Page 9 of The Dragon Maiden

After a couple seconds, I raced back to the Dragon Maiden cavern, where the others were waiting. From the looks on their faces, it was obvious that they were angry.

“How stupid are you?” Vimery was the first to speak as soon as I entered, her tone scathing. I flinched at her volume and my face flushed.

“Hush,” Alonsa said, holding up a hand. She took a few steps towards me. “Valora, why did you leave in the middle of the night?” Although her tone was much kinder, I could sense the steely undertone underneath it. Her brown eyes gazed at me with a coldness I had not seen from her before and a shiver ran down my spine.

My mouth ran dry and I swallowed, trying to come up with the words. “When I couldn’t fall back to sleep, I decided I should get some work done. Usually, I come back before everyone wakes up, but last night, I dozed off after cleaning.” I bowed my head slightly to show my remorse. “I’m sorry if I got you in trouble.”

“We nevereverleave the cavern after lights go out,” Alonsa said firmly. “Now that you know, there won’t be an excuse for next time. It isforbiddento leave at night.”

I picked up a plate of strawberry-topped pancakes, my curiosity piqued. “Why?”

The expressions of the other women told me they were tired of my questions so I began to eat my breakfast.

“It’s just one of the rules,” Gwen said, not offering an explanation. “But if you break the rules again, you will be cast out, and those consequences aren’t pleasant.”

“Just be careful next time,” Hyacinth added. “It’s always a shame to lose a Maiden.”

My stomach churned and I finished my pancakes, chewing more slowly to try forcing the food down. The others once more scattered around the cavern, eating and talking amongst themselves. Vimery looked over at me from time to time, a withering expression on her face.

After breakfast was quickly consumed, Alonsa clapped her hands. “Get dressed everyone. We have a long day ahead of us.”

Today, I changed into a pale-green long-sleeved dress before hurrying back to Lord Dracul’s hoard. He already waited for me, inspecting the polished gold. Seeing his back to me, I paused in the doorway, unsure of what to say. I already knew that despite what he’d said previously, I was in trouble.

“You did an excellent job polishing,” he said, still facing away from me. He must have heard me coming.

“Thank you.”

When he turned to face me, I bowed my head, keeping my eyes downcast. The other Maidens always did so. It seemed like a rule—if not an unspoken one—when talking to the Dragon Lords. I could not afford another mistake, not today.

“Valora, look at me.” His voice was gentle.

I gulped, looking up, hoping he would not yell at me. Instead, his silver eyes shone with kindness, a small smile across his lips.

“I do not want you worrying about what Verhorn said today, am I clear? I understand the rules were not fully explained to you and probably won’t be completely explained until you do something wrong again.”

I felt my expression fall. Did he want me to fail before chastising me again? If I made a big enough mistake, I could easily be killed. And he was just willing to gamble my life away on that chance? I clenched my jaw, trying to contain the rage I felt building inside of me.

“I am the High Dragon Lord, the leader of all the dragon clans. Nothing will happen to you without my permission, do you understand?”

I nodded silently, not trusting myself to speak.

“I have found that you are a quick learner and work hard, so I’d like to see how quickly you learn the rules.” The smile on his face grew wider.

Hot anger bubbled up inside of me and I knew I would not be able to contain myself. “What sort of game are you playing here?” All worry from earlier quickly disappeared, replaced by fury.

“Excuse me?” His expression faltered, his smile slipping.

“First, I am torn away from my life and told I have to stay here to be yourservant.” The words spat forth, releasing a cork on the pain and anger I had felt over this past week. “And now you’re gambling with my life as to whether or not I can learn these stupid rules on how everything is run here. I had something important I was going to do, something that meanteverythingto me, until I was picked up by your winged follower and brought here. I didn’t ask for this, so don’t treat me like I was specially chosen or anything. You may be the High Dragon Lord, but that meansnothingto me.”

During my outburst, he looked taken aback, obviously not expecting my venom. After I stopped, I realized that I breathed heavily from my rant, gasping for air. He remained silent for several moments, and I broke the silence.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” He was now unreadable, his tone cool. I was unable to ascertain anything from it. My heart began to sink. This was it. I had finally pushed his patience too far.

“Aren’t you going to roast me or something for talking to you like that? For being out of line?”

He was quiet once more, and I felt the need to fill the silence.

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