Page 6

CHAPTER 6

I bristled. “You can’t claim me. I don’t belong to anyone. I’m offering myself as a partner, not as a possession.”

His eyes flamed a bright orange. “You have spirit. But I stand by what I said. If you were satisfied being a part of your father’s hoard, you would not have come to me.”

“Then…then you’re part of my hoard, Master Dragon,” I told him, then immediately cringed at my childish comeback.

The split between his upper and lower jaw broadened until each of his razor-sharp teeth were visible. “My name is Pollox. Glad we can be part of each other’s hoard. Now we have business to tend to. Firstly, won’t your servants realize you ran away?”

I grinned wickedly. “No. I made it look as though you kidnapped me.”

Pollox stared at me for so long that unease crept in.

“I did,” I assured him. “I shattered glass and overturned furniture and wrote a message on my balcony wall. They should be finding it any minute now. I walked all night to get here.”

“Yes,” he answered, sarcasm dripping like venom. “Because dragons always leave courtesy notes when they commit crimes. Surely, no one would notice the absence of a massive, fire-breathing dragon descending upon your castle in the dead of night to steal away a hysterical princess.”

“It’s not like I could write you a letter and ask you to come kidnap me,” I protested. “And I drugged the staff so they wouldn’t even remember what happened.”

“Ah, but you’re here now,” he told me, eyes flaming bright orange. “And you’ll learn that dragons like leaving more than notes. We leave impressions.”

“What are you—” I began, but with blinding speed, Pollox lunged forward.

Using his front claw like a hand, he snatched me up and lifted his gaze upward.

I didn’t even have time to draw breath. Pollox’s wings unfurled and beat down, propelling him into the heavens. A wild lurch catapulted me higher as the entire world surged away and my body felt as though it had been left behind. I wouldn’t have been able to lift my head if I tried. It was as though the dragon had sat on my chest instead of flown me into the air as we rocketed upward.

My vision blurred as Pollox’s wings beat the air, sending powerful gusts of wind across my face that grew increasingly colder the higher we went. Breathing became difficult, and I clutched at the talons holding me aloft, my ears popping painfully as we gained altitude. The ground below us shrank rapidly, so it became easy to see not only all of Rookwyn, but also the bordering kingdoms, the fields of crops, and even the ocean in the far distance that led to Termarth.

The pressure against my chest lessened as Pollox stopped his steep ascent and glided on the air current, but my stomach still twisted, every fiber of my being screaming to put my feet back on solid ground again. The cold wind slapped at my face and whipped my hair wildly out behind me. I’d never felt more vulnerable as my fragile mortality stared me in the face. Every beat of Pollox’s wings reminded me that I was entirely at his mercy.

And yet…

Once we were soaring above the mountains and my stomach had settled slightly, a thrilling, heady rush made my heart race. Pollox’s claw was fastened securely around me and I clutched at his talons, elated and frightened in equal measure.

Despite being terrified, feeling powerless, and experiencing a cold deeper than I could ever recall, I also felt alive in a way unlike any other. This was what true freedom felt like. Life on the ground suddenly looked so small. Up here, I saw all. Up here, I was powerful.

“Let’s make sure all of Rookwyn knows you belong to me now,” Pollox growled. “Get ready to scream.”

He folded his wings into his body and dove straight down.

All thoughts about how being in the sky was freeing and making me feel alive vanished. Pollox didn’t need to coax anything out of me—my scream was ripped from my body, echoing long and loud as we dropped like a rock. My stomach had been left up in the clouds as we plunged toward the ground, heading straight for the castle. I could barely recognize it as my home from a bird’s-eye view.

At the last moment, Pollox spread his wings and soared in a tight circle around the castle’s perimeter.

“I have your princess,” he gloated into the early dawn, his booming voice carrying so that I knew it would reverberate through every hallway. Alarm bells clanged and soldiers rushed to their positions, but all seemed lost as to how to fight a dragon. “She belongs to me now.”

