conversing with a dragon.
You are welcome, she replied, walking into the cave behind the pool. As I scanned the cliff faces, it was apparent that there were many caves pocking the entire mountain side.Now, come and eat. Humans cannot eat meat raw, can they?
My stomach rumbled, but that was more due to nausea than real hunger. The stag stared at me blankly as Auren dragged it into the cave. Inside she went over to a massive stone brazier and then blew flames onto the rocks within. I stumbled back at the sudden wave of heat, though once the flames died down and the coals glowed red, the change in temperature was welcome. My dress was still outside, sopping wet.
We will eat, Auren announced,and then we will come up with a plan, because…Reticence wasn’t an emotion I’d associate with a dragon, but that’s what I heard right now.I too am being pressured by my father to find mates.She tossed the stag onto the coals and the cave filled with the stink of burning hair.Perhaps together we can find a way to be free of parental expectations and become masters of our own destiny.
I sat down abruptly on a stone bench and stared up at the dragon, because up until now, I didn’t even think that was a possibility.
Count me in, I replied.
Chapter 5
Auren
My daughter, you are one of the few dragon queens left in Nevermere, my father had said to me that morning.
I know!To shriek at one’s father like a seagull was unforgiveable. Hadrian jerked back then, as if I’d raked my claws across his face. I hadn’t, just dreamed of it every time he came to me with this proposal.By the gods of air and sea, don’t you think I know?
Then you must come to the keep with your sisters.
Father’s tone was tight, making clear what effort it took to remain in control. Except he never slipped. Never raised a claw in anger towards my sisters and me. Never even chided us when we were stupid hatchlings seemingly bent on killing ourselves with our recklessness.
And that was the problem.
Father had raised us away from grasping humans and equally avaricious male dragons, gifting me an idyllic childhood where it felt like the entire world was mine for the claiming. Whatever path I wished to take, whichever territory I decided to settle in, that was for me to determine.
Then I grew up and learned what a lie that was.
I know some of your pain, Fern.The human looked up at that, her forehead wrinkling. Empathy, that’s what I picked up down our psychic link.My father, he… I left the family cave this morning to escape him.She waited for me to continue, not butting in with questions, and I liked that.He expects me to take mates, and soon.I waved a claw through the air, able to conjure Father’s pompous manner in my mind.For the benefit of dragonkind.
He wants to marry you off?She shook her head.I assumed that was something only humans did.
It was just something humans did. Unlike Fern, I knew my history. When I was born, I was laid in a nest of dragon stone. Every time a dragon died, their memories, their experiences, their wisdom went into the stones. When we were still in the shell, we absorbed that wisdom, using it to inform our decisions. So I knew that queen dragons flew free, did what they wished.
I knew my own mother had once ruled over a dragon-run city. That she only took my father as a mate, though she bore children to other males that proved themselves worthy of the honour. That she determined her own path without having to think about the entire species.
My father seems to have been infected by human ideas, I replied.He must’ve been, because why else would he allow these… males to present themselves to my sisters and me? They come sniffing around our cave, showing next to no interest in who any of us are. Just assuming they’ll be the ones to catch us when we rise to mate.
Oh gods…Fern’s hand landed on her chest.They just want to breed with you?
I can only assume that’s their intent. I refused to touch minds with them, I replied, picking up the stag and turning it over to singe more of the fur off.There were no offerings, noattempt to woo me to their side, proving they are worthy of my time.
They just assume they have a right to you.The clever little human, her eyes trailed over my form.Your body, your womb.
Your father wants you to marry some man to benefit the family, I said.Mine wants me to save the species. Both noble goals, but…
But you want more than that.Fern straightened up, meeting my gaze head on.You deserve more than that.
And so do you, Fern.
I leaned forward and used my claws to cut free a chunk of meat, letting it sizzle on the coals as I dragged the rest of the stag closer. With an eye on the meat, I crouched over the animal, starting to scissor off a chunk. When the meat had taken on the savoury scent I’d come to associate with human food, I retrieved Fern’s portion, placing it on a flat stone for her.
Her hunger was evident by the way she tried to grab it as soon as it was close, wincing, then blowing on it to cool it down. I snorted, then drew closer. If her breath would cool it to an acceptable temperature, surely mine would do it faster.
Thank you, she said when she was finally able to handle it, though her blunt human teeth struggled to tear into the meat.
It was tempting to offer to do that as well, but she was human, not a hatchling. For some time, a quiet settled over the cave, broken only by the sound of our chewing, and with that came a peace. One I hadn’t felt for some time.
