The Dragon Queen

Two: Prince George

Two

Prince George

That little devil had kissed me!

I didn’t think she had it in her. She’s never been kissed before, I know. Because I’m the only one allowed to kiss her. Yet, she kissed me like she knew what she was doing. My lips were still tingling after she left.

“Alright, son?” My father, King Archimedes, asked. There was a hint of amusement in his voice. No doubt he was as perplexed by Ashden’s kiss as I was. Ashden wasn’t bold. She was a quiet, little mouse who did as she was told. It was why she had no friends. Because I didn’t want to share her with anyone else.

I couldn’t very well have her loving other people when she didn’t even love me yet. I know, it seemed cruel to keep her at a distance from everyone. But once we were married, I had vowed to make her feel loved. Or, at the very least, to let the world know that she was mine.

I traced my still tingling lips with my finger. “I’m fine.”

“I’m surprised at her. She’s never done anything like that before, has she?” He asked.

I knew what he was really asking. Were we secretly sneaking into each other’s rooms to ravish her? Was there going to be an heir before the wedding even happened?  No, there wasn’t. Although it wasn’t as if I hadn’t thought about it.

Her room was right across the way from mine. Sometimes, at night, I could hear her breath.  Or I crept into her room, just to make certain that she was still there. I had had nightmares that her father would send an army to take her away since we were children.

“No,” I said, shaking my head, “not at all.”  No, Ashden was far too busy stealing secret looks at her guard, Haven Haywood to even pretend to be interested in me. That she was going to have another guard, someone from her home watching her, didn’t sit well with me. But I had no choice in the matter.

I would be the one marrying her, in the end. And if I wanted that to happen, I had to keep things civil. No matter how much it pained me.

He patted me on the shoulder. “She must be excited about the wedding. If I were you, son, I’d take this as an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?” I said dryly.

He nodded. “The Knight might be around, but he can’t interfere with anything personal. She’s made the first move son. Besides…. if you impregnant her, we can move the wedding up.”

“Are we done?” I asked, clenching my fists, and resisting the urge to punch him in front of a room full of press.

He nodded. “Of course. Away with you! Young love, and all that!”

I rolled my eyes and stormed off. I didn’t give one whit about young love. But I did care about getting married to Ashden sooner. In fact, I’d fully been relishing in my freedom that would not be a luxury once I was married.

Ashden knew, too.

She’d seen girls sneaking out. She’d seen boys sneaking out. Her own pretty knight might join me in my bed if he was lucky enough. Samel, not Haywood. Believe me, I’d tried. But at that moment, there was only one person that I wanted to see. Who was no doubt laying in my bed if he knew what was good for him.

I went to my room and found my own guard there.

 Sir Lancelot Larkin.

Or, at least, he would be a sir once he turned eighteen and he could inherit his dearly departed father’s title. Lancelot was as pretty as Ashden’s Samael, if not prettier. He had a lean, lithe, tall body, with small shoulders, and piercing, almost black eyes. His nose was hooked, like a bird, and he had cheek bones that were sharper than glass. His hair was as black as his eyes.

He was not in my bed, like I expected. But he was wearing one of my blue robes, and nothing but while he poured himself a glass of my scotch. “Well?” he said. “How’d it go?”

I frowned, still only to think of Ashden’s demure, little pink Cupids Bow lips kissing me. “I insulted her, and she kissed me.”

Lancelot turned to me, and grinned widely, like the Big Bad Wolf that he was. “Well, well, well the girl might have her s****l awakening yet. I was ever so concerned we might have to make her into Anne of Cleves.”

“Oh no,” I said, “she’s got fire.”

He took a sip of his scotch. “Do you think she’d be interested in sharing? Because I have to admit, I’d be rather interested to see that fire for myself.”

I smirked. “We’ll see, love. I have to get her to like me first, and I’m not sure I can do that.”

Lance snorted. “Just order her to.”

“You know I’m not going to be that sort of King,” I said, “but while we’re at it, make me an old fashioned.”

Lancelot smirked. “Of course, my dear. Cherry or no cherry?”

“Cherry,” I said. “Aren’t you supposed to be with the Dragon Slayers doing drills?”

Lancelot began to mix my drink, pulling this and that from the bar I had in my room. “You know the minute there’s a fire breathing lizard in the sky, I’ll be there. Until then, I’m going to skip the Crazy’s Anonymous. I’m your guard, and that’s what matters most anyway.”

I frowned, thinking of Sir Samael. I had watched his eyes stalk Ashden the moment she had walked, more like stumbled, into the room. “Speaking of guards….”

Lancelot paused what he was doing and glanced over his shoulder. “Ah. I wondered how long it would be before you asked about Sir Pretty.”

I chuckled. “You noticed how attractive he is too?”

“The minute he walked through the palace gates this morning,” said Lancelot, “I showed him around. He’s quiet. But of course, you know he’s not the guard you have to worry about.”

I bristled at the casual mention of Haven. I hated that everyone could see what I saw too between them. “Do you think he’ll be a problem?” I asked.

I had heard often of Queens and Princesses taking their guards to bed. I kept Ashden isolated, away from everyone for that very reason.

Lancelot shrugged. “I don’t know. Our Little Ash Girl might have been named after fire, but she doesn’t have much in her. She’s loyal. Maybe not to you, but certainly to her family.”

I frowned. “You don’t think she’s loyal to me?”

