Page 106 of Wickedly Ever After
He didn’t finish his question, because a roar came from the hallway, the kind of roar that preceded fire. A huge, golden-brown dragon loomed in the doorway, chestnut eyes flaming. It bore down on him, jaws agape. “What have you done with my husband? Tell me now, or I’m going to eat you!”
It was the princess.
50
Ida
There are those who would say that vivomancy has fewer limitations and less potency than necomancy. This is a fallacy. Magic that relies on accelerating the natural processes of conception, growth, and birth is the most dangerous magic in the world and should not be treated as inferior or less powerful than magic that starts with a corpse and adds animation.
For this reason, transformation is not an art many good witches now indulge in, despite its seductive charm. It just takes too much magic to turn a man into a convincing monster if he isn’t one already.
Magic and Mischief—A Thousand Years of Happily-Ever-After: A Memoir
Ida North
If not for the brown eyes and the way the dragon pinned Hector bodily to the ground under a huge, onyx-taloned paw, Ida wouldn’t have known Amber. She was truly glorious—a huge female dragon with deep chocolate scales and bright dots of orange and green on her soft belly. Her teeth, sharp and amber-colored, dripped venom as she loomed over Hector.
“Where is he?”
“I haven’t touched him.” Hector gasped as Amber pushed down, crushing him.
“Amber, stop!” Ida said, quaking inside. “Hector hasn’t done anything to Alistair.”
“Alistair is gone! He probably turned him to stone or into a monster!”
Ida stared at Amber. The girl didn’t know. She seemed utterly unconcerned about being a dragon. Every move she made looked exactly like what a dragon would do. It was a complete and perfect transformation. Under normal circumstances, Ida might have applauded Hector’s skills. Not today.
She glared at him. “Hector—”
He squirmed under the dragon’s paw. “If you’ll let me up, Amber, I’ll try to explain—”
“The only explanation I want is the one that tells me where Alistair is!” Her voice rose to a hysterical pitch.
“What’s going on out here?” Morga appeared in her human form, pulling a gilt robe on as she came from the Flamelord’s room. “Oh, Gods!” In an instant, she shed her robe and assumed her dragon form. She swooped in, shoving Amber off Hector. She bared her teeth. “Let him up right now!”
“But he took Alistair!” Amber backed up.
From the kitchen, Hari’s frightened face appeared, and Tinbit, spatula raised like a sword, started forward.
“Hari! Tinbit! Don’t move,” Ida yelled. “Hector isn’t responsible for Alistair’s absence. I am.”
“What?” the dragons hissed, and both of them flattened their ears and snarled.
“What?” Hector rose, straightening his robe.
“I changed Alistair into a man,” Ida said. “He’s in an enchanted sleep in a cave where only his true love can go. When Amber kisses him, he’ll be transformed into a handsome prince and they can live happily ever after.”
Morga stomped on Hector’s feet in her haste to bite Ida. “You turned my son into a man?”
“Don’t be absurd,” Ida squeaked, nose inches away from bared teeth. “Once Amber presents him to the kingdom as the prince she saved from his dragonhood, they can get married in a double wedding with the prince and the captain of the guard, the Happily-Ever-After will be fulfilled, and then she can go back to the mountains. He’ll revert to his natural state after that—I don’t do long-term transformations!”
Morga stared at Hector, then at Amber. “Is Amber a temporary transformation as well?”
“Transformation? What are you talking about?” Amber thumped both her front paws on the floor.
“My dear, you are a dragon,” Morga said. “Or at least that’s how you woke up this morning.”
The great, brown eyes opened wide in surprise. “What?”
