Page 12 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 12

“Come on, lass.”

I’d wondered if I would be able to sleep as I lay in my father’s old bed, staring at the ceiling. My eyes had slid back to the little queen dragon over and over, now lying curled up on a pillow by my side. But some deep-seated part of me recognised I was home, safe, clean and warm, and sleep had come for me anyway, dragging me down into its velvety depths.

Until the nightmares came.

My belly ached so much it felt like it was turning itself inside out, my hands going instinctively to clutch at it. I was hungry, so hungry that I was making this terrible high pitched sound…

“Time to wake up, lass. She needs feeding.”

My eyes flicked open, a sixth sense that had kept me safe while I tended the pigs letting me know someone was in my room and that’s when I was met with chaos: a dark figure looming beside my bed, a regular squawking sound in my ears, getting louder and louder, and that desperate, nauseating hunger. I moved like lightning then, seeing the little queen on her pillow, wailing her discontent, the deeper, louder rumbles from the field outside a counterpoint to her cries.

“Meat…” I said, looking around me wildly. “I need meat.”

“Got it, milady.” Nadia stumbled into the room, looking just as wild as me. She brought the bowl full of slivers to me as I hugged the little queen to my chest. Her piteous cries softened, then were muffled as she gobbled down the first scrap.

“You’ll need to set up a schedule,” Ged said, stepping forward, his face now illuminated by the lamp Nadia had lit. “Otherwise the little queen will have you running ragged.”

“Too late,” Nadia muttered to herself, then shot me an apologetic look. “My apologies, milady.”

“No, don’t,” I said, holding up a hand, but that just had the baby dragon creeling for more. I gave her another piece and another. “I feel like a bloody mess right now myself.”

“You’ll need to make Lady Pippa’s life as easy as possible,” Ged told her. “She’ll be feeding the little queen every two hours, around the clock, for at least a week.”

We both let out a groan at that, even as I did as I was bidden.

“I’ll go and let some of the others know what their duties are for tonight, then,” Nadia said with a firm nod. “And what the consequences will be if they sleep through their shifts. If there’s not anything else, milady?”

“No. Go, sleep,” I said, waving my hand absently.

“You’re doing very well, Lady Pippa,” Ged said, leaning forward to peer at the tiny dragonling. “You’ve got a feel for her instantly. You know when she’s starting to feel full and everything.”

“You can probably dispense with my title at this point,” I said, looking up at him, then pausing. I’d meant the comment as an inconsequential aside, but… The two parts of me that had been forced to coexist uncomfortably came to the fore in that moment, leaving me unsure how to proceed.

Being alone with a man in my room when I was Pippa would have meant a total loss of my reputation. My marriage prospects would’ve been crushed, my family name disgraced. When I was Pig, having any man near me, apart from the arthritic Old Bay, had meant clear and present danger, of either being robbed, killed, raped, or all three. So as he drew closer, then sat on the edge of the bed, my own legs only centimetres away from his, I became flustered. I didn’t have a reputation anymore and he wasn’t here to hurt me. Was he?

“What would you prefer to be called?” he asked me as he smiled down at the baby dragon. She was letting out these funny little sounds of satisfaction and when I looked down, her stomach was tight as a drum.

“My mother called me Pippin,” I replied, looking up at him shyly, then shaking myself when I did. “My father called me Pip.”

“Well, you’re the queen-in-waiting now, so the vast majority of the time it’ll be Your Highness,” Ged replied, smiling at me. “But the crown prince, he has us call him by his first name when we’re in the training yard. No point standing on ceremony when you’re trying to put the other on their arse.” His eyes met mine, and it was only now that I noticed they were the endless grey blue of a winter sky. “What do you want to be called?”

Did he know how alluring that simple offer was? No one had asked me what I’d wanted for so damn long, it took my breath away to even consider it. I found myself moving closer, the little queen back curled in my arms, studying him. What kind of man was this Ged? Why would he ask me this question? Why would he give me an option…? The silence stretched out between us, getting longer and longer before I forced out an answer.

“Pippin. Just call me Pippin,” I replied, forcing my eyes down to the small dragon as I felt her nestle down. My eyes fell closed for a second as I felt the rush of bone-deep satisfaction that came from the dragon when she was fed. Then a heavy hand landed on my shoulder.

“Sleep then, Pippin, while you can, because this little rascal will be up and warbling for more in a few hours.”

“Ged.”

We both turned to see Brom standing in the doorway, a lamp in his hand, his eyes on us. Ged pulled his hand back then, with a kind of haste that had me flushing.

“Sleep well, lass,” he said, getting to his feet and exiting my room.

We hadn’t done anything untoward. He’d been forced to come in here to wake me because I was sleeping through the dragonling’s cries for food and Nadia had been in the room almost the entire time. So why was I feeling like a child caught with their hand in the biscuit jar?

“You’re doing well,” Brom told me, though there was some stiffness in his tone. “We’ll get through this and then travel to the capital, where we’ll introduce you to your prince.”

He meant well, telling me of my fate, then bidding me goodnight. So why did I lie back on the pillows, staring out the moonlit window, feeling something I hadn’t ever expected to feel when I’d fantasised about my fortunes being restored?

Trapped.