“Gwen, make haste now darling!” mother called from the dining room as Annabeth was still tying the laces of my corset.

　　I hated these damn tea parties that mother loved to attend.

　　Although I loved my mother dearly, she was going to regret it one day.

　　Hiding our true nature wasn’t easy. If King Alexander or his queen discovered what we were hiding underneath our human forms, he will send us to the gallows, or worse, to his dungeons to be tortured.

　　“Deep breaths now, milady.” Anabeth pulled even tighter on the corset. It felt as if one of my ribs was going to break.

　　But she finally fasten the laces.

　　“Guinevere, Elizabeth, Horsted.” Mother barged into the room. She looked at me from head to toe. “You are not even nearly ready. I’m going to be late for the queen’s hightea young lady.”

　　“Sorry Momma, I can hardly breathe in this damn thing.”

　　“Your language. Ladies do not talk like that.”

　　I rolled my eyes as she wasn’t looking.

　　I was far from a lady. I was a dragon. A roaring, dragon. If I could breathe fire, I would, but no. I could only heal.

　　Being a dragon wasn’t a good thing. And what mamma and pappa were doing was seriously playing on death’s front porch. If the royals discovered what we were, I couldn't even think about it. I didn’t want to and yet, when it was time for one of the queen’s functions, that was all I could think about.

　　Anabeth helped me with my dress, tying up the laces so fast then it fell softly over my shoulders.

　　She used dragon magic to tie up my hair when mother wasn’t looking and I slipped into mysatin shoes a few moments later.

　　I hated these layers and layers of clothes and just wanted to feel the sun on my scales, the wind beneath my wings.

　　Mother always said my kind loved the skies, the speed, and if I wasn’t careful, it would be the death of me too.

　　Hunters were always around.

　　Charles, the crown prince, had tried to shoot me down twice now.

　　Mother had no idea that it was me, she would kill me herself if that knowledge reached those frilly ears of hers.

　　I walked out of my room where father and mother was waiting for me.

　　Father was a respectable man among the humans but his ways were hard.

　　He had us keep our true forms hidden and what he did to the dragons that didn’t hide their form was appalling.

　　The way he helped the king chase them out of their hiding spots, to track them down...no wonder we had been banned from our colony a long time ago.

　　He was part of King Alexander’s royal council so I tried not to visit the castle much.

　　The crown prince was just as cruel as his father. Always hunting, always looking for dragons to please his father in their torturing games.

　　His brother, Louie. I did not know him that well as he was away at boarding school. But I was sure he was just as cruel as the rest of the Malones.

　　Today was one of those days, the royal high tea, that the queen arranged every fortnight, while father had to sit in with the king’s council.

　　They discussed hard truths and new ways to slaughter dragons. If the humans ever discovered that dragons also had human forms, I shuddered to think what the king and hismen would do.

　　It was hard to tell a dragon from a human. Dragons that did hide their scales, they couldnever tell other dragons when they were in their human form.

　　Trust wasn’t a strong point with a lot of dragons. We learned the hard way that our scales would never be welcomed. We would never been seen as precious creatures created by the same one that created humans. I don’t know how father could sit through those endless meetings about trying to rid Paegeia of the dragons.

　　“GUINEVERE!” Mother’s voice screamed again and I slipped on my shoes and ran down as fast as I could to where she was waiting at the front door.

　　“Sorry, momma.” I said softly as I walked past her.

　　Her hand fan was working overtime, meaning that her patience was short.

　　Pappa’s one side of his lip curved softly. If mother caught him thinking that her scolding me was in anyway a laughing matter, he will sleep on the floor mat for the next two weeks.

　　Mother and father immediately discussed the afternoon events as soon as the horses galloped on the cobblestone.

　　I sighed and watched out the window, particularly looking up at the sky, wishing that I was still a part of the colony.

　　It had been such a long time ago when they banished us, but it felt like yesterday.

　　I was free in the colony, free to roam the skies and feel the wind beneath my wings.

　　Father always said that our kind would never be free. Not with the king’s curse that would be passed on to his son, Charles.

　　I shuddered every single time his name was mentioned.

　　The way he looked at me with lust and that sadistic snide in his smile.

　　Rumours were that his mistresses did not have it easy either, the way he bound them and tortured them, it was pure sadism.

　　But none of them ever said anything.

　　Pappa told me that there were at one stage rumours too that he wanted me to become his mistress, but his father had said no. Thank heavens that pappa was on his council otherwise, I probably wouldn’t be the lady that I was today.

　　“Gwen,” my father spoke softly and I knew what he was going to say. “Remember, keep quiet, only speak to the queen when she addresses you and always but always keep the scales away, no matter what atrocities come out of their mouths about us.”

　　“Yes father.”

　　Father has drilled it into me so many times.

　　I couldn’t even think what King Alexander would do if he ever discovered that father was a dragon.

