Page 6 of Dragon Chosen (The Dragon Lady #1)

Fern

I started the day thinking I would find the man I would give my heart to. Instead, I had bound it to a queen dragon.

Are you ready for this? Auren asked as she circled down.

I leaned cautiously over her shoulder and soon saw why.

It was late afternoon, so I expected everyone to have gone home.

By the look of the carriages and horses clustered out the front of my family home, that was not the case.

As we got closer, I saw tiny figures gesticulating at each other.

Father was one of them, I realised, but it wasn’t just my father.

It appeared that Lord Payneham, Mr Farris and several other fathers had arrived to discuss the day’s events with mine.

Whatever they had to say was cut off the moment we landed in the front garden. Horses reared and one carriage went rattling past, the beasts bolting. But all that was background noise as everyone turned around, mouths wide.

Was that how I looked when I first met you? I asked Auren.

Somewhat. She prowled forward, and I watched the suitors and their fathers edge backwards with a smile. You were nowhere near as gormless.

“Fern…?”

Everyone else was staring at Auren, but it was Rose who saw me. She had little baby Dahlia on her hip, jiggling her rhythmically as she struggled to accept what she was seeing.

“Fern?” Mother snapped, glaring at Rose, then finally turning to take me in.

I didn’t care that my hair was all wind whipped and tangled. Not even about the stained dress, as I slid off Auren’s back.

“You’ve become a dragon rider?” Rose let out a shocked little laugh, then came rushing over.

“A dragon rider?” Mother said that with a rude snort. “You can’t be serious!”

“And what do you call this, lady wife?” Father said, pushing past her to kneel before Auren. “Queen dragon, please, let me welcome you to my estate.”

My bondmate ignored him, turning to face me.

Is this the father that was going to sell you off to one of these unworthy males?

“Unworthy males…?” Lord Payneham spluttered.

“Fernie?” When Father approached, Auren bared her fangs, making that alarming rattling sound in her throat.

Watching him stop in his tracks was a sight to see.

To have that kind of power, to force men to obey them, I felt like everything I knew about the world was being turned on its head. “Darling, what have you done?”

“Bonded with Auren.” When I turned to face my dragon, she leant in, bunting me with her head. That kind of gesture was cute in a lapdog, but her size and strength had me stumbling backwards, forced to slap my hands around her head to stay upright. “Auren, this is my father, Lord Rochester.”

“A pleasure to meet you, my queen—” Father said, bowing again, but Auren shook her head.

You allowed inferior males to court your daughter , Auren said, taking a ponderous step forward. Males that called my bondmate disgusting names, likening her to a beast.

“You did what?” the merchant spluttered, thumping his son in the chest.

“I’d like an answer to that too,” Father said, turning on his heel and stalking over. “Fernie was standing in the hallway, listening to everything you said, and whatever it was, that was what had her running out of the house, not some flaw in her temperament.”

“What on earth did you say?” the bearded man’s father said to his son. “To a dragon rider of all things?”

“She wasn’t a dragon rider then,” he spluttered. “She was just…”

Just what? Auren asked, prowling closer. Just what, you weak little man?

And he was. It was hard to see that arrogant, cocksure attitude in the man now.

His whole body shook, some animal part of himself knowing he was in danger.

He’d called me a beast. Well, now he was at the mercy of one.

He shrank back, the sharp stink of urine puddling under his feet making clear how he felt about it.

“Fern?” I turned around to see that Rose had edged closer. “What happened? You ran away and found a dragon?”

No, I wanted to say, I found my power.

“Something like that,” I replied.

Get your things, Auren directed. I’ll keep these males occupied. Her tail slapped down, stopping Lord Payneham from bolting, leaving his son to face the music. We’ll have a little chat about how to treat females they wish to court.

“Come on.” Rose linked her free arm in mine. “You can tell me all about it as you pack.”

“No.”

Everyone turned at Mother’s sharp interruption. Even Auren stopped staring the men down, her head rising slowly to take my mother in. Apparently Mother didn’t have the good sense of Lord Payneham, because she stalked closer, eyes blazing.

“Now, Daisy—” Father started to say.

“No!” Mother dismissed him with a wave of her hand and marched over to me, and that’s when I saw it.

Males, men, had told me my entire life that they made the decisions, that they were the power in the world.

If that was the case, how did my mother, who was half my father’s size, contradict him in front of everyone?

“No, Fern. You will not run off like this, abrogating your responsibilities.”

“Daisy—” Father said in a very careful voice.

“No.” She faced Father down, fairly bristling with suppressed fury. “Fern must marry a respectable man. An alliance that will benefit the family.”

“Daisy, see sense,” Father pleaded. “There is no higher rank than a dragon rider. If she bonded with a male dragon, she’d be awarded her own lands. Fernie has bonded with a queen. They’ll both share a great fortune.”

“You were always too soft on her.” Mother’s voice quavered.

“Making allowances for Fern that you never did Rose.” I stared at my sister then, pleading for answers, only to see her cheeks flush bright red.

She fussed over little Dahlia, who had started to grizzle.

“You think your daughter wanted to marry Bryce?”

“You didn’t?” I whispered.

The whole district talked about their courtship as if it was the love affair of the century.

“He’s fine as husbands go,” she replied, staring down at her baby. “At least he’s discreet in his liaisons.”

“He has a mistress?”

My whisper was so loud I’m sure everyone could hear it.

“They all do, Fern.”

My sister was always amiable. It was what everyone praised her for, along with her beauty.

I saw little of that now. It was as if a mask had been pulled away, revealing someone very sore and very tired.

My hand clutched at hers, then I glanced at Dahlia, pulling a funny face because that usually got her smiling.

