Written Wor(l)ds

Secret Fire

Writing Prompt: SECRET FIRE

Being the love child of a favourite palace servant and a dragon shifter, your gifts don't reveal themselves until the evening of a long-awaited ball, when a man twice your age tries to get you into a compromising situation.

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Serendipity! Nobody seemed to have noticed her entering the ballroom through the hidden passages meant for the servants. Like them, she loved to go unnoticed, to watch from the shadows as those who held the power did as they pleased. Attention from the nobles rarely resulted in something good. A short glance around the room revealed that nothing had changed, everyone was busy swaying to the music or exchanging the latest gossip, and nobody was paying her any attention. Aelin straightened her spine, smoothed her silken dress with an unconscious movement of her hands, and exhaled. Then she lifted her head and fixed her target. Her eyes locked on her prey, she advanced straight towards the buffet, where wondrous delicacies from all over the kingdom were piled up on silver platters in such magnificent ways that you could almost consider them pieces of art. Pieces of art that were about to be devoured by a ravenous she-dragon.

Just when she had chosen the sweets, she decided to eat on her first attack on the buffet, Aelin heard the high-pitched giggling of duchess Fiona and her posse drifting towards her over the soft waltz that was playing at the moment. Whining internally, she let her head loll slightly backward for a short moment while exasperatedly closing her eyes, before straightening her position and forcing a smile. When she turned around, Aelin was greeted with the sight of the duchess and her three noble friends closing the distance between them. She curtsied politely and tried not to gag when the cloud of perfume surrounding the nobles in front of her assaulted her sensitive nose.
"Duchess Fiona, what a surprise to see you here", she voiced sweetly.
"Oh my", answered Fiona tartly, opening her fan to feign friendliness while her voice was dripping with badly hidden malignity. "I was just beginning to think you wouldn't show. What a pleasure it is to see you on such a meaningful occasion. When I saw your dress, I just couldn't refrain myself from coming over to tell you that I have never realised how good you could actually look when dressed up properly."
Aelin gritted her teeth and forced the smile to stay on her face in front of such blatant insults.
"Why, thank you for your compliments. Your dresses also look mighty fine, especially the embroidery. Since all four of you wear the same pattern, there seems to be a current trend that I have failed to notice. If only I had known, I would have made sure to get a dress that looks exactly like yours. Besides, I am shocked at your surprise, as I would never forgo such an important event as the Midsummer night's ball. Speaking of, I still have to pay the king my respect by dedicating him my first dance. If you will excuse me..."

Regretfully putting down her full plate, Aelin sent the duchess and her friends a last fake smile and rushed off in a swirl of violet silk to link arms with an unsuspecting nobleman, sweeping him into a waltz on the dance floor. While the flustered man steadily tried to engage her into polite conversation, Aelin let her amber gaze sweep over the guests gracing the ball with their sparkling presences. Nobles of all rank filled the room, intersected by the occasional dragon shifter. They held considerable esteem here in the kingdom of Lhengra, unlike the neighbouring countries where they were looked down on for their 'barbaric' traditions. Aelin snorted, earning herself a confused glance from her dance partner, who flinched and rapidly averted his gaze once his eyes crossed her amber ones.
Right, she thought sarcastically. 'Barbaric traditions'. Those were just other words to hide the fact that people feared them. A fully-grown and trained dragon shifter in their beast form? There was nothing much that could stand in their way. The only reason Lhengra accepted them so readily was due to the king binding the dragon shifters by dark magic. Free in mind and will, the powerful beasts were able to do as they wished, but the king's spell prevented them from ever harming the Lhengran nobility. And since being respectfully feared was still better than being chased to death by a mob of angry villagers with pitchforks, most of the shifter clan had quit the neighbouring countries to build a life in the capital of this small kingdom.