With that, he let out a blast of fire that shot over the top of the castle, igniting our kingdom’s flag. Shouts and cries came from both the castle and the village surrounding it. Pollox’s tight spin around the castle was making me nauseated, and I shrieked again.

“It’s Rapunzel!” someone below cried out. “The dragon has her!”

With that, Pollox turned and soared away, back toward the mountains.

* * *

When Pollox finally landed outside his cave and released me, I needed no mirror to know that I probably looked like I’d been struck by lightning. My hair was so windswept and tangled that it would take hours to comb out…if I even had a comb. Looking down, I saw the sorry remains of what had once been a nice gown but was now dirty and tattered, having been snagged far too many times on Pollox’s sharp talons in the air.

“Did you enjoy your first flight?”

I shuddered, then turned and retched into the bushes. “Is it that obvious I’ve never flown before?” I asked, slowly picking out an insect that had become tangled in my hair.

Pollox let out his sawing laugh again. “It seems I owe you a new dress. Since you’re a part of my hoard, you can use what I already have.”

I stubbornly stuck out my jaw and ignored my stomach that still felt as though it was writhing with live snakes. “Yes, it’s so lucky that you have so many dresses in my size to choose from. Besides, I told you: I’m not a part of your hoard. I’m your partner.”

“That’s too bad. I would expect a partner to pay for their own wants and needs, but I take pride in caring for my hoard.” He lumbered into his cave and I followed.

“Oh really? What does caring for your hoard entail, exactly?”

Pollox’s eyes sparkled mischievously and he let out a blast of fire. The flame ignited coals in a long stone shelf set into the perimeter of the cave, so the entire chamber was suddenly illuminated with a dancing, flickering light. “That depends. Are you a part of my hoard, or are you not?”

I looked around the cavern, which was mostly empty other than a hot mineral spring, an unassuming wardrobe, and a simple wooden table. “I’ll be part of your hoard only as long as you promise that you’ll be part of mine,” I told him, still unsure of exactly what I was agreeing to. It seemed only fair that he be bound by whatever conditions he placed on me.

“I can agree to those terms. Shall I show you to your room, then?”

Wondering what sort of room a dragon would be able to provide a human guest, I nodded. Several passageways led out of the cavernous main room; perhaps a furnished human-sized room was hiding in the back.

“Open the wardrobe,” he ordered, inclining his massive head toward a wardrobe with shabby paint standing near the back of the cave, wedged between two large stalagmites next to the mineral spring. The hot spring looked more inviting than the wardrobe. If I could soak in the spring, I might have a fraction of time in which my extremities weren’t freezing.

“Is my room the wardrobe? If so, I may need to rescind my agreement to be a part of your hoard. You can’t just keep me in a cabinet like some lucky charm.” At least I’d gotten over the immediate shock of meeting a dragon for the first time.

“Just open the door.”

Obediently, I pulled on one of the large wardrobe’s door handles. It was entirely empty. Sure he was having me on, I rolled my eyes at Pollox. “Looks a little small for a bedroom. Am I supposed to sleep standing up?”

“Get in.”

I stepped inside to show how cramped it was. The wardrobe was large enough for me to stand in without crouching, but by extending my arms, I was still able to touch both sides at once. “I don’t think this will work, Pollox,” I told him. “Just because I’m part of your hoard doesn’t mean you can?—”

Pollox whipped his tail so the wardrobe door closed on my face.

“Hey!” I protested. Before I could open the door again, an unpleasant sensation tugged at my abdomen and I shouted in alarm. It felt as though my insides had been plunged into an ice bath, churned around, then run over by a carriage before being shoved back where they belonged. A brief but intense stab of pain followed that made me throw myself against the door, gasping for breath, and shoved until it spilled me out.

Instead of falling on the cold cavern ground, I landed on a plush rug in a brightly lit and well-furnished room, complete with a large four-poster bed, vanity, bookcases, and a wide balcony. I pressed my hands against my body, ensuring that every part of me was still there and that I wasn’t dreaming.

