Mortal Fantasy

✴｜chapter eleven

Stephen grips my arm and hauls me backward. Though his gaze is trained above him, I notice that I am literally against his chest, and feel a twinge of annoyance at the small satisfaction it gives me.

"The first step to approaching a dragon," he says quietly as the creatures comes to land in the courtyard in front of us, "is not to lose your wits at the sight."

"I haven't lost my wits," I whisper.

"If you hadn't, I wouldn't have had to practically stop you from falling over," he smirks back.

"I have a wonderful sense of balance," I burst, breaking away from him and averting my gaze ahead of me. "I—I just... I..."

The words trail from my mouth, and my jaw slackens a bit. The dragon—the dragon—is a mosaic of vibrant azure, its eyes as burning as an angel's, its fierce claws—each easily the size of a human leg—crumpling the stone beneath it as if it were paper. Its wings, the magnificent parallel of devil's limbs, are folded along its back, each as large as the dragon's body itself. Beast, beauty or abnormality—my eyes water from lack of blinking, and I stare at it to make sure I am not actually dreaming.

"Dalaé," Stephen says simply, and walks toward the creature. While his expression remains placid, his eyes drop into a familiar calm as he trails one hand across the dragon's head. The beast twists into his touch, as if it has known him for an entire lifetime. Pausing, the prince turns to me, and studies my anxious awe.

"You can come closer," he says, "though I can't guarantee she won't bite off a finger."

I swallow, trying to mask my apprehension, and take cautious steps towards him and his dragon. "If that was your way of reassuring me, it's not quite worked."

"And yet here you are," Stephen counters. His gaze sweeps over me with an undecipherable emotion, and he turns back to Dalaé. "She hasn't breathed any fire yet. Probably a good sign."

"Is it true?" I say, still taking in the sight as I pace to the other side of her, aware of her keen eyes following my every step. "Can they breathe fire?"

"Rarely," he replies, "but as we angels are, they are forged of fire and flesh. I wouldn't put it past her in a fight."

It is easy to forget the blood that runs in his veins, what makes him a golden blood—I have never seen his wings. "But if angels are so gifted, and have wings of their own... why keep dragons?"

"War," Stephen answers, his eyes meeting mine briefly. The burning aurum of his eyes unnerves me. "In a mass battle, they're the most effective. Able to kill dozens of angels at a time, with a simple breath of flame. Simplified, angels are the foot soldiers, and dragons, the primeval beasts you humans use...."

"Horses?"

He makes a noise of amusement. "Yes... horses."

I stifle an unwarranted smile. "Is she yours, then? Dalaé?"

"Mine from birth," Stephen responds. As I walk back to his side, he draws away from her, his gaze lingering with faraway fondness. "Only royalty and the most esteemed nobility are given dragons in their lifetime. If she betrays me, I will never be able to tame another dragon—and she, never to sport another rider."

"That's..." My lips flutter open; my eyes don't leave the dragon's, as we measure each other, take each other in. "Beautiful." Something is enamoring about this sort of intimacy, this fierce loyalty that is preserved in blood and breath.

I look back to the prince, wondering if he will tell me more, but I catch him staring at me with an expression of surprise and unguarded genuinity.

His unwavering stare is doing strange things to my pulse. "Is something wrong..."

"Nothing," Stephen sighs, rubbing his palm across his forehead. Am I imagining his frustration? "That's all for tonight. Let's go back."

As he moves back into the shadow of the arches, I feel a sudden pang of guilt. I should be giving my best to escaping back to Meir, and all the others...

Why does a part of me linger after the Crown Prince?

A/N

Dragons were already native to humanity, but rarely encountered and scarcely populated. While humans never accomplished the taming of any dragon—only one is said to have ever done so, and even so is the child of an angel-human union—once the angels descended, they were easily able to tame the dragons for personal and warfare purposes.

Feedback on the story? I'd appreciate your comment below! Also, thanks to @HearingSirens for the cover program recommendations, Mortal Fantasy finally has a legit cover :D

In the next few chapters, we'll be having some of our first characters coming back into play...

Until the next chapter,

Icelynn :3