Lancelot snorted. “Why would she be? We’re the monsters that took her away from everything. Every night the palace still stands, I’m amazed because I honestly thought that----”

There was a pounding on the door.

“Go away!” I hollered.

The knocking continued, fiercer this time. “f**k off!” I said.

Finally, the door was pushed opened and there stood a pissed off looking Anu Morgan. She was a tall girl, with brown, sun kissed skin, black hair, and serious brown eyes. At this moment, she wore sleek, fitted, silver knights armor emblazoned with the Vincian crest. A dragon being stabbed through the heart by my ancestor, also named George. Anu also happened to be Lancelot’s cousin.

She glanced at him. “Where were you? I called your cell phone six times and you didn’t answer!”

Lancelot finished making my drink and walked it over to me. I took it from him, taking a swig.

Lancelot rolled his eyes. “Where do you think I was? I was here, doing what I’m supposed to do. Guarding.”

“You’re a member of the Dragon Slayers! You’re more than that, you’re the Captain. But you delight in pushing all of your work off on me. You were supposed to be training with us.”

“What happened? Did one of the little pages almost drown in the current again?” Lancelot asked.

Anu’s eyes blazed. “No. One of the pages didn’t drown. But they did find something.”

“What did they find?” Lancelot asked.

“Eggs,” she said.

“What, like bird’s eggs? That isn’t exactly rally the troops scary, Annie. You need to loosen up a bit,” I said.  

She glared at me. She absolutely hated the nickname that I’d given her. But she loved it at the same time, and any other day, her eyes might have been twinkling. Except for today, there was no such twinkle, which is how I knew she was dead serious about whatever it was that she had found.

“What kind of eggs, Anu?” I asked, this time my voice appropriately serious.

She took a breath. “Dragon’s eggs. Three of them. On the beach. I had the pages get them and bring them to the king.”  

“Surely they’re…. fossilized?” Lancelot asked, his voice having none of that usual bravado that he portrayed gone.

Anu slowly shook her head. “I can hear their heartbeats.”

“Get dressed,” I snapped at Lancelot. I glanced at Anu. ”Whatever you do, no word of this must get back to Ashden!”

Anu nodded, and I ran with her back to the throne room. There was a flurry of activity as press were kicked out, and some shoved microphones in my face trying to get answers. I ignored them all and went inside.

There, sitting in the middle of the table where I had just signed the signature sealing my fate to Ashden’s, were three, golden dragon’s eggs. Our world ran on pixie dust. Pixie dust was pure magic, and the pixies gave of it freely to us. But even they didn’t have an extensive supply. But centuries ago, when the land was fresh, and green, and cities hadn’t even been an idea yet, dragons had flown in the skies.

They’d reigned down chaos, and destruction, burning everything in their wake. So we’d slaughtered the beasts, and we’d used the magic from their bones to create the technologically advanced society we had today.

But the dragons had been extinct long ago.

Yet there was proof before me that they weren’t. Three forms of it.

“Are they real?” I asked my father. “Surely they’re not fakes.”

“They’re not fakes, son,” he said with a grin. “You can hear a heartbeat. But just to be sure, I’ll be calling the court Wizard to examine them. Can’t ever be too sure. But not a single soul outside of this room finds out.”

“And me!” Lancelot stumbled in, now fully clothed.  “Terribly sorry to be late, your highness. But you know what they say. No one’s ever really late, everyone else has simply arrived too early.”

My father frowned. “Sir Larkin. So, you know about the eggs.”

“As well I should, being George’s guard.” He smiled at him, and it took everything in my power not to laugh.

King Archimedes focused his attention on me. “It is imperative, whatever you do, that Ashden does not find out about this. She came to us when she was very young, but we still have no idea what she does or does not remember about her home. We can’t very well have her see something that would trigger memories.”

“Of course,” I said, “you don’t have to worry about Ashden. I’ll do whatever it takes to distract her.”

Vincian legend was that dragons hadn’t existed for centuries. We had made the people believe that, getting rid of every, single book possible or any proof that said otherwise. They didn’t know what we royals were privileged—or burdened---to know.

That the dragons had never really died out. That they still existed to this day. With the Kingdom of Continuar. Long ago, there were dragons so fierce that they killed entire cities and villages. But Vincia, and the Dragon Slayers, had fought long and hard to minimize their damage. To create a society where humans could thrive.

And, with the help of the faeries, we banished them to their kingdom. As long as that magic stayed, the dragons couldn’t escape. What was worse, these dragons were not dragons in the traditional sense. They were spirits, who attached themselves to humans, giving them god like magic.

Brantley Hayden, Ashden’s uncle, was one of them, though his dragon had been vanquished long ago. That didn’t stop me from fearing the man. He still radiated power, as if he could still squash me like a bug. That was why I’d been so careful with Ashden. As a child, I’d had nightmares of Brantley Hayden barging into my room and burning me to a crisp with his powers.

But we’d destroyed the dragons, and the dragon’s eggs. It was how we still powered our city, even though there was a pixie dust shortage. The pixies were dying from pollution, you see.  And not everyone could afford pixie dust, which was where technology had come in.

If Ashden found out that my family was responsible for destroying her heritage, the treaty would be in danger. I was certain of it.

So, I resolved that I would do whatever it took to make certain that wouldn’t happen. That meant making her fall in love with me, whatever the cost.