“What?” I said to myself, staring back at the innocent-looking wardrobe. One of the drawers at the bottom opened slightly and closed again, almost like the furniture was mocking me. Other than the unsettling feeling from when I’d been transported here, there was nothing that led me to believe I’d been harmed in any way.

“Pollox?” I called, first into the wardrobe, then to the room at large. Crossing to the balcony, I stared out at the landscape beyond.

Forests covered the hills, and if I squinted, I could just make out the castle, a tiny speck in the distance. Mountains rose to the side halfway between here and the castle, and in the sky, Pollox was soaring toward me from the mountain, giant wings beating the air.

I walked along the balcony, which wrapped all the way around the circular tower. Looking down made me slightly dizzy when I was at such a great height, so I went back inside, searching for the stairs to descend. There was a trapdoor leading to the roof, but no matter where I looked, it was impossible to find a way down to the ground level. It was as though this was the only level, suspended forty feet in the air.

“If the only way out is through you, I’ll be highly displeased,” I told the silent wardrobe, which waved one of its doors at me. “Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?”

Still aware of the vertigo that would befall me if I went outside, I turned my attention to the room’s interior. My fingers met rich velvet as they skimmed the bed’s heavy comforter, just as luxurious as anything I’d left back at the palace, possibly even grander. Translucent curtains were fastened to the four bed posts with golden ropes, and the pillows proved to be plump and full of swan’s down. A gossamer rope ladder descended from a trapdoor leading to the roof, and I swung on it for a few moments, marveling at how beautiful everything was, not at all what I imagined a dragon would have. There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere. It was this last observation that tugged at my curiosity most. There was no possible way that a massive dragon would manage to keep an abandoned tower room in such neat condition. He wasn’t even able to enter, let alone clean. The open air of the balcony would undoubtedly let in dust and dirt, yet this bedroom was cleaner than anything back home.

The rugs that covered the stone floor were spongy and soft, and I stripped off my shoes and stockings to allow my toes to dig into the depths of the carpets, all a rich scarlet color. I hopped from one rug to the other, marveling that my feet wouldn’t have to touch the floor. I knew from extensive experience that any stone floor was icy cold against my feet, even in the summertime. My body would instantly drain of all warmth every time my bare skin touched the hard floor at home, which was why I had always insisted on wearing multiple layers of stockings, a fact that my maids found wildly amusing. But these rugs felt like they’d been out in the sun on a balmy summer day, soaking up heat. It was a boon to rest my feet on those instead of the bare stone.

A rhythmic whooshing was heard as the wind picked up and swirled loose papers around the room, followed by the dreadful scraping of claws against stone. The entire tower shuddered as Pollox landed on the roof, and I clutched at one of the bed’s posters to steady myself. Bits of dust and loose mortar rained down, and a dark shadow fell over the window.

“Rapunzel? Are you there?” Pollox’s deep, thunderous voice vibrated my chest. His tail swung past the window, like some giant, spiked metronome, and I dared not step foot out where the tail might inadvertently knock me over the edge of the balcony.

“You could have warned me about that little magic disappearing act,” I called up to him, still watching the tail swing hypnotically past.

“You wouldn’t have gotten in if I had.” Pollox’s entire body was far too large and bulky to fit in the room, but he extended his head through the open balcony doors, his long neck looking like an unusually thick python as he watched me explore the room. His head generated that delicious heat that I craved so much, warming me up so it felt like I was curled up in front of a roaring fire. “Do you like it?”

I studied the room intently. “Yes, I do,” I decided. “Other than the wardrobe, that is.”

Pollox’s sawing laugh echoed around the room and the wardrobe opened and shut one of its drawers in annoyance. “Would you rather ride dragonback next time?”

I put my hand on my hips. “I would at least like to be given the choice. If you are part of my hoard, that is one of my rules. Always give me choices.”

“Very well. Next time, do you want to ride dragonback, or use the wardrobe?”

“I’ll ride next time. That wardrobe is out to get me.”

“But a vicious, man-eating dragon is not?”

“Nope. I much prefer you to that hunk of wood.”

