Cursed Without A Crown

01 | The Ugly Dragon Princess

TWO CENTURIES LATER

IN THE KINGDOM OF DRAKONWELL

Naomi Stone couldn't feign even the slightest smile as she inwardly struggled not to violently yank the brush out of her princess' hair.

"-but then he said he wanted to kiss me!" Princess Laya Banian of Drakonwell shivered in disgust, her baffled look reflecting in the dressing mirror before them. "A kiss! Naomi, do you understand what that means? Do you really?"

Naomi held a patch of hair and forced a brush through. Lord, her hair was hard.

"Unfortunately, I do." She grunted, surprised the princess didn't flinch even as Naomi was struggling. "It means a disgusting, slobbery and pathetic excuse to share saliva."

"Exactly!" the princess agreed wholeheartedly. "So, naturally I didn't let him do that to me. Urgh, you should have seen his mark, Naomi. It was horrifying. That thing was getting nowhere near my face. However, I have to admit that I did let him play around with me for a bit, if you get what I mean. Do you get it, Naomi? Do you get what I am trying to say?"

Naomi really wanted to sigh in annoyance. It was always an ugly mark. Granted, even though all of Drakonwell had the same coloured mark, most differed in size, shade, and even how profound they were. Some truly were scary and tended to surround the whole eye. Really scary.

But for the princess to judge someone's when her own made her eye look like it was struggling to reach for air, it made Naomi grateful that she didn't bear any of that monstrosity.

The thing was, every creature and magic bearer in Gregon's Land had a mark-or more like a scar-either on or surrounding their right eye. Those in Drakonwell had a blue mark, those in Oroden had green, and the evil beings in Daemon Cove had black.

The Ravencorffs-or the Shades-well, they had nothing.

Naomi didn't mind, however, as she was proud to be a Shade. What she hated was that most Shades were completely isolated in the north and deemed useless. Useless and dumb. She couldn't deny that that was partly true-just the useless part-but it didn't mean she had to live with that prejudice over her head for the rest of her life.

Naomi had a plan, a devious one, and one she couldn't execute alone. All she needed was a loyal Shade and a magic bearer on her side. Two pawns who wouldn't think twice about going along with every word she said.

And they said all Shades were without hope.

Naomi quickly banished her thoughts when she suddenly realised the princess was still waiting for an answer.

"I do understand what you mean, Princess. And if you ask me, I think you were right to reject his kiss," Naomi agreed. "You don't know what kind of rabid disease that bastard has on his tongue."

"Exactly! All those bastards!"

"And besides," she added, shifting the conversation a little more to her favour. "You're betrothed to the Crown Prince of Oroden. You shouldn't be playing around with those poor bastards knowing that they might probably kill themselves for your hand."

Princess Laya grinned and shifted her gaze to stare at herself in the mirror. Her face was so pale and plain, making her ugly mark more pathetic to look at. But Naomi smiled broadly and pretended as if she was the most beautiful creature in the kingdom, making sure she exaggerated just enough for the princess to confide more in her.

"I mean, look at how beautiful you are, Princess! They would surely die for you. Mar their faces even!"

Laya relished in the compliments Naomi showered on her. "Well, I suppose they would. It would certainly be an improvement on their already disturbing looks. There are hardly any handsome dragonlords in this kingdom."