The Princess' Dragon Lord

by Mandy Rosko

  “You did!" Azoth said. "You arrived here, appeared from nowhere, a gift I never expected to be given. At first we spoke and held each other. I asked to kiss you and you said yes. You! Diana, believe me!”

  It seemed like he was going to stick with that story, but Diana remembered none of it.

  She shook her head. She felt like a lost little girl. Everything Azoth said frightened her, and, strangely enough, what she wanted right now was her mother. She hadn't thought of her for such a long time, could barely recall her face...

  “I want to go home.”

  Azoth’s eyes became sad again. “I will not say that had I the ability to free you, even should it mean never seeing you again, I would grant you your freedom. Such would be a falsehood. I'm too selfish for that. In truth, however, I know no exit to this place. It has been my prison for the last one thousand years. My punishment for killing the daughters of Mab and most of her subjects.”

  Prison? For a jail, this place didn't look too uncomfortable, though she supposed being locked up in one place for a thousand years was more than enough reason to see it as such.

  “Princess.”

  She gasped. That voice, the one from the forest, telling her to run.

  “Who’s there?” she asked.

  Azoth looked quizzically at her.

  “Who else is here?” she demanded.

  “No others are here but my myself, the dragon, and you,” he said.

  “Princess,” the voice called again, and Diana recognized that it was entirely inside her head, and not whispering through the trees like before.

  “I hear someone,” she said, but even to her own ears, her voice sounded far away and distant. Azoth’s face became shadowy as he too slipped farther and farther away, like he was being sucked inside a tunnel.

  “Diana, come with me, you must come and see,” the voice said.

  Azoth’s face became panicked. He cried out her name, but Diana couldn’t understand why or what his problem was as she was pulled into a state of semi-consciousness.

  It was like the softest, warmest, most snuggly blanket was wrapped around her, and she didn’t want to struggle against it, or ever leave its warmth. A moment ago, she’d been wishing for the comfort of her mother’s arms, and this was nearly as good.

  Her eyes became droopy, her thoughts slowing down. She would’ve dozed off had it not been for the things she saw.

  Her. A woman who looked exactly like her, only, not. There were some minor differences, but it was definitely a look-a-like. Could have even passed for a twin.

  One of those differences being the hair. Instead of the dark gold color Diana had, the woman's hair was glittery white, platinum blond. That, and she had no pink scar between her eyes.

  Her hair was braided down to nearly her waist with tiny flower blossoms woven into the strands. She wore some sort of ye old English gown with long trumpet lace sleeves and a square neckline, only, Diana was pretty sure that no gown from the medieval times was made of that pretty, pearl-white, shimmery material. It just wasn't a practical color.

  More fresh blossoms seemed to sprout along her gown and trumpet sleeves, and tiny black spiders crawled along her hem.

  Weird. This was too weird.

  Feeling a slight bit of courage mixed in with her curiosity, Diana squinted her eyes and stepped closer, but the other her didn't even seem to notice her presence as she observed the gown. The other Diana seemed too preoccupied with staring off into the distance, studying something that Diana herself, the real her, couldn't see. The images from this spell, memory, whatever it was, didn't seem to stretch that far out. Was she looking out a window? Onto some fresh and lively garden? Maybe she really was just staring into space.

  Diana looked away and put her focus back onto what she could see. The strange gown. It took a second for her to realize that the spiders were actually weaving the gown as she—the other her—wore it, and all the shimmer came from tiny dew drops that had formed along the material, and the blossoms.

  It must be early morning then, she thought.

  The little blooming pink, white and blue flowers, hadn't been picked and placed on the gown and in her hair for decoration. They were growing right out of it, even from the hair, which was curled over a pair of delicately pointed ears.

  Diana stepped back. She looked up at her twin's head. The dainty tiara that rested there wasn't made out of leaves and twigs or anything. It look made of silver and gold with actual diamonds.

