Princess of Dragons

Chapter 7

Ciara blinked drowsily against the bright light from the torches. Her face felt weirdly stiff and her thighs ached. These were the first things she noticed.

Second, she found herself fully dressed in a nightgown she couldn't recognize, in a bed that wasn't her own and in a room she'd never seen before.

The room was big enough to house a small family and decorated with the most lavish of furniture. Three comfortable-looking, burgundy armchairs were situated around a little, round coffee-table near the middle of the room. The back wall was covered in floor-to-ceiling wardrobes, likely filled with clothes like this silky nightgown.

She was lying in the largest bed she'd ever seen, surrounded by the softest of pillows - it truly felt like she was floating on top of clouds. The flickering flames gave the room an almost ethereal glow and a warm, deep smell.

Apart from in her imagination, a room like this could only be found in a castle.

She sat up with a jolt. If she was here now, then everything she thought she'd merely dreamt was real. It had happened. Kaisog and all the others had... Protecting her to their last breaths.

She now understood the stiffness in her cheeks – she'd cried herself to sleep on that drake. A stiffness that was now temporarily relieved by a wave of new tears.

She could still hear his last scream. See the fallen bodies of the young men she'd grown up with. Hear metal meet metal - and flesh. Smell the metallic scent of blood as it had spurted out from them. The clarity with which it hit her made bile rise in her throat all over again.

She jumped out of the bed and rushed out on the little balcony, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

She heard a happy yelp and looking up, she saw the young drake from the day before staring at her happily.

Now it was bright daylight, she could properly see him. He was most definitely part water dragon with how his wings also acted as his front feet. But that wasn't the only thing giving the young drake away – two rows of fins trailed down his back, ending at the tail. Their color was a bright turquoise, just like on his belly and the inner skin of his wings. He had a pair of long horns growing out of the back of his head, curling gently upwards at the end. It all stood in vivid contrast to the otherwise jet-black color of his scales, except for a little stripe of a spot under his eyes, which was teal in color as well. Said yellow eyes revealed an almost childish happiness as he wagged his tail back and forth like a puppy.

She stared at him, dumbfounded. If he was here, then...

The last hope of her very best friend having survived left her completely. She felt the same feeling of absolute loss she'd felt last night wash over her. Reminding her this was reality, not a dream. She had lost her best friend just like that. That time, when he sent her off on that drake, would forever be the last memory she'd have of him.

Her legs buckled under her and she fell to her knees a sobbing mess - much to the drake's surprise and frustration.

She'd never be able to ride and play on dragons with him again. Never listen to the exciting and wild stories he could tell. Never wonder what his family would be like or what he would've become had they let him stay back then.

She'd never have that one person she could tell everything again. She would forever be alone with her problems and worries – there was no one here who would or could support her the way he had. She'd have to face this place alone, even if they all hated her for messing things up.

She jumped in surprise when she felt something big and warm gently nudge the top of her head. And just as she looked up, a very warm and very wet tongue, covered her entire face.