Page 17 of Lady Dragon
Never mind that it was more akin to a work of art.
Suddenly, Samansa could almost see the dragon girl in the darkness, water pouring over her sleek hair—which would look almost black when wet—tracing the elegant slope of her shoulders and back, trickling along lines of smooth muscle, her skin slick and softly glowing like it had just been with sweat, her silver eyes flashing through the steam—
What on earth am I thinking?
Her own eyes latched on to something else—someone else, walking by the courtyard—that could give her a moment’s respite from her fevered thoughts.
“Aunt Marsa!” she called, standing in a rush and waving, forcing Kirek to step back. “How are you today? Apologies for missing you at the bath.”
Her mother’s younger sister turned in surprise and curtsied, her damp hair braided in a crown atop her head. “Oh, hello, dearest. Rather, I should get used to calling you ‘Your Highness’ now that you’ve come of age.” She gave another nod for Kirek. “Lady Dragon. I’m afraid I can’t pause, though I would love to chat about your incredible performance in the tourney. The queen awaits me.”
Samansa waved her onward, grimacing at Kirek as soon as her aunt’s back had turned. “My apologies forLady Dragon. I’ll try to get everyone to quit calling you that.”
But Kirek was hardly paying attention to her, staring after her aunt.
“Now, that is interesting,” the dragon girl murmured.
For a moment, Samansa couldn’t imagine what had drawn her attention, until she remembered what might look different about her aunt to a newcomer and yet was entirely commonplace to everyone now. “Oh, you noticed.”
“Her voice, her jaw, her shoulders,” Kirek began. “Despite the styling of her hair and her lack of any beard, I studied how to tell a man from a woman—”
“She’s a woman,” Samansa said firmly. “We all found out when I was very young. It only took her a while to realize it herself.”
Kirek was still frowning after her. “But how can she have that particular appendage”—she waggled a finger in such a way that made Samansa choke again—“and yet understand she is a woman? Even more, how can women treat her as one of them if she is thus different, even going so far as to bathe with her when not allowing the likes of Jamsens near?”
There was no hesitation in Samansa now, her serious tone drawing Kirek’s eyes back to her. “Men tried to keep us in very specific roles until the War of Fire freed us. We needed the space to grow, to become all that we were capable of. Now that we have it, we generally don’t deny those who want to join us—orif someone wants to leave us.”
There was something calculating in the dragon girl’s gaze now. “So men could decide to be women if they wanted, and then gain access to much more important things than a bathhouse—such as the throne. Your aunt is now a surplus sister to challenge the queen, just as my own aunt is to our Queen Mother.”
“You’re always one to see the worst possible outcome, the enemies who might not even be there in the shadows, aren’t you?” Samansa couldn’t help an exasperated sigh. “It’s not something you decide. It justis. My aunt didn’t become so to get closer to the throne—I was already born and named my mother’s heir, anyway. She’s simply a woman. Likewise, mostmen are simply men, and have no choice but to stay that way.” She gestured about, her arms flapping in an ungraceful way. “Otherwise, indeed, they would try anything to reclaim the ground we gained. This is why we can’t share the throne with them, becausetheywouldn’t share for long, in return.”
Kirek raised a dark eyebrow. “That, and because dragons won’t tolerate them on the throne.”
Samansa smiled wryly. “And that. My brother even—oh, I shouldn’t mention it,” she said quickly, cursing herself. Somehow, she’d gotten too comfortable talking to Kirek. She wasn’t supposed to show the dragon girl fear or weakness, never mind blurt her insecurities about Branon aloud.
“He wants men to sit the throne.”
Samansa started in surprise.
But the dragon girl didn’t look the least bit surprised herself as she continued, “Hewants to sit the throne, instead of you.”
Yes, Samansa thought.And sometimes I wonder if he wouldn’t be better in my place.
But she couldn’t admit such a thing. Instead, she grimaced. “I won’t spread rumors against my own family, especially not with a dragon.” Her eyes popped, and she covered her mouth. “Oh, that sounded terribly ungrateful. What I mean to say, my brother aside, is that our situation could get very complicated without the dragons’ support.” She hesitated, tentatively meeting Kirek’s eyes, which weren’t angry in the slightest, rather more rueful. “Thank you for helping us. Why did you, long ago? It can’t be because we’re both female. EvenIdoubt that, as my brother does.”
Kirek shrugged, but Samansa could see tightness in hershoulders that wasn’t there before. Wariness? “I’m not entirely sure what passed at the end of the War of Fire, after our queen died killing your king. But, no, I don’t believe we allied with women because we saw a connection between us as females. The distinction between dragon and human is far greater than that between male and female.” She rolled her shoulders and stretched her arms, as if she wasn’t quite used to them yet. “Perhaps more significantly among our kind, dragons are brooding or not brooding. Thus, unlike you, we can’t feel differently in our minds from our bodies, because our bodies are all the same, only in different states. We can’t believe we’re brooding when we are not. Does that make sense?”
She seemed to be changing the subject from the War of Fire and the Treaty, so Samansa didn’t feel too forward asking, “Wouldn’t that make you feel more human than dragon, then, as you are now? You have a human body—different from a dragon’s, or at least in a very different state. Ahumanstate.”
“I am a dragon,” Kirek snapped, looking at her sharply. “And I always will be. Don’t forget that.”
Samansa nodded hurriedly, prepared to let it drop, until a thought occurred to her that she blurted out as if she were six years old instead of a young woman of eighteen with supposed social graces. “Still, in this body,couldyou… you know… partake in the morehumanact that leads to brooding?”
Kirek stared at her quizzically for a moment, before her eyes widened in outrage. “I’m not going to justify that revolting question with a response.”
NowSamansa wanted to flee the courtyard before she could say or do anything else she might regret.
She’d taken a step away when Kirek said, “Though I feelI’m owed a question in return for your impertinent presumption. Could you select a woman as your consort, especially if she could give you an heir—a woman like your aunt, for example?”