  Diana had mice and birds and insects who visited her regularly, sometimes offering gifts, other times just dropping in to say hello. As well as they could with no vocal cords, that is. She used to jokingly compare herself to a Disney princess. Was the reality not that far off?

  "No way."

  "Diana!"

  She turned, so did her twin. Diana didn't recognize the man calling her name, and for a second as he ran towards them, she thought someone was coming to take her out of this strange dream.

  The skinny man with black hair and robes didn't run to her, he ran to her twin instead. Her twin's face was hardly a happy one as they joined hands.

  "I just heard the news. Are they truly to marry you to a dragon?" The man's eyes—purple, now that she could see—were wide. The whites went all around those oddly colored irises.

  The other her lowered her head, her throat working in what must have been a painful swallow. "Yes. I have been told he is a lord, a prince. But I have never met him before! I do not want to marry a stranger!"

  Diana nearly fell on her ass as she watched the exchange, but she didn't dare blink and forced herself to keep from fainting. This was important, this was something she needed to see, something familiar.

  She'd done this before, had these reactions, felt these fears.

  "Marry me then," the man in black said.

  "What?" Fae Princess Diana exclaimed.

  Real world Diana's jaw dropped.

  Fae Diana shook her head, slowly, as though she didn't quite believe what she'd heard. "Nyx, you cannot be serious,"

  "I am perfectly serious. If we are to be blessed in marriage, then they cannot in good consciousness force your hand. I love you, Highness, you know this. I will take good care of you if you will be my wife."

  Diana already knew what the answer would be by the pitying expression on the other her's face, the way she slowly retracted her hands from Nyx's grasp.

  It wasn't that he was a servant, Diana realized as she became more in tune with the fae woman's emotions. The problem lay in the fact that she couldn't dishonor a promise that her mother had made, regardless of whether or not Diana herself wanted anything to do with it.

  "Nyx, you are a good friend, and I do love you, but I cannot go against my mother's wishes. I cannot give you my hand."

  Nix's black brows came down. He bit his lips together and looked away from her, a clear indicator that he was trying to not be angry at the rejection. The way the tips of his ears transformed into a bright red gave that away anyway. "Of course. Forgive me, Highness, I forgot my place."

  "Nyx!" The other Diana called, pain in her voice.

  He already turned and started to walk away.

  Diana—the real Diana—felt a tremble in her shoulders. Soft at first but then more and more violent until everything she saw, the hazy images and memories, became an indistinguishable blur as she was pulled out of her dream.

  Azoth's face was in front of her, panic written all over his expression. "Diana! Diana!"

  The floor left her in a whoosh, and in a split second she was aware that he'd lifted her into his arms, as though she weighed no more than a crumbling leaf, and was carrying her away.

  "No," she said, trying to push him away, but her weak attempts had all the effect of a drafty breeze pushing against a brick house.

  "I will not touch you,"

  In bed, he meant, she was sure, since he was already touching her now. Though he did keep his hands from traveling anywhere inappropriate.

  He
r nose and lip itched. She reached up to scratch but pulled away when her fingers touched a wet slippery something.

  When she pulled her hand back, a thick red substance coated her fingers. Had she had a nose bleed during her vision?

  That suddenly didn't seem important at all. Her little woodland friends who came to visit her, the little scar that ran diagonal between her eyebrows to just under her eye, the dragon outside the stone of this cave, and hell, even that vision she'd just had. Azoth was telling her the truth.

  "Nyx?" She asked.

  Azoth put her in bed and was in the middle of tucking her in when she'd said it. He froze at the mention of the name. "Your memories…we will speak again once you've rested. I will wash that away."

  Probably talking about the bit of blood. He grabbed a grubby looking cloth from somewhere on the floor. It was cool and damp to the touch. He must keep a bowl of water in here for basic washing.

  Princess!

  That voice in her head again. Nyx's voice.