Instead, she buried her face in Rose’s chest.

“I know you’ve always had your head in the clouds with your books.

” She looked over at Auren. “Now you’ll be able to stay there, riding a dragon.

But the rest of us? We’re forced to deal with the reality.

Marriage is a business contract, done to benefit the estate.

” We both stared at the facade of the manor.

“Her family and his, but actual love? That’s not needed to fulfill the contract. ”

“Come with me.” Rose’s eyes went wide at my sudden outburst, and why not?

I was running away from my fate, one my sister had already been forced to submit to.

“I’m sure Auren won’t mind.” My dragon was edging closer and closer to the suitors and their fathers, the men looking like they were just about to faint dead away.

“You can come with us to the keep. We’re going to claim some land of our own, build a home near a lake. You?—”

“Have to stay here.” She clasped Dahlia to her chest as she swayed back and forth.

Her baby was starting to fuss. “That’s how they lock us down.

Get a child or two on us, and then you realise you’re not going anywhere.

” She stared down at Dahlia’s face, stroking her little cheeks with her thumb. “Bryce could take my daughter from me.”

“No.”

“The law says a child belongs to the father, not the mother.” She said that in the gentle cooing tone mothers used to soothe their babies. “If she wants to remain with her children…”

She has to stay.

I stared at my mother as she bustled over, seeing her in a completely different light.

A long time ago, a travelling show had rolled into the nearby town and they brought with them this miraculous beast. Brought over from the mainland, they claimed, it was the biggest cat I’d ever seen.

But all wonder was driven out of me as I watched it pace back and forth, back and forth in an endless loop, within the confines of its tiny cage.

As soon as anyone got close, it snarled and lashed at the bars, trying to work its paws through them to strike out. Right now, that was my mother.

But she couldn’t reach me from her cage.

“Fern, you…” Her officious tone faltered as I brushed past her. “You’re not going to leave on that dragon!”

I walked inside to find I had an audience. Half the manor staff were clustered in the foyer, scattering the minute we walked in. I took the steps two at a time, forcing Mother to trot fast to keep up with me, but when she tried to take my arm, I paused.

“You can’t stop me.” To reinforce my point, I jerked it free. “You know you can’t.”

“Your behaviour is scandalous!” she snapped. “The whole district will hear of it.”

I stepped up to her, smiling when she was forced to move backwards.

“They’ll know that I left my father’s home a queen dragon rider,” I said. “People will tell the story over and over, trying to piece together how I did it, to see if they can replicate the results. Other young women…”

That’s when I stopped, smiled, and then nodded.

All women were born into the same cage Mother lived in, but not all remained there, and that’s what really threatened her.

If I left, what did that say about her, that she stayed?

I knew it meant she was making the best choice she could, but Mother…

Seeing me walk out of here had the bars of her cage rattling and she didn’t know what to do with that.

“It won’t matter what people say,” I said. “News will die down, because someone else will do something scandalous. I won’t be back.” As soon as I said the words, I knew them to be true. “Not to remind you of how my choices are different from yours. Not ever.”

At that, I spun on my heel and walked into my old bedroom.

On the trip over, I’d thought about what I’d take.

My watercolours, my good sable brushes, my favourite book series.

In the end, I just packed what clothes I thought would be suitable for riding on dragon back.

For a moment I considered the treasures on my window sill, sure Mother would burn them.

I’d find more. Auren and I, we’d scour beaches all across Nevermere, looking for the perfect shell, the perfect feather.

That knowledge was what had me nodding, right before I stepped out into the hall, pulling the door shut behind me.

“You’ll regret this,” Mother hissed as I walked past her. “You’ll come crawling back here once that… dragon discovers what you really are.”

“No.” I stopped for just a second, staring down at her.

She was so small, so frail. I’d never noticed the grey strands in her hair, the fine lines around her eyes.

Mother looked… old. “No matter what happens, no matter what Auren or I decide, I will never, ever subject myself to your petty rule again. Live well, Mother.” I bit that last word off. “Because I intend to.”

Are you ready? Auren asked as I reemerged from the house. She sized up the bag. I thought you had more treasures than that.

I figured we’d find more out in the world , I replied. Together.

Together.

She stretched her neck out, making it easier for me to clamber up on her back. That was the last straw for my suitors. They thought Auren was finally going to swallow them down, so they went bolting off down the road.

“Fly well,” Father said with a wave. “And Dragon? Look after my daughter, you hear?”

Better than he has thus far , she told me drily.

“If you need me,” I called out to Rose. “Send word via the royal keep. I’ll come.”

“Not as a bride, but a rider.” Rose nodded with a smile. “Keep your head in the clouds, little sister.”

With that, Auren’s wings flapped out. Several fast steps and then we were up in the sky, the manor getting smaller and smaller with each sweep of her wings.

So, do you know how to get to the royal keep? I asked my bondmate. I’ve never been.

I was born there . Auren didn’t sound quite as confident as she normally did. It’s… this way.

Whether it was or not, I no longer cared. As long as it wasn’t anywhere near the manor or my suitors, I was happy.

We’ll find it , I assured her, even if we have to stop and ask for directions.

Present ourselves to the royal keep, claim a territory and then live happily ever after, that was the plan, but fate? It had other ideas.

Perhaps we should head down there? I said the next day, pointing to a small town below us. We can ask the villagers if they know where the keep is?

Why would they…?

Auren’s snappy reply was cut off as she stared at the ground below. We were both tired, having slept rough in a clearing overnight, but it wasn’t the promise of rest that had her attention.

It was them.

Four dragons, bright as jewels, sat at the village edge, right before each one of their heads jerked up, catching sight of us.