Page 2 of To Fight and To Fold

She wouldn't let anything deter her. Not this headache, not the guards, not the stone dragons and their gaping maws and sharp teeth.

The drip of her clothes onto the marble steps was barely heard over the rain spattering against the roof as she marched.

With heaving lungs, she reached the top, and the guards snapped to attention.

“It’s full,” the one on the left claimed.

Her cheeks went red, flushing as anger filled her. “There’s not room for one more person?”

Even through their armor she knew their glances were dubious as they studied her, dripping head to muddy toe.

“No. The ritual has already begun.”

Aaryn lifted both hands and scrubbed at her face in frustration.

“You cannot be serious,” she begged, and then turned her biggest, most rounded eyes up at them. “Please, just one more person. I’ll be so quiet. I won’t even sit. I’ll stand!” Were they worried she would track in the mud?

“Sorry, miss. Best head home.”

The left one took a step forward, hand held out as if to herd her off the steps.

Aaryn wanted to laugh. It turned out something would deter her after all.

She wondered what step of the ritual they were in. Were they praying to the Great Dragon to pick a lucky one? Were they chanting and calling forth what little magic was left in the world to choose the next Tethered?

Aaryn knew what it felt like to stand amongst a thousand other women, pleading to be the one to mark Evergale as a dragon’s home. Now she knew what it was to stand alone, having ruined her own chance at a proper future in this kingdom.

A shadow crossed above them, interrupting the unending gray of the sky, and she turned her head to the clouds, where she preferred it to be anyway.

A great beast—a dragon’s belly—flew above them, wings outstretched as the rider gripped their thighs in the saddle and banked to the right, back toward the castle.

Tears welled, indistinguishable from the rain dripping down her face as the majestic creature seemed to float effortlessly in the air, drifting away silently. Beautiful.

“I missed it,” she said quietly, as the realization finally settled within her.

“Maybe next time?” the guard tried to offer, his consolation empty.

She snapped her glare to him, too angry at herself to contain it.

Three years had passed since the last lottery. Three years since they’d found a new dragon, since his Tethered was chosen by the Great Dragon. How long would it be before the next one?

Aaryn was already too old to marry. At least to anyone with pockets deep enough to satisfy her mother.

And now she’d missed her only chance.

Her headache sharpened, lancing through her head, and she winced. Was this her punishment?

“You alright there?” A guard stepped forward, armor clanking, and she waved him off⁠—

“Yes, yes, I⁠—”

Her entire body seized, all function seeming to halt for a split second before she crumpled to the ground and opened her mouth in a silent scream. To add volume would have hurt too much. It was as if her very skull was rattling, and she heard the jangle of the guards hovering over her. Their voices faded in and out as she tensed, as the ache returned.

“Miss! Miss—hear me? —wrong? Go—help!”

Her whine interrupted their call for assistance, and she clutched at her head.

It hurt.