Chapter 33: Laryn

"Foolish woman," I mutter as I fly up to the perch that overlooks the inside of my tower. New brides always make things difficult. This one believes she is some type of warrior woman with her acrobatic moves. My inner eyelid barely closed before her foot connected. Not that her puny blow would cause harm.
Hmm. At least she's entertaining and not wailing at the top of her lungs like most brides.
She doesn't actually stink. I said that so maybe she'll relax in a bath and accept her fate. I know the first mating for a bride is difficult. I shake my great head in annoyance as I remember Maleah's gentle reprimand. Maleah, my last bride, hated me for years for what I did to her on the day of her claiming. She made me promise I would woo my future bride first. Just the thought of Maleah made my heart ache. I suddenly closed down the part of me that remembered her. Wooing is not something a magnificent creature like me will ever do. It's best to get the deed over with and get on with the years of fear and crying before a bride finally settles into her life.
"Uncle Laryn, Uncle Laryn is she here?"
Oh hell.
A pint-sized red dragon swoops into my tower.
"Ashrac, you aren't allowed here and you know it. I'm sick of threats from your parents because you refuse to obey them."
He doesn't even look ashamed and my demand affects him not at all. "Oh, Uncle Laryn, you know I could not stay away today. So did you claim her and bring her back to your castle?" He makes me dizzy as he buzzes around my head.
I puff out my chest and cock my head. "She's in her room preparing herself," I say with great pride as his wings flutter against my scales and soften my heart. He does this to me all the time. I call him an irritant, but really he's kept me sane during the long years of waiting for a bride. His parents haven't changed, though. Him refusing to follow their orders doesn't help. I think his visits would end if I ever showed true ire. I can't. I need him, or at least I did before claiming my new bride.
I was able to visit once a month during his incubation year. Before that, he spent a year within Acasia's belly. That was truly a lonely time because Bastian hated me... still hates me. Acasia is little better with all her rules and pompous ways that drive me crazy. To think I wanted her as my own is truly repellent now.
And then there's Ashrac. He's twenty-five in human years but only about eight in a dragon's childhood cycle. He won't mature fully until he reaches his one-hundredth dragon year. I sigh internally. Ninety-two more years of sneaking behind his parents' backs so he can visit me is ridiculous. I've gotten over my need to steal him. It would cause too much harm and he would hate me too. Maybe my bride can help find a solution during the years to come.
Ashrac's sweet voice brings me from my thoughts. "Uncle Laryn, what is she preparing herself for?"
"Well..." What the hell do I say now? He's far too young to understand the ways of mating with your bride. "I know you must be hungry. Let's head to the kitchen. I'll feed you and then you must return to your parents."
He lands beside me and drops his head. "They're doing that googly-eyed thing again. Mother puts me down for a nap and they disappear." He looks back up at me with shining, red, pleading eyes. "Please, Uncle Laryn, I wish to see your bride."
He twists my heart. It's impossible for him to meet her today, but his disappointment will tear me apart. "You can't. Not this time. But what if we practice breathing fire after eating? I promise when my bride has settled I will introduce you."
He drops his head again and scuffs the floor with the talons from one paw. "Okay, Uncle Laryn."
I can't stand to watch him this upset, so I unfurl my wings and lift up from the floor. "Follow me. I know cook has your favorite cookies waiting." He better have them or we'll need a new cook.
I cast a final glance at the door that holds my bride behind it. She is safe and if she is smart, she will do my bidding and prepare herself. I'm not sure why I returned her sword. Truly it's only a nuisance. Though my scales can't protect me in human form, I am deadlier than any mere human female.
***

Roxanne
It's the appointed time he said he will return. I hold the blade ready to strike when he opens the door. And I fume. He returned the sword, which means he doesn't consider me a threat. I've practiced in secrecy my entire life to do one job-kill a dragon. And he doesn't take me seriously.
An hour later, my arm is too tired to hold the blade up. I walk around the small chamber and swing my arm to loosen my sore muscles. There is a single bed with a door beside it that opens to a large indoor bathing chamber. The only clothes I find are lying next to the tub. It's two pieces of blue, sheer, barely there cloth. My face heats with the thought of wearing such scandalous items. I look down at my shredded white gown. I only wore it in case a villager saw me before the claiming ceremony. I didn't want someone telling my parents I wasn't prepared for my fate. It takes little to figure out that it isn't my sisters in white who will be the dragon's dinner this night. It's me.