  Didn't matter, she was being pulled into dreamland. Diana wanted to stay awake and alert, but she might as well have been breathing in chloroform for all the power she had over her consciousness and her heavy eyelids. The bed was suddenly too warm and cozy, her body contained all the willpower of a ball of cotton, and she settled into Azoth's bed and passed out.

  Princess, no! Leave! Leave this prison!

  It was like a jolt of lightning struck, forcing her out of what would have been the best nap of her life. Her back arched high, and she would've flown clear off the bed had Azoth not held her down.

  The pain! Oh God, the pain! Every nerve ending and skin cell lit up like it had been soaked in gasoline and had a match thrown onto it.

  Diana screamed.

  Chapter Four

  "Nyx! You wretched whoreson! I will kill you for this! I swear it!"

  Azoth sounded pissed. It took a half second for Diana to remember why, then she felt that weird tingling all through her body, and then the pain of waking up. Ignoring Azoth's continued ranting and raging at a fae man likely long dead, she lifted her hand to her head. Her hair was all puffed out and felt wiry to the touch. It crinkled loudly between her fingers.

  And had the horrible scent of burned hair.

  If she could open her eyes she would’ve cried. Her hair, the most beautiful part of her body, was completely destroyed.

  "Diana," Azoth must have noticed her movement. He took her hand and held it in his own. "Are you well? Say something."

  A pained roar sounded in the distance. Her teeth vibrated with it. The dragon, she realized.

  "Diana. Do not leave me again." Azoth's voice choked as he spoke. He was terrified. Of her leaving? She supposed anyone would be when she was the only company to be had for one thousand years.

  "What happened?" She had to force her lids open through what felt like several days worth of caked on dust. Azoth was above her, worry all over his face, but not panic. He was relieved. His large chest heaved as he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when she opened her eyes. She didn’t know what there was to be happy about.

  The hard ground beneath her fell away, and she was suddenly aware of the sensation of being held securely in solid muscled arms as Azoth walked away with her. She felt so small as he held her. He carried her like she weighed as much as a sack of cotton balls. It brought the uneasy feeling of being helpless against him, and entirely cared for at the same time.

  That warm feeling in her body returned, and she sank against him.

  She wouldn't make a fuss about being held by him. Not now. “Where are we going?”

  “To the spring. I know not why Nyx would attack you, but now we must cleanse you. Your clothing is ruined.”

  Clothes too. Great.

  “Who is Nyx?” She asked, even though she had a pretty good idea from that vision she’d had during her electrocution.

  Azoth’s strong jaw tightened at the question. “A former servant of your house. Do you truly have no memories?”

  Her head was pounding and she feared another coming nosebleed. Diana still couldn’t allow herself to think that these visions were actual memories, but all the same—

  “I saw him, just now, when I was…” she didn’t even have a word for what had happened to her. “He didn’t look like he’d want to hurt me.” Then she thought of something. “How did you know he was the one to attack me?”

  Azoth neck and jaw tightened, an angry red flush creeping up the flesh there. “It was his name you cried out when the tremors took you.”

  He looked down at her, brows raised. “Certain that he would not harm you, are you?”

  Diana thought it over. He—Nyx—had asked her, that other her, to marry him to help her avoid a fixed marriage. She didn’t want to say anything about that just in case Azoth didn’t know of it, but all the same...

  “I guess. What else can you tell me about him, though? Just in case I'm missing something.” Diana's body still trembled from the attack, but the sudden vision did nothing to upset the clarity of her mind, and she was both painfully curious and awake now.

  Azoth sighed and seemed to swallow any harsh feelings he had on the subject, if only to please her with an answer to her question. “From what I knew of you, you had both been close, allowed to become friends since you were the youngest of your sisters, and it would hardly matter if you befriended a servant.”

  That made her pause. "Sisters? I don't have any siblings. I'm an only child."

  Azoth's eyes rounded as he stared down at her, his jaw hanging. He paused his step but didn't stop walking. “You had eleven sisters. I met them myself during our engagement.”

  She could hardly believe it. “Eleven?”