　　It would be seen as a betrayal of the worst kind.

　　The carriage pulled into huge gates of the castle.

　　I hated the castle and its dungeons. The cries that came out of them left me numerous times with sleepless nights and nightmares.

　　The carriage came to a halt. I always looked first for Charles but there was no sign of him and I climbed out after mother.

　　Father retreated immediately with huge strides toward the castle’s entrance while mother and I went to the garden where all of Paegeia’s elite women would join the queen for her high tea.

　　Gossip was one of the highlights of her life. Her high teas were all about gossiping.

　　Mother hated gossip, as did I. But we had to participate to keep our secret.

　　“Your highness,” we both curtseyed in front of the queen and went to take a seat around one of the tables that was situated in the garden.

　　It was really beautiful here, but I could feel evil emanating from the dungeon.

　　The queen greeted us both and then we were taken to our seats which were a few chairs away from the queen. She was fond of my mother, especially the remedies she made. Motherwasn’t really great at remedies. She was like me. A silver dragon that had the ability to heal someone, calm someone down, or just put them to sleep with a touch.

　　Mother always waited for her to drink the tonic before she gave her a comforting, lovingsqueeze to the arm or a touch, so that her healing could start.

　　My grandmother Delilah, used to tell me just how powerful our touches were. We were ableto heal the plague, heal wounds and scars, even heal someone that was on the brink of death.

　　But it would reveal our secret too, that all dragons have human bodies.

　　The queen’s guests chattered away, and I drowned it out until it was a slight buzz, like bees pollinating a garden.

　　I looked over my shoulder and stared at the grey walls of the castle and the foundation it was built on. I tuned in and tried really hard to listen, knowing well that it was a waste of time. Deep below was where they kept the dragons. Where they tortured them to get whatever pleasure they wanted.

　　Mother pumped me hard in the side and I looked back, and down at the napkin on my lap.

　　She hated it when I stared.

　　I wished I could help it, just ignore what was going on down there, but I couldn’t.

　　My entire being felt the presence of whatever dragons were trapped between its walls.

　　I was glad that the queen misinterpreted my stares as fear. As many humans feared those dungeons. Feared that the walls couldn’t hold the creatures, that they would break out and ruin the queen’s affairs.

　　But it wasn’t that. It was the evil that was being done to those creatures inside their cages, to my kind.

　　Evil that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

　　When was it going to stop?

　　High tea was different today. The queen introduced us to Magdel Gonzales. Her family lived on the other side and she was betrothed to Charles Malone, the crown prince. She was of royalty and was from the kingdom of Spain. I knew that King Alexander had wanted atruce with Spain for a long time. As it stood now if Paegeia was under attack, only France would help. Even though they would never be able to leave the magic wall once they went through i.

　　Dragons were the only ones that could leave, but father refused to give up Paegeia. Evenif it meant that he had to hide as a human.

　　I missed my dragon form.

　　Magdel was beautiful. She had kind eyes and I could see some fear inside them too.

　　Fear of our world.

　　Fear of the dragons.

　　Half of us were harmless. Our kind was called Metallics. Many Metallic dragons had served humans for thousands of years, to better their lives, to heal the sick, it was even said that a long time ago dragons taught humans to speak and read and write.

　　And look where it got us.

　　Being slaughtered.

　　It was the Chromatics that King Alexander had to worry about.

　　Chromatics were darker than us Metallics. Their fire, acid, and lightning caused havoc,they hated the humans as much as the humans hated dragons.

　　They were just protecting themselves and their colonies.

　　If only the hunting could stop, they would see that a truce between humans and dragons could exist.

　　My eyes found Magdel’s numerous times as the queen talked about her family as if they were commoners.

　　I felt bad for her and wondered if she could understand a word of what the queen said.

　　She was beautiful, had fair hair, which mother said was not common for people from whereshe was from. People from Spain usually had beautiful dark hair with darker complexions.

　　She was sure beautiful.

　　She seemed kind too. Maybe she would be good for Charles, but then again Charles was dominating.

　　He would change her before she would change him.

　　Queens needed to be fierce, adamant and be able to assist their husbands in decision making.

　　But to the humans, that was not how it worked.

　　The women had no say, not even the queen.

　　The men finally emerged out of the castle and I could see in father’s eyes, the darkness that clouded onto him. King Alexander’s meetings were always dark and evil.

　　Charles came toward the high tea and his mother was smiling from ear to ear.

　　She couldn’t stop boasting about how many dragons he had killed lately, or captured forhis father and men to toy with.

　　I could feel his eyes on me and I looked away.

　　“Guinevere,” Charles said.

　　I bowed my head softly to him. “My Lord.” The smile wasn’t real, but I had to pretend to love my crown prince.

　　“I haven’t seen you here in such a long time.”

　　I felt bad for Magdel since he spoke like he was sweet on me.