And he wants me to prepare myself by removing body odor for added flavor!
I hear a sound at the door and run over with my sword raised, the ache in my arm instantly forgotten with my quest for dragon blood. The door is thrown open and I bring the sword up over my head and downward.
A human child screeches and ducks, which enables me to halt the death blow mere inches from his head. Large black eyes with the oddest streaks of red stare up at me. Even though he almost had his head cleaved in two, I see no fear.
"You are very beautiful. Uncle Laryn wouldn't tell me what you look like, so I had to come see for myself."
With trembling hands, I jerk the sword behind me. "Who are you?" I ask breathlessly.
His small chest barrels outward. He's completely naked with no shame whatsoever. "I am Ashrac, son of Bastian and Acasia, the mightiest dragons in the land."
I hide my grin. If this child wishes to pretend his parents are dragons, I won't ruin his fantasy. Acasia... she's the last claimed bride. "Your mother is Acasia?"
"Yes, and she is more beautiful even than you." His eyes skim up and down. "I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but it's true."
He's absolutely adorable, though I don't have time to converse with him. "You must take me to your mother so she will protect me."
"Ashrac," a feminine voice calls out.
Ashrac's mouth forms a grimace before he looks down. "She's found me and now I will face the consequences of my actions." He scuffs the floor with his foot.
I heard no anger in the woman's tone, only frustration. I take his hand and walk him from the room. I look around and see nothing. Then, when a soft clicking noise comes from above, I gaze up until I'm looking at the highest ledge of the tower. A large, red dragon sits upon a perch peering down. I bring my sword up and pull the child behind me.
"If you harm my son, I will kill you slowly and feed your remains to scavengers," the dragon speaks into my mind in the scariest tone I've ever heard.
Her son. "Acasia?" I ask in bewilderment.
"Release my son," she thunders.
Ashrac drops my hand and steps forward. "She won't hurt me, Mother, for we are friends. I fear my uncle has frightened her and she wants you to protect her."
The dragon clears the ledge and flies down until she lands. Ashrac runs forward before I can stop him and launches himself onto his mother's nose much as I did to the dragon who stole me. She flips him up and he curls his body tight and summersaults twice in the air. It's a practiced move that they've obviously done many times. He lands back on her nose and leaps to the ground. "May we keep her, Mother? May we please? She is the finest treasure."
The dragon looks at me with stormy red eyes. I see the love she holds for her son and I see... pity. It hurts internally when I realize it's for me. I had no idea female dragons exist. If she loves her son, she can't be all bad. In the most scared voice I can muster, I beg, "Please, my lady dragon, rescue me from my captor. I beg mercy."
She holds my gaze for the longest time before speaking. "There will be hell to pay."
I look down at the child and my heart flip flops. I don't want him to suffer because I'm gone. Slowly, I back into the room. "Please, Ashrac, bolt the door so you opening it is not discovered. I will await my fate inside."
"Come out," says the dragon in a voice filled with resignation. "I owe Laryn a stolen bride. If this works out, we shall be even and just maybe my husband will forgive him."
I have no idea what she speaks of, but I step back out into the tower. I'm afraid to feel hope. This has been an exasperating day that turns more surreal with every passing moment.
The dragon speaks into my mind again. "I have no saddle, so I will need to carry you with my teeth. What say you?"
If this is really happening, I must take a chance. "I rode my dragon captor without a saddle until he flipped upside down and dislodged me. I can hold your son..." How can a dragon have a human son? This is the one concept I'm having trouble with, but I will work it out in my mind later. She curls her tail around and forward. I stow my sword in its sheath and run up until I'm high enough to leap on her back.
"You're surprisingly good at that," she says.
"Come up, Ashrac, and I shall hold you in front of me."
"No way. I want to fly."
I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it. He runs three steps and launches himself up. Wings appear and the next thing I see is a small dragon flying up to the top of the tower. I almost lose my seat.
"Fly swiftly, Ashrac. Your uncle will not be happy. Hold on, Bride of Laryn, and I will get you to my castle safely."
I adjust myself and tighten my legs. This is Acasia, I now have no doubt. She's rescuing me from the blue dragon. I feel I can trust her even though she is no longer human. She has been in my shoes and somehow survived. I hold on tight with quivering muscles as we fly from the tower.