  He nodded. “Strangest thing. Each born one year and one month, roughly, away from the other. Twelve siblings, twelve months of the year. You lot seemed very pleased about it as well.”

  She had a sinking suspicion she already knew, but she had to ask, “What was my month?”

  “One of the winter months, December.”

  Diana let that sink in. Her full name was Diana Winters, but her birthday, or what she thought was her birthday, was in April, not December.

  Maybe her last name was really just a clue into her true identity. A hint so that she'd always know who she was.

  Lot of good it did.

  When Azoth made another turn, entirely leaving the stone halls that made up the safer section of his cave and entering the wider space, Diana forgot to be shocked over the possibility of a dozen relatives she didn't know she had, and became antsy and tried to wiggle out of his hold.

  “The dragon!” The dragon that wanted to eat her was out here!

  Nyx’s attack had fried her hair and knocked her on her back, but the rush of fear put enough adrenaline into her body to power a professional NFL player for ten hours, but Azoth kept a firm grip on her. He made it seem so easy with his bulk.

  Still, her squirming must have been annoying. “Cease your movements,” he commanded.

  “The dragon—”

  “Will not come near you.”

  The assurance in his voice didn't chase the fear away entirely, but the calm, and steady way in which he said it, as though he would personally make sure that it didn't, calmed her enough to make her stop struggling.

  The dragon didn't make an appearance. Diana twisted her head around, trying to see over Azoth’s huge shoulder and all around her as they walked, but she didn’t see the giant lizard anywhere in the cave.

  Not that it didn’t have plenty of places to hide. Now that she was outside of those stone walls and was able to see what else was under the giant dome she was in, Diana could see that there were plenty of places for a dragon’s body, even one larger than a fully grown elephant, to hide.

  It was like being inside Aladdin’s cave of wonders. Treasure everywhere. Real treasure. Gold coins and old world chest type treasure, piled up into multiple hills all over the place. She could only guess from the distance, but sh
e would bet that some were as high as two stories. It all glittered in the red light of the cave, reflecting even more light.

  Azoth chuckled, and the rough brush of his fingers lifted her chin to close her open mouth. She hadn’t realized her jaw had dropped. “Impressive, is it not?”

  “What is this place?”

  “I told you before, my prison. My sentence includes guarding the jewels of my dragon clan until such a time when I can be set free.”

  The reminder that he was a prisoner, supposedly for killing her, made her uncomfortable. “Who decides that?”

  “Only a member of the fae’s royal house.” He pointedly looked at her.

  Heat flooded up her neck. “But I’m not her. I don’t think I am,” she added. She wasn’t really sure of anything right now.

  “Yes, you are, and when your memories return, regardless of whether or not you forgive me, I will still continue to love you and be your servant.”

  The idea that this man was putting himself in her hands was something Diana wanted no part of. She didn’t want that much control over someone’s life, she didn’t have that much control, did she?

  Everything she’d seen…was it possible he was right? It seemed too presumptuous to assume she could ever be a lost princess, no matter how Disney-ish it was. This wasn’t a fairy tale. It was real life, and in real life, things like that didn’t happen.

  “I’ll believe you for now, I guess,” she said reluctantly. “Just don’t get your hopes up when it turns out you’re wrong.”

  “Oh, I am not wrong. I know my wife.”

  The wolfish grin he sported put fire in her cheeks. He was totally talking about the sex they'd had. It was embarrassing how her blood heated just thinking back on it.

  They must’ve walked right across the clearing of the cave, because then he walked through another set of red stone halls, that also didn’t have a ceiling, and the sound of running, bubbling water danced in her ears.

  “We are almost there, princess.”

  He turned another corner, and there it was, his spring. It was enclosed by four stone walls, again, no ceiling, but regardless of that, the steam stayed in place, warming her entire body instantly in a way that arousal alone could never pull off. The water itself flowed from an open dragon’s mouth, which also looked carved from the stone wall.