　　I wouldn’t dare to be in his company.

　　“I was occupied, my sincere apologies.”

　　He smiled again and slowly turn his gaze to Magdel. His smile slowly disappeared.

　　She held her head up high and I hoped she wouldn’t take her wrath out on me.

　　He had no class. I didn’t care if he was the crown prince or not.

　　“Oh Louie,” the queen said and I looked at her.

　　Her gaze was turned in the direction of her younger son who was walking toward the high tea.

　　He was the opposite of Charles. He was leaner and had fair hair where Charles had dark hair and dark eyes, Louie’s eyes almost seemed kind. They were blue.

　　“Ladies,” he greeted us all and mother smiled softly.

　　He sure was handsome.

　　“Oh what happened?”

　　He smiled. “Why on earth would you ask me that, Mother?” He spoke kindly to her.

　　“Your eyes betray you, darling.”

　　He huffed, still a soft smile lingering in the corner of his lips.

　　“What is said in father’s meeting room, stays in father’s meeting room. Maybe you should sit in from time to time.” He bowed to his mother, kissed the hand, that she was extending toward him, softly and let it go even softer.

　　He was kind to his mother, nothing like Charles.

　　“You are a wuss.” Charles teased him.

　　“If you want to call it that, brother, so be it. I just don’t see the fun in torturing something that can’t even defend itself.” He mumbled and walked away after he had greeted us all.

　　I looked at mother. A royal that doesn’t have the love or lust for killing dragons.

　　There might be hope after all.

　　“You will be spinning another story if they burn you to a crisp.” Charles yelled afterhim.

　　“Come now darling, let him be.”

　　“What is that school teaching him? Next he will discover a love for the beasts.” Charles hissed. “Mark my words, it’s only a matter of time before they rise up and burn this whole world to ashes.”

　　He walked away.

　　No one dared to ask the queen about her youngest son. Any sign of curiosity when it came to dragons would be seen as treason. But I had to admit, admiration for the younger prince was one of the things that I now felt.

　　Maybe there was hope after all.

　　LOUIE

　　I hated being back. I hated the palace, hated what father was becoming. He was starting to lose it with the dragons.

　　Sure they could not be reasoned with but to torture them like that, for what purpose? It didn’t make any sense and by the looks of it, he had instilled that same hatred in Charles.

　　What had happened to Charles?

　　When we were young, he wasn’t like that. He was adventurous, kind, even humorous. Now he was an idiot. Couldn’t wait to please father, to show him what a great king he would be one day.

　　He wanted it so badly.

　　One of my tutors had asked me if I had any jealousy toward my brother and I had laughed out loud. It was the funniest thing, but I was the only one laughing.

　　Being king was one of the things I had never ever wanted.

　　Yes, he got more attention from father as he needed to learn how to run a kingdom, that was not easy, but as I grew older, I started to see things around me that none of them wanted to see.

　　I had my freedom.

　　I could marry anyone I wanted, as long as she was nobility.

　　Charles was forced to marry a royal princess that came from the other side.

　　She was nice and kind and Charles had no idea what an idiot he was being by treating her the way he had since she got here.

　　She was great queen material, but all Charles saw was that her beauty didn’t match his.

　　He was so vain.

　　No, he had his heart set on someone else and he begged father for a long time to change his mind.

　　She was at the high tea today. I had seen a glimpse of his Guinevere, but she obviously wasn’t as interested in him as he made it out to be. To be honest, it seemed that she loathed him a little.

　　She was beautiful, with long blonde curls. She was tall with a slender figure and big soft blue eyes.

　　My mother wasn’t off the mark when she asked me what was wrong today. My eyes had been a dead giveaway.

　　They changed with my mood and the weather.

　　On rainy days they would become grey, when it snowed, bright blue and when it was summer and spring, green as the grass. When I was happy they would be green too and upset, really upset, bright blue.

　　They had every reason to be bright blue. The meeting was appalling. The things that cameout of father’s mouth were pure cruelty.

　　Paegeia wasn’t just the humans’ world. It belonged to all creatures.

　　That was why the wall had been erected, enhanced with magic to keep the inhabitants safe. What happened to those days.

　　Father had already gotten rid of magic, now he wanted to get rid of the dragons too.

　　I was in the confinement of my room staring down at mother’s high tea.

　　I watched how the ladies were chasing a pot belly pig. Mother had wrapped a ruby around its neck.

　　Her entertainment for the afternoon.

　　My eyes darted to one of the girls, Guinevere, who wasn’t participating in mother’s little game. She was talking to Magdel.

　　She really was beautiful to look at, and kind too or at least that is what she looked like from the window.

　　I couldn’t stop staring at her.

　　It was as if she was magic herself. Maybe there was a reason for me to come home more often. If I could talk to her, discover who she truly was, she could become a reason the palace might not be as dark as it felt now.