Allied

Everything was ready for the ritual.

I lay between the two river-stones facedown, naked from the waist up. Perhaps, after everything the dragons had put me through, I should have been above feeling timid over something as mundane as being shirtless, but that was not quite the case.

It has been a year since I last saw another human being. And now I am surrounded by them.

Them.

So much happened in Jiaoera, but before returning to the foot of the mountain, I never once questioned my own humanity.

Now, with my face underwater and two different races tracing sharp needles across the grooves of my spine, I wonder if I should.

When the dragons had proposed that I come down from the mountain and submit myself to this ritual, it had not seemed so atrocious. Just another day in the life of the glorified errand tomboy they were turning me into. I was already the symbol of the alliance between the two races; this was just making it official.

But I can feel Prince Ludus’  gaze skittering down my spine, from where he kneels next to the scholar marking my bare skin. Down to the small knot peeking above the hem of my pants. Cracked like a crater, fissured by copper, dragonlike veins.

I take a deep breath. I open my mouth and let the river water in, let it cool my smoldering heart.

Everyone is staring at me.

The river tucks away my tears and caresses my tense, aching body. The stone beneath me is smooth.

“It’s almost over, Liliana.” The ghost murmurs.

This is all your blasted fault. I want to hiss. But I know it’ll just come out in a whimper.

The tattoos hurt like hell.

Thunder cracks above me. Words are being spoken, both human and draconic, but I feel too pathetic to listen to them.

They’re all pompous bigots, and I’ve spent the past week morphing, and morphing hurts like hell freezing over.

The rain starts in a torrent. The water cools, soothes- and inconveniences everyone else. It blurs me from their sight.

“You’re being very brave.” The ghost called McKenna, my kingly who-knows-how-many-greats grandfather, whispered.

An eternity later, the ritual ends, and McKenna tells me to get up. No matter I want to lie here until the rain washes me away. Instead, I blink away the tears and push myself up to my knees.

As I do, someone drapes a warm cloak over my shoulders. There are black buttons sewn into the leather. As I button up the cloak over my chest, my hands are surprisingly steady. They are ridiculously comforting, the buttons; I entertain myself with clasping them all as the people around me swarm together to touch me.

One by one, wary, as if approaching a wild creature. They touch the still-visible spot of ink on my neck and dart away. The bolder ones reach for the copper-colored tears that roll down from my eyes.

Slip, click. Slip, click. Slip, click. Breathe, don’t look at them.

Slip, click. Slip, click. I’m running out of buttons.

The torrent of people abates at the sound of a command, shouted over the rain. They scatter, and a hand reaches down toward me.

I stare at it.

“Take it.” McKenna says.

Honestly, I just want to melt into the river.

“Take it, Liliana.”

I roll my eyes. I’ve already gone to ridiculous lengths to stop his pestering; I suppose this is nothing compared to climbing a mountain and letting myself be bounced around by giant, self-important lizards for a year.

So I take that hand and let it set me on my feet.

I come face to face with Prince Ludus.

We stare at each other. A hot blush climbs to my cheeks, and somehow, at the same time, I’m thinking, If he’s waiting for me to bow, he’s going to wait a long time.

Someone else takes my other hand from where it hangs limply at my side.

The king.

He raises my hand in the air and shouts, “To the banquet hall!”

Cheers answer him.

Oh gods, save me from the banquet hall.

I haven’t fainted in a year, but when the king lets my hand go, my knees fail.

It seems my newly allied body is having none of the king’s nonsense.

A pair of arms sweep me up before I can crack my head open on the river stones. I go limp, more out of exhaustion than conviction- but hey, if nothing short of a dead faint will get me out of a feast, I’m not about to complain.

“She must be exhausted. I’ll take her to bed and come back down.”

“Her rooms are not ready yet-my guests expect to see her.”

“There are a thousand rooms here. I am certain I will find one for her.”

“She isn’t a child. She is a member of my court, and this celebration is in her honor.”

“Any man of us would beg for a rest after an ordeal like this one.”

“She is dragonborn- not human.”

“The dragons did not take your feast into account when they performed this ceremony. They are probably in bed themselves.”

Probably. I was too tired to smirk at the surprisingly accurate humor.

“Very well. But leave guards at her door, and come back when you’ve left her. You should be present.”

“Of course, your Majesty.”

When I open my eyes again-out of self-preservation rather than want- I’m lying on a sinfully comfortable couch, still bundled up in the cloak and still aching, but not so insufferably cold.

I blink at the sight of a man stoking a newborn fire in a very, very familiar fireplace.

“Jiminy.” I blurted.

 Prince Ludus looked around, a look of bafflement on his face; I suppose he expected someone else to say jiminy, not a copper-eyed dragonborn.

“May I please sleep in the maids’ quarters.” I begged. My voice was surprisingly weak. “Next to the kitchens.”

Though his expression remained wary, his blue eyes softened. “I suspect the maids are slightly terrified of you, Lidiya.” He raised an eyebrow. “How do you know the maids sleep next to the kitchens?”

“I used to work here.” Not that you’d remember. “My name is Liliana.”

“You’ll sleep here tonight, Liliana.” Prince Ludus said. “Your rooms will be ready tomorrow.”

“These rooms are yours.” I replied reflexively-and remembered that it was true. I blushed. “Aren’t you slightly terrified of me?”

The prince smiled. “I figured if you set fire to my belongings, no one will dock my pay.”

I managed a smirk.

“This is too kind of you.” I muttered, but I was already struggling to stay awake.

The prince waved my words away. “I will post guards outside the door. It is only to…”

He trailed off when he saw me shaking my head.

“Frankly, I don’t care.” My eyes were already closing. “Post away.”