The Dragon's Daughter

Prologue

Prologue

Joy was in the air. After an exhausting 17 hours, a beautiful baby girl was born to  Prince Edan and Princess Eillish, with rose blonde hair and inquisitive blue eyes, deep and dark as the ocean.

 

The princess cradled her in her arms, admiring her youngest child and only daughter.

“What should we call her?” asked Eillish, young and full of life, porcelain skin flushed from heavy breathing, belly still swollen from pregnancy. Her voice was quiet, and hoarse from screaming, and she still panted slightly.

 

“Edwina,” rumbled the prince, looking down at the baby. “She came just on time.”

 

The princess nodded in agreement. The prince’s father was old, and had agreed to give the throne to his last remaining son, Prince Edan, her husband, early. The coronation was in two days. The atmosphere was peaceful, as nurses, ladies in waiting, and scrub maids alike paused to admire baby Edwina.

 

“She’s beautiful,” sighed one, and her happy parents beamed.

 

Then, the sound of a bugle shattered the peaceful atmosphere, and several people screamed. Edwina miraculously didn’t wake up, and the princess stood quickly, clutching her baby in her arms. Pounding footsteps echoed outside, and the doors flew open. The intruding guard was about to get beaten for entering the princess’s chambers uninvited, when his three words chilled the blood of everyone present.

 

“It’s a dragon.”

   

They were going to the king’s rooms, as they were heavily guarded, and they could be hidden while he bargained with the dragon. The queen was already awake, and dressed in finery. She carefully helped the Princess wrap up the baby, before ushering her into a wardrobe that stood, serene, in a corner. It had been emptied, and there was room enough in it. in the dark wardrobe, the princess heard things better, it felt. She heard the dragon’s claws scrabbling on the stone, and then she heard it speak.

 

“King Edan, I have come to collect my payment.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sabine.”

 

The dragon chuckled, and the princess felt it as it rattled the wardrobe. “You’ve always been a terrible liar, Edan. I paid my end of the deal, now you pay yours.”

 

“Sabine, I’ve tried to pay you…” began the king desperately, but the dragon cut him off.

 

“You didn’t! You offered me flesh that wasn’t royal, you tried to double cross me! But I know for a fact that a royal daughter was born tonight!”

 

The princess gasped, and with that movement, the baby began to cry. She tried to shush Edwina, but to no avail.

 

“Ah,” came the Dragon’s voice. “She makes her presence known.”