Page 39 of The Last Dragon King
As I neared the stone, the hairs on my arms stood up and my breathing slowed. It was almost like I was walking through water or sand. The air was thick with power; it got harder and harder to breathe the closer I got. Did the other girls feel this too? If so, they didn’t show it.
I reached my fingers out. Inches from the stone, a foreboding feeling came over me. Every cell in my body was telling me to run. The only other time I’d gotten this feeling was right before I’d been chased three miles downriver by a giant black bearin.
I hesitated, looking up at the king to see him watching me with suspicion. My gaze then danced to Regina, whose eyes narrowed. If I refused, would they attack me? Would they force me? For the first time since I agreed to this whole thing, I became scared.
I have to do this. Now I wished I’d done what my mother told me and made the king want my body, because nothing would save me now if this thing showed where my true lineage came from.
Maker protect me, I prayed, and grabbed the stone.
I knew the second it touched my skin that I’d made a horrible mistake.
Pure unearthly power ripped through my entire body and I was consumed with blue flames. Heat engulfed my skin as the blue fire burst outward and the room filled with screams. Pain tore across my shoulders as something had yanked me from behind.
I staggered backwards, the flames receding, and I peered over my shoulder to see who was dragging me backwards. When I saw two blue dragon wings, I gasped. Looking around the room, I sought King Valdren’s gaze.
The king stared at me with absolute shock. The old man holding the leather-bound tome ran over to him and whispered frantically into his ear. I started to weep, scared of what was happening, what this all meant, and Dr. Elsie rushed towards me.
“No!” The king reached out, blocking Dr. Elsie, and then looked at his guards. “Seize her,” he said.
What?
“My lord?” Regina sounded confused, and her guards hesitated.
“SEIZE HER!” King Valdren bellowed, and smoke curled from his nostrils.
The betrayal and shock of what he said sliced through my heart.
Two guards rushed forward, hooking arms under my armpits as I continued to sob and shake in fear.
What was happening? How were there wings on my back? Why was my fire blue and not orange like all of the other dragon-folk?
“My lord, she’s scared. She doesn’t know what this means,” Dr. Elsie pleaded with him.
I peered up at him, begging for mercy with my gaze, but he just glared at me. “The first thing she ever told me was a lie. I can’t trust her now.”
I’d been kidding myself until now that my lunch date with him might have made him go easy on me. He looked like he wanted to burn me alive.
The guards dragged me away and I didn’t bother correcting him. He was right.
TWELVE
I lay on the small bedroll inside the cell beneath the castle. Gone were the pretty jade palace walls with gold inlay. Now I was surrounded by gray, flat, damp, rock. No more chocolate cake and fancy balls, I’d spent that last twenty-four hours relieving myself into a bedpan while wearing this ridiculous dress, which was now ruined. The blue dragon wings that had sprung from my back had sucked back in by the time the guards brought me downstairs. Regina had visited me briefly to tell me that the king was investigating me for treason.
She’d looked regretful about having to even say those words, and then she’d left. The first twelve hours, I’d cried, full of fear. Then my tears dried and made way for anger. Now I was ready to kill someone.
How. Dare. He?
I simply make an offhanded comment about him marrying too soon, then I sprout wings and suddenly I’m treasonous?
If what my mother said was true, that my magic was a threat to him, then it wasn’t my fault and there was nothing I could do. I would no longer cower and snivel before him. When he marched me into the city square for sentencing, I would not shed a tearnorbow my head.
I wouldnotapologize for being born.
The sound of footsteps down the hall drew my attention. Another food tray delivery? Or maybe Regina here to tell me my fate?
I stood, brushing off my dusty gown, and tipped my chin up with pride.
When the king himself came into view in front of my bars, I couldn’t help the small growl that ripped from my throat.
