Page 22 of Lady Dragon

SAMANSA

Samansa opened her eyes to a pine-stitched sky, morning light filtering through the needles in golden threads. For a long moment, she had no idea where she was, only that she was stiff and cold.

Then she remembered—pain, red light, burning, thrashing, falling, flying —and she threw herself into a sitting position with a gasp of horror.

She could sit up . In her own human body.

She put a hand to her breast when she felt a sharp tug and then jerked it away when pain stabbed through her.

Looking down, she found her chest was crusted in blood.

And wedged within it, barely peeking through torn, angry skin, was a shining shard of red stone.

Revulsion gripped her, but not enough to keep her from poking at the shard with the tentative tip of a finger. It hurt nearly too much to touch and didn’t move, as if it was stuck in the bone. It was certainly embedded deeply enough for that.

It would have to wait, then.

Only then did she look around—and she nearly screamed.

Crouched right next to her was a huge, shimmering, purplish-gray dragon. And the dragon was staring at her with slitted, silver eyes .

“ Kirek? ” she shrieked. “What happened?”

The dragon closed her eyes almost sullenly. I haven’t the faintest idea , she said. Other than that we’re cursed.

Samansa could hear her—a dragon , her voice more of a presence in the princess’s head than a sound, but it was Kirek, nonetheless. Relief washed over her that it was indeed Kirek, and that Samansa could understand her. Not that the princess liked what she was hearing.

“But—but,” she stammered, and then continued with rising hope, “you’re a dragon again, and I’m human! It’s all back to normal—”

The dragon turned her head away. No, it’s not. I simply woke up like this. I neither made it happen, nor can I change into human form at will. You can understand me, and I’m still pair-bound to you. Much to my disappointment.

Samansa’s rising spirits crash-landed into the ground. “But that’s not the worst situation, is it? It’s better than it was. We can figure this out.”

Did you not see the piece of Heartstone wedged in your breast? Kirek asked as if addressing a child.

Samansa looked down, her lips pursing. “Yes, well, the last thing I need is for the wound to go sour.”

I think that’s the least of our worries, but your reactions do always manage to surprise me.

“And how would you have me react?” Samansa demanded indignantly, dragging herself to her feet with a wince.

Her gray cloak and the yellow skirts of her gown were an absolute wreck, torn and stained with dirt and blood.

She could only guess how the rest of her looked.

“How do you want me to behave? I only turned into a dragon and then found out that when I was gathering my courage to kiss the girl I favored, she was plotting to kill me. Much to my disappointment ,” she echoed bitterly.

No, she hadn’t forgotten that. She’d just been trying to.

For a moment, Kirek was silent, unmoving. And then: I’m not a girl.

Samansa scowled. “Oh, to the rats with your dragon logic.”

At the very least, Kirek was sounding more like herself. Not like the broken, despairing girl-creature of last night. Samansa didn’t like that version of her, either.

Those giant silver orbs narrowed as they turned back at her. What do rats have to do with anything?

Samansa rounded on her in fury, trying not to think about how big the dragon’s head was, how easily Kirek could bite her in half as she demanded, “Would you have done it, if I hadn’t kissed you?

Never mind if the Heartstone hadn’t broken and changed me into one of your own kind—would you have killed me? ”

The dragon blinked slowly. I don’t know. That was my plan, by my mother’s order.

“To the rats with your mother’s order!” Samansa had no idea why the dragon queen would want such a thing and didn’t want to ask, because it couldn’t be good. Suddenly, everything was too much to face. She covered her eyes and said, “Just kill me now and be done with it, if you have any doubt.”

The dragon’s implacable voice permeated her skull. No, I don’t have any doubt.

Samansa dropped her hands in frustration. “It’s just the silly bond that’s making you say that!”

She didn’t think it was silly. But after everything that had happened, it seemed less miraculous and more flimsy, especially since she couldn’t feel it herself .

Or worse, it seemed cursed.

A long hiss escaped Kirek’s jaws that made the hair rise on Samansa’s arms. It’s not silly . It is the one thing that forces us to protect the vulnerable among us. The one thing that lets us trust in each other above all else.

Samansa forced a scoff. “It’s not like I’m brooding , and none of that means anything to me anyway! I already felt about you how I feel now. What matters to me is that you wanted to kill me!”

Kirek chuffed, billowing the princess’s skirts around her. I didn’t want to.

