Page 2 of Bride of the Black Dragon
“Oh, very well. You may be excused,” she says to him. Then she looks at me sharply. “Well? Cover yourself, girl! Don’t just stand there exposing your filthy bits to everyone!”
I am only too glad to obey. I sweep the robe closed quickly and knot the sash at my side. My plan is to go directly to my room and put on some more substantial clothing. I don’t like wandering the halls of the huge, drafty Citadel with nothing but a silk robe between me and nudity.
Queen Virelda stalks off, her towering crown of hair swaying with every step and Prince Dorian heads in the opposite direction, clearly eager to meet his friend, Henri.
For myself, I head in a third direction, down the long stone hallway with its high, arching ceilings far above. There is a shortcut back to my rooms that my maid, Tanzy, showed me yesterday. So far she’s the only person I’ve met here in the Royal Citadel that I like. I’m grateful I have someone I can talk to here, though of course I’m being careful what I say until I get to know her more.
I pass through the hallway, my slipper-clad feet noiseless on the vast flagstones. I feel like an ant crawling through the immense space but at last I come to the small doorway in the far wall I recognize from yesterday.
Or I think I recognize it. Is it smaller and darker than I remembered? I’m not sure but I can’t hang around in the vast hallway all day. I need to get to my rooms and get dressed!
I head into the small, dark doorway and begin climbing upwards on a set of narrow stone steps. The passageway is definitely smaller than I remember. I can’t even stretch both my arms out fully because the spiral stairway is so narrow. There’s hardly any light, either—I don’t remember it being this dark. Every once in a while there’s a flickering torch, kept alight by benign magic, but whoever cast the spell needs to come rework it because the flames are so low they give hardly any light at all.
A chilly wind blows through the narrow stairway as I wind my way upwards. My thighs are beginning to ache from all the climbing and the ornate silk robe I’m wearing is too thin to keep me warm. I shiver and feel my nipples go tight under the fabric. I wish I had more clothes on! But I was ordered to wear nothing but the robe and slippers to my exam and, trying to be a dutiful new member of the Royal family, I obeyed.
Next time I’m wearing some underclothes at least, I tell myself. Hopefully there won’t be a next time, though. I can’t think of anything I like less than feeling the icy fingers of the Court Physician probing inside me. Just thinking about it makes me want a hot bath. I hope Tanzy has time to draw me one before the banquet tonight. I just?—
My thoughts dissolve to nothing as I see something that stops my heart. Up ahead there is a light that isn’t from the torches. It looks like golden flames coming towards me—what is it? Some kind of evil magic? A ghost trapped in this endless spiral?
I freeze as it comes towards me and then a deep voice speaks.
“Lost, are you, little dove?”
Who is that? I don’t know the voice but whoever is speaking seems to know me. Though it’s rude of him to call me by a nickname a lover might use.
“Who…who are you, Sir?” I wish my voice wouldn’t quaver so. I take a deep breath and try again. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same.”
The golden light comes closer and reveals the other Royal prince—Xaren. Rumor has it he is actually the older of the two brothers, but for some reason he has been passed over for the crown in favor of his younger brother.
That’s really all I know about him—other than he’s as dark as Dorian is light and much taller. Not to mention a lot more frightening. He’s so huge he has to turn sideways so that his broad shoulders will fit in the narrow stairway. His black hair falls over the left side of his face, but it can’t hide the source of the golden light.
It’s his eye. His left eye. It glows with Dragon Fire, as though the Drake inside him is trying to escape.
I haven’t noticed that before—this is the first time I’ve been anywhere near “the Dark Prince,” as I’ve heard the denizens of the Citadel call him. He’s a shadowy figure who seems to be the black sheep of the Royal Family…
And now I’m trapped in a narrow, spiral staircase with him.
“I…you…” I’m not sure what to say.
“What’s the matter, little dove. Can’t speak?” He comes closer, looming over me in the dimness lit only by his one, fiery eye.
I stare up at him, heart pounding, frozen in place. This close I can smell him—a sharp, spicy scent unlike the sickly-sweet, musky perfumes the Nobles wear. He smells of fire and leather and some dark spice that must be the scent of his Drake. Is it close to coming out? Is that why his eye is glowing, or does it always glow?
I don’t know—I’ve only seen him from afar and because he covers the left side of his face with his hair, I’ve never seen his glowing eye before. Maybe because I’ve only seen him in the daylight. It’s much more obvious in the dark of the stairwell.
“Well?” he rumbles.
Fear grips me as he looms over me. We’re alone in this stairwell—he could do anything he wanted to me. Hasn’t my mother always warned me about never being alone with a strange man? And the Dark Prince is by far the strangest man I’ve ever seen.
“You…I…” The words are stuck in my throat. “Please let me pass, sir,” I finally get out. “I must get to my rooms to prepare for the banquet.”
“Ah yes—the banquet. We’ll all be celebrating your marriage to my useless brother,” he remarks, and I hear bitterness in his deep voice.
“Do you dislike him then? Your brother?” I don’t know what makes the words come out of my mouth, but my foolish lips keep moving. “You are perhaps…jealous? That he is Crown Prince and not you?”
“Am I jealous of him?” He sounds genuinely surprised. “No. Or at least, not for the reason you think, little dove.” He laughs harshly.
