The Dragon's Mark--A Twisted Fairy Tale

Part 8: The Morning After

While father and son plotted and planned on how to effectively seize their last chance at lifting the curse that plagued them both, a young woman laid down to sleep, hoping to revisit the splendor of the night in her dreams. Her psyche, however, had other plans.

As she had done the night before, Stella dreamed of a woman. It was a different woman, though, one from a very ancient time. She was desperate, full of fear, running through a deep forest, haunted by the sounds of war. She had a box—the Ring! Stella saw it clearly upon her finger, and in flash of light, Stella stared in awe as a Dragon appeared! The woman apparently begged something of it, but instead of heeding her request, the Dragon vanished, and the scene twisted in Stella's vision, and changed.

Now she saw a second woman, one who also wore the Ring upon her finger. The woman faced a window, and when she turned, Stella could see her face—it was Nadia! A burly warrior charged into the room and grabbed her, dragging her out of the castle and across the hill-strewn, dirty land. They came to a large crater, and Stella noticed that Nadia seemed mortally afraid of something, while the man stormed angrily back and forth, railing and shouting.

The Dragon appeared again, and the man seemed to offer Nadia to him. The dream-vision honed in closely upon her, and Stella could see clearly the hand that bore the Ring—Empty! Somehow, Nadia must have lost it while the warrior carried her away. The Dragon once again appeared to refuse the ruffian's request—but then it reached into the crater and pulled out a young man, almost the same age as Henrik—Stella gasped when she could see that, in fact, this man almost looked exactly like Henrik! And seeing him along with the ruffian, she could also tell that these men were as alike as father and son. But how could it be? The style of their clothes and the apparent uprising happening placed the time around a few centuries prior—yet how had so little time passed between that and Stella's first dream of Nadia, where she wore the dress Stella now owned? The ruffian grabbed Nadia by the hair and held his sword against her neck...

Stella came awake with a gasp, hands desperately clutching her own throat. What did it mean? Was the Ring a mark of death to anyone of the Drakistos family? If Henrik had noticed her ring, he had not said anything about it—but would he remember her, if the Ring was so important to the Family? Did this mean she would never be able to wear it again?

"It doesn't matter anyway," Stella muttered to herself as she made the usual morning preparations, drawing water from the well and setting it to boil for the coffee. "I have no reason to disguise my appearance anymore. What's done is done."

Any hope Stella harbored of avoiding Henrik's interest disappeared when she saw the bulletin that accompanied Agatha's periodical that morning.

BY ORDER OF LORD SIGMUND DRAKISTOS, the poster proclaimed, THE FESTIVAL OF THE DRAGON HAS BEEN EXTENDED FOR ONE ADDITIONAL NIGHT!

Stella's heart raced. It was to be a masquerade ball—and this time, no one would be turned away. She fought to keep the tray steady as she carried it to Agatha.

The young woman lay on the bed, cocooned in the blankets. All that Stella could see was the tuft of dark hair draped over the pillow. She went silently about her duties, obeying Agatha's preference that they not interact. When Stella drew back the curtains, Agatha groaned.

"Morning already?" She sat up, her curly hair in a tangled mop. Her cheeks sagged and her puffy eyelids gave her a weather-beaten look, quite a dramatic change from the face she had presented to the public eye the night before. She made a happy noise when she saw the coffee at the end of the bed.

Stella opened the large armoire and began the process of selecting the underthings for today's outfit. She heard the periodical rustle, and tried not to cringe as her thoughts went immediately to what Agatha would find inside. Keeping her back turned (so Agatha wouldn't have to see her face), she asked, "Which dress will you be wearing today, ma'am?"