“You intended to kill me, then.”

And it felt like trying to rip out my own heart to do so. Now I would kill for you. I would die for you. I would rip out my own heart to save you. Without hesitation.

The princess could only stand there and stare, stunned to her toes.

It was doubtlessly the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her. Not that Kirek intended it to be romantic in the slightest.

Samansa shook herself. “That doesn’t mean anything real . Pair-bonding is just another dragon rule that you all decided upon somewhere along the line.”

No, it is as instinctual as breathing. I would throw myself in front of a dragon’s flame to shield you without a blink.

If we fell from the sky, I would cushion you with my broken body if it meant even the slightest chance you would live.

And it’s something that every dragon understands. How is that not real?

Kirek didn’t exactly sound happy about it, but even so—it did sound real.

“Oh. Well.” Samansa smoothed her filthy hands over her tattered skirts, utterly flustered. “That’s still not good enough. But it’s better,” she admitted grudgingly. “And yet you think we’re cursed for feeling how we do?”

Not that Samansa had confessed precisely how she felt, and she wasn’t about to, not with how repulsed the dragon seemed to be about it all.

Well, caring for a human is forbidden , Kirek said, and the Heartstone’s reaction seems to be the proof.

“Is pair-bonding, itself, forbidden with a human?”

It’s likely only not forbidden because it’s unheard of. It should be impossible.

The princess flapped her arms. “Then maybe the Heartstone just… broke! It’s old, right?”

It broke at the exact moment I pair-bonded with you, a jewel that has been indestructible for centuries? Somehow, those silent words conveyed dry amusement. This is our punishment.

“Maybe we’re not cursed, and the stone is just infused with essence of arrogant, arsehole dragon, to break in protest when it did.” Samansa covered her mouth in shock. “Oops, I’m not supposed to say things like that.”

Kirek’s great silver eyes closed briefly in exasperation. I’m pretty sure you can say whatever you please now.

The princess choked on a laugh. “Because we’re deep in the stewpot?”

Yes—at least I’m assuming what you mean by that. And because you’ve been a dragon now.

Samansa took a few furious paces. “I don’t understand how that’s even possible, and I hope I can’t become one, anymore! I certainly can’t at will, either. All the better for that. Being a dragon feels…” She rubbed near her chest, not close enough to tug at the wound. “Unpleasant.”

Like being in a human body feels for me? Kirek suggested as if it were obvious.

The princess shook her head. “No, for me, it’s… dangerous. Like I don’t have control.”

More like an overwhelming force had taken control of her, down to her very bones. She shuddered.

Exactly as I’ve described human emotions.

“No,” Samansa insisted, a stubborn note rising in her voice, one that her mother hated. “It’s like I’m not myself at all . Like I’m going to drown. Lose myself entirely.”

Oh. Kirek’s eyes narrowed in consideration. Hmm. That’s not exactly what I feel. And that is concerning.

“ Thank you for the acknowledgment,” Samansa said through gritted teeth. “Lords and ladies, it’s like pulling teeth with you.”

I assume not literally.

Samansa wanted to scream. And so, she did, in a release of frustration.

The dragon flinched. That was loud. We don’t want to be discovered.

“Don’t we?” the princess cried.

Just then, a horn sounded through the trees, echoing throughout the forest. She could recognize the exact tone—the clear, bright call of Andrath’s armed forces.

A search party, perhaps, signaling others.

Of course they would have been looking for the daughter heir as soon as they discovered her missing—which had probably been right after the high tower was torn to shreds by a dragon, meaning they’d been searching for her throughout the night.

Shortly, Samansa could hear the shouts of men and the pounding of hooves.

“We probably don’t want to be discovered just yet,” she agreed breathlessly.

“Not until we’ve had more time to think about how all of these…

developments… will be received.” Rather, if she was going to keep turning into a dragon, but she didn’t want to voice the fear aloud in case that would make it come true. “What do we do?”

We may be out of time , Kirek said shortly, her giant head swiveling.

Samansa could see the shapes of horses and the glint of armor flickering through the trees. A much louder shout went up as they obviously spotted Kirek. Even nestled down in a forest, a dragon’s bulk was hard to hide.

“We don’t have to tell them exactly what happened,” the princess said hurriedly. “We can say it was some sort of an accident or a misunderstanding, that we’re both fine now, and hope it’s true—”