“Did you look inside of it?”

“That’s how I got here, genius.”

“Look again.”

I pursed my lips and turned my attention back to the wardrobe, which looked very different from the shabby one with peeling paint back at the cave. A dragon’s ferocious, engraved face encompassed the entire front of this wardrobe door, split in half where the panels opened. Golden handles jutted out above the painted dragon eyes, looking very much like the scaly protrusions that encircled the upper part of Pollox’s eyes, and the wardrobe’s wood seemed to tingle with some hidden, secret magic. As I wrapped my hand around one of the gleaming handles, I felt a rush sweep through my body, as if the wardrobe was inspecting me rather than I it.

Feeling Pollox’s eyes on the back of my head, I tugged on the handle. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, probably to see the same empty box that had transported me here. But I was wrong. The door swung open on well-oiled hinges, and a closet full of the most beautifully tailored gowns I had ever seen, all my size and style, met my eyes. I gaped as I examined each dress. Some boasted thick layers of rich brocade ideal for winter, with velvet-lined sleeves that reached down to my fingertips and were paired with matching cloaks and fur-lined boots. Others hung thin and silky on their hangers with feather-light layers of gauzy, sheer material that was perfect for evening wear, complete with matching slippers at the bottom of the obliging wardrobe.

I tugged the other door open, expecting to see more gowns, but instead found drawers full of jewelry, hairpins, slippers, undergarments, and gloves. Lying atop the shelf directly in the middle of that side of the wardrobe was a gem-encrusted, silver-toothed comb. I had never seen the likes of it and picked it up. This comb, too, tingled with that secret magic I couldn’t place or explain.

After a stunned moment, I murmured aloud, but not loud enough for Pollox to hear, “Of course a dragon would have a magic wardrobe.” The door I had just opened waggled slightly at me, its hinges squeaking in smug agreement.

“It does whatever I want it to,” Pollox said, pride edging his voice. “As long as I’m healthy, it will never run out of magic. I’ll tell it to obey you if you wish.”

“Yes, I would like that,” I answered, running my hand along the shelves. “Can you enchant anything?”

Pollox rested his head on the bed, his neck still stretched out from the tower’s exterior, and I couldn’t get over how bizarre it looked to have a seemingly decapitated dragon head on my bed. “Each dragon has the ability to enchant certain items, but some materials respond better than others. Wood always works best for me. Other dragons can enchant a variety of materials. I even had an ancestor able to enchant human bloodlines.”

Experimentally, I ran the comb through my blonde locks. They instantly detangled and lengthened as I pulled the comb lower, extending and strengthening each strand of my blonde hair. A gasp of surprise escaped me as I repeated the action, combing my hair until it cascaded down to my knees. I stared up in wonder at Pollox. The dragon’s facial expressions still proved difficult to read, but if I had to wager a guess, I would have said that Pollox was smiling.

“I thought you might like that,” he said.

“It’s remarkable,” I answered, wonder tinging my words. Why did our kingdom fear dragons if they could produce such incredible things? I had a sneaking suspicion that the wardrobe had instantly created all those outfits for me specifically.

My own gown—torn, tattered, and dirty—suddenly seemed woefully inadequate. I replaced the comb and inspected the gowns more closely. There was no one to impress here; I could wear whatever I wanted without having to consider what events and meetings I needed to attend. I selected a pale-blue gown trimmed with golden embellishments that looked especially soft and comfortable.

I pulled it from the wardrobe and caught sight of Pollox, who was still watching me with bright-eyed interest. “Don’t look while I change!” I ordered.

He lifted his head. “Don’t flatter yourself; I want nothing of the sort. All humans are ugly, yourself included.” He withdrew from the room and I heard his claws readjusting his grip on the roof overhead.

I should have been offended, but his statement was oddly relieving. No matter what I wore or did, Pollox would assess me based on my knowledge and value, not my appearance. Father was right. I did enjoy a challenge. With Pollox, I had a partner in crime, someone who could match my devious nature and return it in equal measure. It was perfect.